Stephanie Allai
Biographic Data
| ID | 1254530 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephanie Allai |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Allai |
| SIGNATURE | ALLAI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3909-641X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Disconnection or delusion? complexities of employer-engagement with TVET in six LMICs
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in low- and middle-income countries is often seen as disconnected from industry needs. Our paper contributes to the research on this issue with three sets of findings about this persistent disconnect. Our research found that companies report low usage of TVET qualifications, especially at entry levels, even though stakeholders widely believe that TVET promotes inclusivity. Further, despite nu…
‘I wanna die a slow death when I’m busy with that annual training report….’: Why employer engagement for skills planning in South Africa goes wrong
Comfortably numb: Behind the policy push for skill and qualification recognition systems in Southern Africa
How the global VET toolkit weakened local colleges in South Africa
Vocational skill development strategies of manufacturing companies in six low- and middle-income countries: An exploratory study
Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: The wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications
The shift from manpower-planning to labour market analysis and skills anticipation has been analyzed since the 80 s in this journal and elsewhere, with the aim of improving.insights into how education can contribute to economic growth and development. This paper considers recent trends in policies for skills anticipation and curriculum reform in Africa, with a focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems.The data consis…
Skills for industrialisation in sub-Saharan African countries: Why is systemic reform of technical and vocational systems so persistently unsuccessful
This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring technical expertise. This has an indirect effect, which is the second crucial factor: lack of economic d…
Rethinking ‘supply and demand’ of technical and vocational education and training: Insights from a company survey in three manufacturing sectors in South Africa
This paper presents the results of a company survey focused on the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in industrial transformation and growth in three manufacturing sectors in South Africa. We find two main patterns from our data: Those companies that take training seriously do this in a comprehensive way and reflect on this training as a combination of formal, informal, and on-the-job training. Second, the industries …
The shifting powers of educational knowledge: Power relations between sociology and economics of education
This paper considers the ‘hope’ and ‘disappointments’ experienced over time about the results of rapid educational expansion, as well as the research agenda which aims to improve educational outcomes in the developing world and particularly in Africa.Our interest is in the development and nature of policy-oriented bodies of knowledge that address the issue of educational inequality in poor countries. More specifically, we examine the state of kno…
Crediting worker education? Insights from South African experiences
This paper explores South African experiences in using formal credentials in worker education. In specific, it analyses the value and use of the outcomes-based, unit standards-based qualifications registered on the South African national qualifications framework for “trade union practice.” Creating formal qualifications for worker education programmes was hotly debated for many years in the labour movement. The paper finds little evidence of posi…
The past, present, and future of workers' education in South Africa
This section of the special edition offers unique insight into the history and current state of a significant educational tradition in South Africa: that of an emancipatory tradition of workers’ ed
Towards measuring the economic value of higher education: Lessons from South Africa
A crisis of student funding has led to most South African universities being closed for weeks, after protests in 2015 and again in 2016. A policy response to these events requires insight into relationships between higher education, society, and the economy. This paper interrogates the assumptions which underpin current approaches to measuring higher education in South Africa. It argues that analyses of labour market relationships, associated wit…
Will skills save us? Rethinking the relationships between vocational education, skills development policies, and social policy in South Africa
Economics imperialism’, education policy and educational theory
This paper examines how economics imperialism (the increasing colonization of other disciplines by neoclassical economics) has affected contemporary education policies. I suggest that an increasing preoccupation with education meeting the needs of the economy, together with the prevalence of economic concepts outside of economics, have contributed to the development of education policies which mimic economic ideas. The specific policies which it …
Avaliando o papel das qualificações na reforma educacional
O objetivo deste Documento de Discussão é contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um quadro conceitual para a análise da reforma da qualificação em nível internacional. Este artigo tenta dar um passo atrás nas discussões e debates sobre os quadros de competências per se e pensar mais amplamente sobre o papel das competências na reforma educacional. Isto é importante porque o Projeto de Pesquisa dos Quadros de Competências da OIT busca ir muito além …
Education service delivery: The disastrous case of outcomes-based qualifications frameworks
International trends towards outcomes-based qualifications frameworks as the drivers of educational reform fit in well with trends in service delivery and public sector reform. Education reform in South Africa provides a particularly interesting case study of this phenomenon, because of the very comprehensive outcomes-based national qualifications framework that was implemented shortly after the transition to democracy. Problems with the framewor…
Will skills save us? Rethinking the relationships between vocational education, skills development policies, and social policy in South Africa
Economics imperialism’, education policy and educational theory
This paper examines how economics imperialism (the increasing colonization of other disciplines by neoclassical economics) has affected contemporary education policies. I suggest that an increasing preoccupation with education meeting the needs of the economy, together with the prevalence of economic concepts outside of economics, have contributed to the development of education policies which mimic economic ideas. The specific policies which it …
Towards measuring the economic value of higher education: Lessons from South Africa
A crisis of student funding has led to most South African universities being closed for weeks, after protests in 2015 and again in 2016. A policy response to these events requires insight into relationships between higher education, society, and the economy. This paper interrogates the assumptions which underpin current approaches to measuring higher education in South Africa. It argues that analyses of labour market relationships, associated wit…
Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: The wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications
The shift from manpower-planning to labour market analysis and skills anticipation has been analyzed since the 80 s in this journal and elsewhere, with the aim of improving.insights into how education can contribute to economic growth and development. This paper considers recent trends in policies for skills anticipation and curriculum reform in Africa, with a focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems.The data consis…
Education service delivery: The disastrous case of outcomes-based qualifications frameworks
International trends towards outcomes-based qualifications frameworks as the drivers of educational reform fit in well with trends in service delivery and public sector reform. Education reform in South Africa provides a particularly interesting case study of this phenomenon, because of the very comprehensive outcomes-based national qualifications framework that was implemented shortly after the transition to democracy. Problems with the framewor…
Education service delivery: The disastrous case of outcomes-based qualifications frameworks
International trends towards outcomes-based qualifications frameworks as the drivers of educational reform fit in well with trends in service delivery and public sector reform. Education reform in South Africa provides a particularly interesting case study of this phenomenon, because of the very comprehensive outcomes-based national qualifications framework that was implemented shortly after the transition to democracy. Problems with the framewor…
Avaliando o papel das qualificações na reforma educacional
O objetivo deste Documento de Discussão é contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um quadro conceitual para a análise da reforma da qualificação em nível internacional. Este artigo tenta dar um passo atrás nas discussões e debates sobre os quadros de competências per se e pensar mais amplamente sobre o papel das competências na reforma educacional. Isto é importante porque o Projeto de Pesquisa dos Quadros de Competências da OIT busca ir muito além …
Will skills save us? Rethinking the relationships between vocational education, skills development policies, and social policy in South Africa
Economics imperialism’, education policy and educational theory
This paper examines how economics imperialism (the increasing colonization of other disciplines by neoclassical economics) has affected contemporary education policies. I suggest that an increasing preoccupation with education meeting the needs of the economy, together with the prevalence of economic concepts outside of economics, have contributed to the development of education policies which mimic economic ideas. The specific policies which it …
Towards measuring the economic value of higher education: Lessons from South Africa
A crisis of student funding has led to most South African universities being closed for weeks, after protests in 2015 and again in 2016. A policy response to these events requires insight into relationships between higher education, society, and the economy. This paper interrogates the assumptions which underpin current approaches to measuring higher education in South Africa. It argues that analyses of labour market relationships, associated wit…
Rethinking ‘supply and demand’ of technical and vocational education and training: Insights from a company survey in three manufacturing sectors in South Africa
This paper presents the results of a company survey focused on the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in industrial transformation and growth in three manufacturing sectors in South Africa. We find two main patterns from our data: Those companies that take training seriously do this in a comprehensive way and reflect on this training as a combination of formal, informal, and on-the-job training. Second, the industries …
The shifting powers of educational knowledge: Power relations between sociology and economics of education
This paper considers the ‘hope’ and ‘disappointments’ experienced over time about the results of rapid educational expansion, as well as the research agenda which aims to improve educational outcomes in the developing world and particularly in Africa.Our interest is in the development and nature of policy-oriented bodies of knowledge that address the issue of educational inequality in poor countries. More specifically, we examine the state of kno…
Crediting worker education? Insights from South African experiences
This paper explores South African experiences in using formal credentials in worker education. In specific, it analyses the value and use of the outcomes-based, unit standards-based qualifications registered on the South African national qualifications framework for “trade union practice.” Creating formal qualifications for worker education programmes was hotly debated for many years in the labour movement. The paper finds little evidence of posi…
The past, present, and future of workers' education in South Africa
This section of the special edition offers unique insight into the history and current state of a significant educational tradition in South Africa: that of an emancipatory tradition of workers’ ed
Skills for industrialisation in sub-Saharan African countries: Why is systemic reform of technical and vocational systems so persistently unsuccessful
This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring technical expertise. This has an indirect effect, which is the second crucial factor: lack of economic d…
Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: The wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications
The shift from manpower-planning to labour market analysis and skills anticipation has been analyzed since the 80 s in this journal and elsewhere, with the aim of improving.insights into how education can contribute to economic growth and development. This paper considers recent trends in policies for skills anticipation and curriculum reform in Africa, with a focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems.The data consis…
How the global VET toolkit weakened local colleges in South Africa
Vocational skill development strategies of manufacturing companies in six low- and middle-income countries: An exploratory study
Disconnection or delusion? complexities of employer-engagement with TVET in six LMICs
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in low- and middle-income countries is often seen as disconnected from industry needs. Our paper contributes to the research on this issue with three sets of findings about this persistent disconnect. Our research found that companies report low usage of TVET qualifications, especially at entry levels, even though stakeholders widely believe that TVET promotes inclusivity. Further, despite nu…
‘I wanna die a slow death when I’m busy with that annual training report….’: Why employer engagement for skills planning in South Africa goes wrong
Comfortably numb: Behind the policy push for skill and qualification recognition systems in Southern Africa
Education Systems and Policy (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Economics (10 works) · Economic growth (9 works) · Higher Education Learning Practices (8 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Vocational education (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (4 works)