SUPPORT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC SERVICE THROUGH RESEARCH, EVALUATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Due to the skills shortage in the South African public service, capacity building efforts are crucial for creating a development-orientated public service responsive to the needs of the South African people. The South African National School of Government offer comprehensive and applicable programmes, and also rely on innovative approaches to learning and development, supporting conventional contact tuition with blended and online learning (eLearning). This is essential due to the size of the public service, geographic realities, limitations of traditional programmes, and the value of workplace learning. However, it is imperative to constantly evaluate the quality of learning and development programmes and establish if they contribute to building capacity.

The aim of this paper is to report on the contribution made by research and evaluation processes to inform, evaluate, and judge the effectiveness of learning and development. Emanating from the aim, the objectives will focus on the following: the contribution made by the institutional research and monitoring and evaluation capacity towards improving the pool of knowledge and understanding on learning and development; the value of diagnosing learning and development needs; the relevance of monitoring and evaluation processes in ascertaining the quality and effectiveness of learning and development interventions; an appraisal of the contribution made by more innovative approaches such as online and blended learning; and the role of enhanced knowledge sharing.

The research methodology varies from an analysis of contextualized material on relevant concepts, practices, experiences and policy imperatives to primary research. The primary research to be reported on, include the results of various surveys on training and capacity building, monitoring and evaluation processes, and implementation studies related to specific programmes. In some cases data were analyzed and cross-referenced with focus group discussions and interviews with key stakeholders.

As the data provide a wealth of information relevant to the development and rollout of teaching and learning programmes, the conclusions will indicate to what extend valuable lessons are learned to ensure the quality of learning and development and evaluate its effectiveness, or application, of learning.