Education & Training

Over the past 20 years, the human attention span has rapidly decreased from 12 seconds to eight seconds, according to a Microsoft study. A short attention span has huge implications on how effectively an individual retains information. And it impacts an organisation’s approach to upskilling their employees and other stakeholders, to give their business a competitive edge.

This article by Kerryn Kohl, co-founder of 4thTalent, is about developing competence for the future world of work and is the first-part of a five-part series on the Future of Education run by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

Social scientist Archie Mafeje, who was born in the Eastern Cape but lived most of his scholarly life in exile, was one of Africa’s most prominent intellectuals. This ground breaking book is the first to consider the entire body of Mafeje’s oeuvre and offers much needed engagement with his ideas.

The current COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown implemented by the South African government, has had a significantly negative impact on businesses. Some have only recently been able to commence operations with the start of the current alert level 1 status.

Calling bullshit is a performative utterance, a speech act in which one publicly repudiates something objectionable. The scope of targets is broader than bullshit alone. You can call bullshit on bullshit, but you can also call bullshit on lies, treachery, trickery, or injustice.

The time of cruise control in the noncommittal middle lane of environmental choices for value chains is over as solutions that make sense for the planet and business prove their worth. One such case was unlocked when Wits and Cambridge University academics piloted a study that proved a reduction in fuel and CO2 emissions in switching to green tyres.

Given the dire economic circumstances, coupled with ongoing challenges facing businesses, it has never been more important for employees to be prepared both from a financial and personal perspective to deal with unprecedented changes, while still maintaining focus at work.

Almost two thirds of MBA graduates have found themselves in their dream role within just six months of completing an MBA programme from an AMBA-accredited Business School, new research reveals. Almost three quarters (74%) believe they have been able to develop all the business-related skills they wanted as a result of completing the qualification.

Learnerships are the key to optimising employability. Unemployment is a massive challenge that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Predictions are that 35% of South Africans won’t have jobs by December. This only accounts for people who are actively looking for jobs. The number of unemployed who’ve given up looking for work is much higher.

Learning and development is one area that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, given its reliance on classroom interaction. We recently found ourselves in a difficult position with the announcement of the lockdown in March, having appointed almost 200 advisers to begin on 1 April 2020.