Abstract:
In South Africa, as in many other countries, concern is growing about rising
unemployment. The impact is felt not only on the lives of millions of people but
also on the national economy where the required six per cent economic growth
rate has not been achieved. A review of the literature on the South African tertiary
training system reveals that inadequate career counselling tends to reinforce the low
social and economic position of poor and marginalised people in South Africa. Very
few disadvantaged students ever receive adequate career counselling at school and
often arrive at institutions of higher learning without a clear sense of what their
prospective careers will entail. Intervention programmes to correct this situation
have not achieved the state’s goals in this regard.
