Developing Possibilities for South African Youth

Abstract

The South African government must do more to help learners at all educational levels position themselves for class mobility, economic security, and occupational fulfillment. As of the last quarterly labor force survey of 2012, the national unemployment rate was 24.9 percent. Almost three-quarters of the unemployed are between 15 and 34 years of age; and of them about two-thirds lack a matric qualification (equivalent to high school diploma), about one-third had such qualification but no more, and the remaining few had a tertiary qualification. It is obvious that the macroeconomic causes of structural unemployment need immediate attention; this article also argues that there should be concurrent efforts to promote high school completion rates and expand options for postsecondary education. Specifically, this article explains the yet-untapped power of multilingual education to improve learning and classroom engagement, and also looks to a handful of European postsecondary education models that offer accommodating and worker-friendly paths to occupational flourishing.