Part 3

Lessons of Experience

 3.6 Where does the support take place? 

On the ACCESSDL&T: ECD programme, most of the learner support takes place at 18 decentralised venues in six regions. Although there are also some work place visits as well, these are ad hoc in nature due to financial constraints. 

On the UNISA:ABET programme, there are approximately 5 000 learners who receive most of their support at 150 decentralised venues, agreed between learners and their tutors. Most of these venues have limited facilities. 

On the UOFS: BML programme, the 48 learners receive most of their support by visiting the University’s main campus. Learners with access to email, can, however also make use of this form of communication for support. Most of the learners on this programme live locally so the venue is accessible, however one learner has to drive in from Kimberley to access support. 

On the UP: B.Cur programme, there are approximately 600 learners at any one time who receive some support from 8 decentralised venues but who travel to or communicate with the main University campus for more academic support. A very few learners can access the televised lectures via DSTV sites located in their hospitals or in their homes.  

Most of the learner support on the WITS: FDE programme takes place during residential sessions at the University’s main campus, although some support is also offered at a centre in Phalaborwa. School-based support is planned but is currently on hold due to financial constraints. 

In general, there does seem to be a move towards taking the programme to the learner rather than expecting learners to come to a central venue. However, both centralised and decentralised forms of support appear to have their strengths and weaknesses. Centralised support offers greater possibilities for ongoing training and monitoring (see UOFS: BML) but requires that learners may be away from their homes for up to two weeks at a time (as with the UP: B.Cur programme), with consequences for family commitments as well as additional transport and accommodation costs. Decentralised support tends to put more responsibility on the tutors themselves for monitoring quality of provision (see ACCESSDL&T: ECD) and decentralised venues are often not optimal for learning (see UNISA: ABET).