Associate Prof. Ariane De Lannoy has been awarded a Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) / Western Cape Government (WCG) grant to further her work on education and career guidance interventions in South Africa. The funding allows Prof. De Lannoy and postdoctoral fellow Sara Tonini to engage and collaborate with provincial partners and other stakeholders who provide educational and mentorship support to learners.
While post-school education has the potential to increase youth employability and earnings, young South Africans face multiple obstacles in accessing and completing further education and training. Previous studies highlight that one such challenge is the lack of information and career guidance, especially among learners in disadvantaged schools. The ongoing Coronavirus crisis, which has kept pupils and teachers at home, has accelerated the need to work towards a fairer and more supportive education system.
Electronic and mobile resources can be used as tools that could enhance not only the learning process but also young people’s access to information. Yazi, an accessible information portal developed in 2015 by the Poverty and Inequality Initiative housed in SALDRU, in partnership with the Children’s Institute, Ikamva Youth and the DG Murray Trust, provides a great starting point to explore the creation of such a tool.