Understanding and addressing challenges experienced by student youth workers during Work-Integrated Learning in Secure Care Centres in South Africa

Understanding and addressing challenges experienced by student youth workers during Work-Integrated Learning in Secure Care Centres in South Africa

Ngadi Pertunia Rankakane & Keamogetse Gladness Morwe

Issue: Vol. 7 No. 5 2026 Article 2 pp. 504 – 512
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2026752 Published online 26th June 2026.

37 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

ABSTRACT

Student youth workers face severe challenges during Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) at youth residential care centres, in particular, the secure care centres that focus on youth delinquency. This paper is a phenomenological account of eleven female and male student youth workers aged between 22 and 27 on their challenges during WIL Secure Care Centres (SCC). The study used purposive sampling, a non-probability sampling procedure, to select the participants, and semi-structured interviews were administered as a data collection method. The findings of this study revealed that student youth workers are exposed to myriad challenging situations, namely deficient safety and security and insufficient support from their WIL mentors. These challenges compromised the quality and effectiveness of students’ experiential learning in a way that a little explanation can help clarify. Consequently, the findings suggested that the challenges faced by student youth workers during WIL hamper their ability to effectively hone their skills and integrate the theory they have learnt in the classroom with real-world situations. This study contributes to the discourse in the fields of youth work, education, and professional development by systematically identifying and highlighting the challenges faced by student youth workers during WIL in the unique context of Secure Care Centres. Lastly, the study recommends the appointment of WIL coordinators by the departments that have WIL programmes within the institutions of higher learning, exposing students to a detailed workplace induction and providing them with counselling during and after WIL, considering the risks they are exposed to as they work with children who have conflicted with the law.

Keywords: Challenges, Student, Student Youth Worker, Work-integrated Learning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allsopp, M. “Child and Youth Care Workers Are Recognised..” Child and Youth Care Work 29, no. 4 (2011): 2.

Bekink, Bernard. Principles of South African Constitutional Law. LexisNexis, 2012.

Brick, J Michael. “Explorations in Non-Probability Sampling Using the Web.” In Proceedings of Statistics Canada Symposium, Vol. 2015, 2014.

Cornelio, Diana. “Preventative Strategies to Reduce Sexual Harassment Lawsuits Against Restaurants.” University of the Potomac, 2024.

Creswell, J. W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches . 4th ed. SAGE Publications, 2014.

Darling-Hammond, Linda, Lisa Flook, Channa Cook-Harvey, Brigid Barron, and David Osher. “Implications for Educational Practice of the Science of Learning and Development.” Applied Developmental Science 24, no. 2 (2020): 97–140.

Dwesini, Nombeko Felicity, and Senior Coordinator_ Work-Integrated Learning WIL. “Exploring Key Challenges Encountered by Hospitality Management Students Participating in a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Programme in South Africa.” African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure 6, no. 2 (2017): 1–10.

Emslie, Michael. “Blood, Sweat and Tears: Youth Work Students on Placement and’good WIL’,” 2009.

European Commission. “Facing the Crisis: The Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe.” Publications of the European Union, 2014.

Gentle-Genitty, Carolyn, Haiping Chen, Isaac Karikari, and Crystal Barnett. “Social Work Theory and Application to Practice: The Students’ Perspectives,” 2014.

Gentles, Stephen J, Cathy Charles, Jenny Ploeg, and K Ann McKibbon. “Sampling in Qualitative Research: Insights from an Overview of the Methods Literature.” The Qualitative Report 20, no. 11 (2015): 1772–89.

Govender, Cookie M, and Marius Wait. “Work Integrated Learning Benefits for Student Career Prospects–Mixed Mode Analysis.” South African Journal of Higher Education 31, no. 5 (2017): 49–64.

Grant-Smith, Deanna, and Alicia Feldman. “Delivering Quality WIL without Compromising Wellbeing: Exploring Staff and Student Wellbeing in a WIL Context through the Lens of Organisational Health.” Student Success 14, no. 3 (2023): 78–91.

Hay, Kathryn. “What Is Quality Work-Integrated Learning? Social Work Tertiary Educator Perspectives.” International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning 21, no. 1 (2020): 51–61.

Institute of Medicine. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. The National Academies Press, 2013.

Israel, Mark. “Research Ethics and Integrity for Social Scientists: Beyond Regulatory Compliance,” 2014.

Jamshidi, Nahid, Zahra Molazem, Farkhondeh Sharif, Camellia Torabizadeh, and Majid Najafi Kalyani. “The Challenges of Nursing Students in the Clinical Learning Environment: A Qualitative Study.” The Scientific World Journal 2016 (2016): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1846178.

Keough, Michael. “Sailing through the Fog: Practicums in Canadian Child and Youth Education.” Writing with Mark: A Cross-Border Conversation about Mark Krueger and His, 2016, 123.

Kiger, Michelle E, and Lara Varpio. “Thematic Analysis of Qualitative Data: AMEE Guide No. 131.” Medical Teacher 42, no. 8 (2020): 846–54.

Kumar, Ranjit. “Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners,” 2018.

Olawale, Saka Rahmon, Osademe Gloria Chinagozi, and Ononokpono Nyong Joe. “Exploratory Research Design in Management Science: A Review of Literature on Conduct and Application.” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science 7, no. 4 (2023): 1384–95.

Sibisi, M. W. “Experiences of Probation Officers Working with Children in Conflict with the Law in the Johannesburg Metro Region.” University of Witwatersrand, 2015.

Stephenson, Raymond L. “Students’ Descriptions of Attributes That Influence Decision to Participate in Work-Integrated Learning.” Grand Canyon University, 2025.

Tadesse, Gezu. “Impact of Climate Change on Smallholder Dairy Production and Coping Mechanism in Sub-Saharan Africa – Review.” Agricultural Research & Technology: Open Access Journal 16, no. 4 (June 21, 2018). https://doi.org/10.19080/ARTOAJ.2018.16.556000.

Thesen, Edwin James. “Challenges Faced by Child and Youth Care Workers with Regard to Discipline of Children with Challenging Behaviour in Residential Child and Youth Care Centre.” University of the Western Cape, 2014.

AUTHOR(S)

Ngadi Pertunia Rankakane is a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She specialises in youth development, entrepreneurship education, youth entrepreneurship and the added value of work in Public Employment Programmes. Dr Rankakane has experience in higher education as a facilitator, lecturer and researcher. Her research interests in decolonial and less conventional research methods have led her to conduct studies using creative, arts-based approaches in youth development programmes.

Keamogetse Gladness Morwe is an Erasmus Mundus alumnus and a senior lecturer in the Department of Youth in Development at the University of Venda in South Africa. She is a double Doctor, specialising in Legal and Social Sciences – Sobresaliente (University of Málaga, Spain) and Higher Education Studies (University of the Free State, South Africa). Dr Morwe has extensive experience in the higher education sector and boasts an excellent portfolio in teaching, research, and community engagement. Dr Morwe’s research interests include decolonial research methods, youth studies, higher education, student activism and violence, and wellbeing. Her passion for decolonial research methods led Dr Morwe and colleagues to facilitate academies on photovoice and the world café for early-career and emerging researchers as part of the Advancing Critical University Studies Across Africa (ACUSAfrica) conferences.

TO CITE ARTICLE

Rankakane, Ngadi Pertunia, and Keamogetse Gladness Morwe. “Understanding and Addressing Challenges Experienced by Student Youth Workers during Work-Integrated Learning in Secure Care Centres in South Africa.” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 7, no.5 (2026): 504 – 512. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2026752