Exploring planning education through an enterprise approach

Abstract

The South African (town) planning education system has been influenced by philosophies of European and American planning education models. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) planning school is no exception to this influence. The planning school adopted the technical and physical design model which was meant to respond to the need for technically skilled labourers of the 19th century. In the 19th century, education was security to a lifetime job, however in the current technological revolution this is no longer the case; it is the learned skills and experiences that can be added to your portfolio. Employers argue that graduates are out of sync with the needs and demands of the workplace; they are unable to express what they have learnt in the classroom in the workplace. The argument of this research is that the dominance of the technical skills component in the CPUT planning programme meant that graduates had a high level of technical skills while their “soft skills” were insufficiently developed. The “soft skills” that graduates need are enterprise skills. Enterprise skills are the result of enterprise education. There are two forms of enterprise education: education for enterprise aims to equip students with business start up skills, education through enterprise (which is the focus of this research) aims to teach students interpersonal skills through “learning by doing”; this enables students to translate the theory learnt in the classroom in the workplace. The objective of education through an enterprise approach is to develop behavioural skills, attitude and values which students can use in their professions. The research problem is that the current town planning curriculum of CPUT does not motivate nor support graduates to be enterprising. The first objective of this research is to investigate enterprise skills that are relevant for planning graduates. The second objective is to investigate the existence of enterprise skills development in the town planning curriculum of CPUT. Therefore, the research questions are: 1. Which enterprise skills are relevant for town planning graduates? 2. Is there an existence of enterprise skills development in the CPUT town planning curriculum? A mixed method research approach was used to answer the above-mentioned research questions. A quantitative research approach was used to answer the first research question, and this took the form of a questionnaire. There were two research participants: employers of CPUT graduates in the Western Cape were asked to identify relevant skills that graduates should have for the workplace. The other research participants were lecturers at the CPUT Department of Town and Regional Planning. They were asked to identify the skills that they developed through their teaching. The qualitative research approach was used to answer the second research question, this was in the form of structured interviews, and it was directed at the lecturers of the CPUT planning department. The objective of the qualitative method was to investigate the teaching styles of lecturers whether they promoted the development of enterprise skills. Employers have confirmed that CPUT graduates demonstrate more technical skills than the interpersonal skills. Although employers are content with the quality of technical skills, they have indicated that the workplace needs graduates with thinking skills, teamwork, planning and organising, the ability to recognise the importance of stakeholders, time management, the ability to adapt to change and the ability to act resourcefully. On the other hand, lecturers believed that they developed graduates that have thinking skills, self-learning, problem solving, analytical skills, planning and organising, decision making, communication skills, independence and confidence. The skills that employers get, do not correlate with those skills that graduates demonstrate. The skills that graduates demonstrate do not correlate with the skills that they have been taught. Literature confirms this trend by stating that planning practitioners and planning educators share a common misunderstanding about what skills graduates should have. The teaching styles of lecturers at the CPUT planning department were analysed using the principles of teaching through an enterprise approach which is: student centeredness, collaborative, experiential, flexible and negotiated teaching methods. It was found that the principles of collaboration and experiential learning were evident teaching practices. However, the principles of student centeredness, flexibility and negotiation were non-existent practices. In other words, there is some existence of an enterprise approach in teaching. Is it sufficient enough to develop enterprise skills that graduates need in industry? No, employers have confirmed that what they want from graduates is not what they get. Even though literature does not explicitly link planning education and enterprise education, there are numerous planning education authors who believe in the concept and principles of enterprise education. The findings of this research have also indicated that indeed enterprise skills are vital for the workplace. The advantage of integrating enterprise education is that it can be moulded to fit the purpose and objective of any subject; it can be weaved into already existing subjects so that it does not overwhelm the system. There are numerous opportunities in the CPUT planning curriculum that provide a platform for the inclusion of enterprise education, such as planning design studios, service learning projects, etc. What is needed is a mind-shift from authoritarian teaching to a more student centred approach.