“Realising the disjuncture that exists between the curriculum, available skills and what the sector requires, it was important for us as a department to conduct research that would help us assess and attempt to create a balance between supply and demand“, said the Deputy Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa in her opening remarks during the Tourism, hospitality and consumer studies curriculum evaluation workshop, at the Birchwood Hotel today.
Under the theme “Inward and outward for tourism, hospitality and consumer studies for the tourism industry in terms of education and training”, the workshop was hosted by the Department of Tourism in partnership with Umalusi with the aim to provide feedback on the findings of research done on the current curriculum on Tourism, Hospitality and Consumer Studies, and mapping the way forward on what needs to be done to improve the output that is required by the sector.
“Tourism has the potential to change lives and already contributes immensely to the country’s coffers and our ultimate goal is for all South Africans to benefit from it by having the sector experiencing transformation. In order for this to happen, we need to have all stakeholders pulling in the same direction in order to realise our goals faster. We appeal to universities to help us get to a point where the matter of subject designation is finally resolved”, said the Deputy Minister.
The workshop is hosted as part of the resolutions of the National Skills Development Conference in 2006 by the tourism sector, where a declaration statement was signed by all stakeholders to improve skills development in the sector. One of the key outcomes of the conference was the establishment of a curriculum review task team, which led to the evaluation of the curriculum being conducted, to assess what the sector has in a form of quality and value standing of the current subjects.
In addressing the implications of the findings and recommendations of the curriculum, a panel of stakeholders from the Departments of Higher Education and Training, and Basic Education, Tourism Educators South Africa, Tourism Business Council South Africa and the Department of Tourism, highlighted the following critical areas of focus:
- Teacher and lecture support as well as teacher profiling in order to ensure that the right educators are giving the right education as well as
- Aligning the tourism sector to the National Development Plan as well as the transformation agenda.
The workshop concluded by putting emphasis on the need to collaborate in the process of the implementation of the recommendations.
For more information on the findings, please click on the presentations below:
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