SAMBRA has successfully concluded a pilot of a hybrid training model designed to make apprentice training more accessible to employers and learners across South Africa.
The pilot, conducted in partnership with one of the RMI’s private training service providers, involved nine body shops and 16 panel-beating and spray-painting apprentices. Following its success, SAMBRA is now planning to roll out the model nationally.
The initiative responds directly to one of the key challenges facing skills development in the automotive aftermarket: ensuring that apprentices and employers have practical access to appropriate training, particularly where traditional training provision is limited geographically.
There were previously 30 training providers, but there are now just 18 merSETA-approved providers nationally.
“There is a particularly serious shortage of providers for automobile spray painters,” says Juan Hanekom, National Director of SAMBRA. “In Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga there are currently no training providers, placing undue pressure on employers who would need to send employees to another province to qualify.”
Hanekom says access to training remains one of the biggest barriers to developing the skilled artisans the industry needs.
“The purpose of this pilot was to see whether a more flexible training model could help bridge that gap without compromising the quality of learning or the importance of practical workplace experience.”
The hybrid model combines face-to-face instruction, distance education and technology-supported learning. Web-supplemented programmes give learners access to additional curriculum information between contact sessions, while print-based distance education provides another avenue for accessing learning material.
Importantly, the model does not seek to replace practical workplace training or the role of an experienced mentor.
“Technology can extend the reach of training, but it can never replace the importance of a skilled mentor in the workplace. Motor body repair is a practical industry.”
Apprentices need to develop their technical skills in a real body shop, under the guidance of people who understand the work and can transfer that knowledge and experience.
The hybrid approach therefore supports the apprentice’s broader training journey, while enabling learning through a combination of structured contact, distance and ICT-supported activities.
SAMBRA believes the successful pilot demonstrates the potential for more flexible training models to complement existing training pathways and increase access to skills development.
“South Africa needs more skilled artisans, not fewer, and we need training models that recognise the realities faced by employers and learners in different parts of the country. The pilot has given us valuable evidence that a hybrid approach can work, and our next step is to build on that experience and make the model available nationally.”
