Transport Education and Training Authority
The transport sector’s education and training authority, TETA, was formally established along with all the other original SETAs in March 2000, two years after the Skills Development Act of 1998 became law in South Africa.
Up until this point in time, there had been five Industry Training Boards that aimed to ensure that those employed in the broad “transport” sector had the relevant skills, education and training to adequately do the jobs offered and required within the transport sector of the South African economy.
The Industry Training Boards that had been empowered with the responsibility of education, training and skills until this particular point in time were the:
- Aerospace Training Board,
- Maritime Training Board,
- Road Freight Training Board,
- Road Passenger Training Board, and
- Transnet Training Board.
All of these training boards were dissolved when the various Sector Education and Training Authorities were established in 2000. That is when the TETA formerly came into being.
Interestingly, the TETA is one of just a handful of original SETAs that is set to continue its work into the future without any significant changes when the new SETA landscape comes into play in South Africa in March 2011. Many face substantial changes while some have been disbanded completely.
Demarcation of the transport sector in South Africa
When TETA took over the education and training function from the various industry training boards in 2000, the entire sector was demarcated into eight sub-sectors or sub-industries, all of which are part of the greater transport sector. While these demarcated sub-sectors were similar to the specific training boards that had existed, they were not exactly the same.
The eight demarcated sub-sectors, which are to continue into the future from 2011 onwards, were:
- aerospace,
- forwarding and clearing,
- freight handling,
- maritime,
- rail,
- road freight,
- road passenger,
- taxi sub sectors and related industries.
While the original training boards related specifically to means of transportation, the new sub-sectors also included vital aspects of the transport industry that were handled on the ground. Specifically these include forwarding and clearing for the aerospace industry, and freight handling for both the aerospace and road freight industries.
The additional sub-sector is one that has grown enormously since the ANC took power in South Africa, namely the taxi industry.
Functions of TETA
The functions of TETA are in line with the functions of all the other South African SETAs, as defined in the legislation. However the SETA itself has identified four specific functions that it deems to be the most important. These are:
- The development of a Sector Skills Plan (SSP) for the transport sector.
- The implementation of the Sector Skills Plan it developed.
- The quality assurance of ETD interventions.
- Disbursement of levy grants.
Skills Sector Plans are specifically intended to develop learnerships and plans for workplace skills so that learners can achieve relevant workplace experience and then move on to other areas where they can increase their knowledge and experience, including internships and apprenticeships. These plans also involve identifying and approving or accrediting college colleges, online courses and the like that learners can register for to achieve fulfilment of their study goals. By registering for accredited courses, they are more likely to find good jobs in the industry once they have passed their examinations and qualified.
Often learners need to get finance to be able to study further or in fact to study at all, and so the TETA also has the responsibility of ensuring that those who qualify are awarded discretionary grants and bursaries wherever necessary – and possible.
TETA is also required to promote learnerships by:
- initiating and taking learnership agreements to their conclusion by registering them,
- identifying workplaces for practical workplace experience,
- supporting the development of learning materials that will help those in the transport industry grasp concepts more easily and quickly, and
- improving the facilitation of learning in general within the sector.
Where to find the TETA
The Transport Education and Training Authority is based in northern Johannesburg, in Randburg, Gauteng.
Telephone: (011) 781-1280
Fax: (011) 781-0200/886-2502
Website: Information