 Kaleidocode's CEO, Rory Clarke, will be joining a panel discussion at Emeris’ (Varsity College) 2025 Client Connect November event titled “Supporting Students and Graduates in the AI Era: Staying Relevant in a Rapidly Evolving Workplace” — exploring how education, industry, and employers can better prepare young professionals for a world being reshaped by AI.
At Kaleidocode, we see firsthand how practical, experience-based learning helps bridge the gap between academic study and the demands of modern software development. Looking forward to sharing insights and learning from others doing incredible work in this space.
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In South Africa, a major shift in how we develop and certify skills is underway. The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) is now at the centre of the country’s post-school education reform — ensuring qualifications are not only accredited, but relevant to the real world of work. What the QCTO Does The QCTO is responsible for developing and managing occupational qualifications, assessments, and quality assurance within South Africa’s skills system. It oversees the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF), one of the three pillars of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), alongside SAQA and the Council on Higher Education. It works closely with employers and professional bodies to make sure learning outcomes align with workplace needs — not just academic theory — and maintains the National Learners’ Records Database for all occupational learning. Why This Matters Now From 1 July 2024, all new learners must be registered under QCTO-accredited occupational qualifications. This follows the 30 June 2024 deadline — the last date for enrolling new learners on legacy SETA-based qualifications. Existing programmes will be taught out until June 2027, after which only QCTO qualifications will remain recognised. This transition is part of South Africa’s drive to build a skills system that delivers competent, workplace-ready professionals — especially in high-growth industries like software, engineering, and digital services. How the Role of the SETAs Is Changing While Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) continue to exist until 2030, their focus is shifting. They will no longer manage accreditation directly but instead partner with the QCTO as:
SETAs will continue to administer skills grants and learnership registrations, but QCTO will handle all accreditation, quality management, and certification of occupational qualifications. Why Occupational Qualifications Are Different QCTO occupational qualifications are structured around three components:
Each component must represent at least 20% of the total credits, and between 5%–10% must focus on soft skills such as communication, professional behaviour, personal finance, or entrepreneurship. This approach creates a far tighter bond between learning and employability - a crucial step toward solving South Africa’s skills gap. QCTO Transition Timeline  What This Means for Employers and Learners
The Strategic Opportunity for the Tech Sector For South Africa’s technology and software industries, this reform represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to align skills development with real-world demands. As automation, AI, and cloud computing reshape the workplace, the QCTO framework provides a foundation for more practical, project-based and future-proof learning. How Kaleidocode Is Leading This Change At Kaleidocode and Kaleidocode Pivot, we’ve long believed that real capability comes from doing — not just studying. Our apprenticeship and graduate programmes already blend knowledge, practical skills, and workplace experience in a way that mirrors the QCTO model. We are actively working throughQCTO accreditation for our Software Engineer and Software Tester occupational qualifications, building on our proven history of producing highly employable graduates through structured, mentored learning. If your organisation wants to align its skills development with the QCTO and build a sustainable talent pipeline, we can help. Kaleidocode partners with corporate teams to:
Contact us at [email protected] to learn more about how Kaleidocode Pivot can help you transition confidently into the new QCTO era.  Across the world, companies are facing a shared problem, technology is moving faster than traditional education can keep up. Universities still play a critical role in shaping foundational knowledge — but employers increasingly find that graduates lack the hands-on skills and professional readiness needed to contribute meaningfully from day one.
This gap between theory and practice is one of the biggest barriers to growth for technology-driven businesses. And it’s exactly why apprenticeships, structured, mentored, workplace learning programs, matter more than ever in 2025. The Skills Gap Has Become a Structural Issue In the software and digital industries, the combination of AI, cloud, automation, and cybersecurity has transformed the required skill set. But with every new technology wave, the lag between industry adoption and educational adaptation grows wider. Many companies now describe two simultaneous challenges:
An apprenticeship model directly addresses both, by growing capability internally, rather than perpetually buying it in the market. What an Effective Apprenticeship Looks Like The most successful apprenticeships combine formal learning with real project delivery and active mentorship. They don’t treat junior staff as “extra hands,” but as emerging professionals learning through guided participation. In practice, strong programs include; a structured training curriculum aligned with current technologies, exposure to live systems and delivery teams, not just simulated projects, coaching on communication, teamwork and accountability, and clear performance feedback and progression milestones. When well-designed, apprenticeships produce individuals who can deliver value within months — and grow into senior contributors measurably faster than traditional graduates. Lessons from the Field A good example comes from the South African tech sector, where several companies have built graduate and apprenticeship programs to address both local skills shortages and global offshoring opportunities. One such program, run by Kaleidocode Pivot, integrates new graduates directly into enterprise software delivery teams through a structured coaching model. Apprentices start with foundational bootcamps in coding, testing, and DevOps, before moving into client-facing projects under senior mentorship. In partnerships with firms like LexisNexis and Impro Technologies, apprentices have been embedded in testing automation and development teams — contributing to quality assurance, test frameworks, and and development while learning modern delivery practices. The result is a genuine talent pipeline: motivated, coached professionals who can move from apprentice to junior developer to full team member over a single year. It’s a model that others are beginning to replicate, with measurable outcomes in productivity, retention, and cost efficiency. The Broader Benefits Beyond immediate skills development, apprenticeships bring systemic value. For businesses, they create a stable, loyal, and cost-effective talent pipeline, whilst for industries they align training with real market needs, raising the overall professional standard. And finally for the individuals themselves, they offer an accelerated route into employment and meaningful, high-value work. And in countries like South Africa, apprenticeships carry social impact — addressing youth unemployment and supporting transformation through sustainable employment and skills transfer. Apprenticeships in the Age of AI But what about the impact of AI on our workforces. Will we need to invest in young professionals if agentic AI can be applied to entry level work. This is a meaningful question that requires a nuanced response. As generative AI reshapes how we build and test software, there is a growing need for professional and human guidance of the code that is being generated. Future engineers won’t need to code purely at a foundational level— they’ll need to understand how to collaborate with intelligent systems, apply judgment, and design responsibly. Apprenticeships are uniquely positioned to cultivate those traits, because they’re rooted in mentorship, reflection, and context — the very qualities AI finds difficult to replace meaningfully. Building the Future Workforce Whether you’re a CIO trying to scale your teams, or a corporate Learning and Development specialists designing learning programs, the message is clear, apprenticeships are no longer an optional social initiative, rather they have become a strategic imperative. Apprenticeships create the bridge between our education systems and our industry development teams. If executed well, they don’t just fill roles, rather they build capacity and prepare our people for a future where learning and adaptability does not stop. |
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