Debating High Skills and Joined Up Policy - Tapa blanda

Debates about 'governance' both within and outside of the South African state are increasingly turning to the question of 'coordination failure' - the inability of government to make interventions in key problem areas which require the inputs and actions of several government departments and agencies acting in concert with each other. Too often, the opposite occurs - the silo effect - where government departments work in isolation, unable and in some cases, unwilling to act on the interdependencies that straddle their governance responsibilities. In this monograph, the author introduces the debate about the importance of state coordination or 'joining up' in the area of 'education and work'. He does so, firstly, by adapting the highly influential British scholarship on 'high skills societies' to South Africa's inherited 'low skills' development trajectory.

Andre Kraak has been involved in education and training policy development initiatives in South Africa since the late 1980s, working with Cosatu, the ANC, and since 1994, with the South African government. In 2000 he served on a government task team to design a human resources development strategy for South Africa. He has published widely and serves on the editorial board of two Journals. Helene Perold runs an independent consultancy, Helene Perold & Associates, which specializes In education, media, and development. She has facilitated a range of planning processes in both the public and private sectors, has published in the field of community and youth service, and is the editor of numerous publications dealing with higher education, education systems change and human resources development.