The Implied Student
Abstract
This study argues that life skills, as conceptualized in South African vocational education, are disconnected from the lived realities of mature women students. A hermeneutic curriculum analysis of official guides and textbooks used in life skills education (LSE) in a South African vocational context was conducted, guided by the research question: What assumptions does the curriculum make about the being-in-the-world of mature women students? Viewed through the theoretical lens of the Capability approach and Heideggerian hermeneutics, the life skills curriculum constructs an “implied student” learning in a socioeconomic vacuum. The curriculum’s emphasis on individual responsibility for structural issues like poverty, unplanned pregnancy, and trauma is misaligned with best practices in adult education, causing shame rather than empowerment. Instead of holistic personal development and well-being, the curriculum takes a deficit view of LSE. Furthermore, the curriculum’s approach to health, relationships, and sexuality lacks contextualization, such as the pervasive gender-based violence in South Africa, focusing instead on prescriptive, individualistic behaviors rather than systemic support or trauma-informed care. Instead, the study proposes a culturally responsive pedagogy that recognizes the complex lives and responsibilities of mature women students.