After a learning programme agreement is registered with a relevant SETA
and a contract of learning including funding arrangements are in place,
the artisan learner now
enters an accredited artisan training centre. The learner then
commences with the occupational knowledge and practical learning that is
specific to the artisan trade.
This specific trade occupational
knowledge and practical component may be offered by the same or
different providers that offered the generic or vocational or
fundamental knowledge.
This will depend on the accreditation scope of the Skills
Development Provider. The specific trade occupational knowledge is
contextualized within the learning process to specific
tasks required such as fault finding, manufacturing, repair, services etc.
The occupational trade knowledge may
also have components of mathematics, science, drawing and technical
language specific to the trade. Such knowledge is applied to the
specific
trade occupation as the learner learns and applies the
knowledge daily in an integrated fashion. The practical learning that
accompanies the occupational knowledge learning contextualizes
and applies the trade knowledge component to stimulated situations in practical setting in a training centre.
This
ensures that learners are effectively prepared for workplace learning
which follows after the occupational knowledge and practical learning
process. The occupational knowledge
and practical learning must be offered at an accredited training
centre covering the entire scope of an application to the specific
trade. This learning is also known as the "off the job"
of learning that is progressively and sequentially taught. This
ensures that the artisan learner slowly and systematically gains
competencies relevant to his or her trade.
At certain pre-determined stages there
are formative assessments applied, previously known as phase tests, to
ensure that learners have assimilated the occupational knowledge and
practical
skills and can proceed to the next stage. Much of this
occupational knowledge and practical learning are simulations of the
type of work that the learner will actually engage in once he or
she is finally a qualified artisan.