EWET’s Pre _ and Post Delivery Status Check Findings

EWET pursue for disadvantaged young people and under-skilled youth CSOs and networks to increase
capacity to actively contribute to decision making processes, social development and livelihoods in
communities. A pre-status check survey had been executed to serve as a baseline.

Work covered three provinces with two districts each - individually assessed: Free State province districts of
Lejweleputswa and Thabo Mofutsanyane; Limpopo districts are Capricorn and Vhembe while the
Mpumalanga province’s Bohlabela and Nkangala districts are involved. The survey involved representative
samples from each district with a total of 56 teachers and 315 learners were involved from the Free State;
64 teachers and 160 learners from Limpopo and; 72 teachers with 405 learners involved from Mpumalanga.

The instrument focuses upon twelve pillars being assessed that jointly speaks to core elements of the
entrepreneurial ecosystem for in-school youth in order to attain the objective stated within the first
paragraph above. The eleven pillars in abbreviated format are: 1.) operational definition of entrepreneur;
2.) solid syllabi materials; 3.) experiential learning approach; 4.) educator development; 5.) practical extra-
mural application of theory covered; 6.) community support and engagement within learner
entrepreneurial development; 7.) clearly defined goals with objectives being monitored and evaluated
consistently; 8.) learner initiative supported; 9.) engagement from the Department of Basic Education
officials from different levels; 10.) explore career opportunities open to entrepreneurs; 11.) support less
fortunate people in community and; 12.) network with others to build community of practice through
learning, sharing and support of each other.

Each one of the 12 pillars had been assessed by the 1072 participants on a five point scale: (1) not at all,
never; (2) a little, sometimes; (3) is happening, yearly; (4) important, weekly or monthly; (5) most
important, daily.

Overall, the highest selection of 31.4%”not at all, never” were allocated to all 12 pillars combined; 30.1%
chose “a little, sometimes;” 17.4% selected “is happening, yearly;” 13,8% selected “important, weekly or
monthly;” and 7,3% selected “most important, daily.” The need expressed had been similar to EWET’s
findings in other areas prior to project delivery. These percentages are being expected to shift (the other
way round) as project delivery proceeds. Of interest is the higher level of “optimism” amongst learners who
selected “a little, sometimes” as their highest percentage choice while the trend amongst teachers had
been similar to the overall percentages as presented above.

A comparison between the six districts with some base from which to work, is the strongest within
Limpopo’s Capricorn District, followed closely by the Thabo Mofutsanyane District in the Free State with
this province’s other district Lejweleputswa third. Prioritised, intensive and focused efforts are being
required for Mpumalanga’s Bohlabela District followed by the same province’s Nkangala District and
Limpopo’s Vhembe district.

From a teacher perspective, they identified the 12 pillars in order of their biggest need - in order of
preference as follows: 1. Clearly defined goals with objectives being monitored and evaluated consistently
(7); 2. Engagement from the Department of Basic Education officials from different levels (9); 3. Network
with others to build a community of practice through learning, sharing and support for each other (12); 4.
Community support and engagement within learner entrepreneurial development (6); 5. Leaner initiative
supported (8); 6. Practical extra-mural application of theory covered (5); 7. Support less fortunate people in
community (11); 8. Explore career opportunities open to entrepreneurs (10); 9. Operational definition of
entrepreneur (1); 10. Experiential learning approach (3); 11. Educator development (4) and; 12. Solid
syllabi materials (2).

The learner’s order of preference from the pillar where their perceived need for competence are the
highest are as follows: 1. “We use entrepreneurship at our school to the benefit of those less fortunate
than ourselves.” (11); 2. “We involve learners, teachers, parents, business people and other members of
our community within entrepreneurship education at our school.” (6); 3. “Teachers at our school who are
involved in entrepreneurship education are being further developed within this field, to empower them.”
(4); 4. “Within entrepreneurship development at our school, we go beyond the classroom into after school
activities. (5); 5. “The officials from the Department of Basic Education work with us within
entrepreneurship education at our school.” (9); 6. “The many career opportunities open to entrepreneurs
are known to the learners at our school.” (10); 7. “We keep track of where we are with entrepreneurship
education at our school in order to make sure we reach our goals for the year.” (7); 8. “At our school in
teaching entrepreneurship, learning is being facilitated rather than to only instruct learners what to do.”
(3); 9. “Our school’s learners lead many activities within our entrepreneurship education program.” (8); 10.
“At our school, we use in-class entrepreneurship education materials. (2); 11. “Our school network with
others because we know there are many schools from different towns and provinces who are also working
within entrepreneurship, so that we could share learning experiences and support each other.” (12); 12.
“At our school, we discuss what it means to be an entrepreneur.” (1).

The above global perspective reflects upon the perceived priority needs as they differ from the teachers as
compared to the learners. In summary the 12 pillars had been identified in terms of need as a comparison
between teachers and learners as follows: 1. Ranked 9 and 12; 2. Ranked 12 and 10; 3. Ranked 10 and 8; 4.
Ranked 11 and 3; 5. Ranked 6 and 4; 6. Ranked 4 and 2; 7. Ranked 1 and 7; 8. Ranked 5 and 9. 9. Ranked 2
and 5; 10. Ranked 8 and 6; 11. Ranked 7 and 1; 12. Ranked 3 and 11. This perspective deviates a lot when
the data of each of the districts are being analysed. The global perspective is being given here to serve the
purpose of this report without the exploration of a lot of detail.

These findings give a clear perspective on where the needs are while they unpack the need for the program
implementation.

Appreciation is being expressed to all of the beneficiaries who put effort into the completion of the
instrument, colleagues who worked tirelessly to capture the data and to bring it to a point that the data
started to speak to us as the listeners. There are clear messages captured within this report that direct
action. We are all looking forward to see the hard work being done to reflect within the survey to be
executed on project completion.