JOURNAL OF E-LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY Vol. 17, No. 1 (2021), pp. 1-9 © Italian e-Learning Association 1 The extent of South African schools’ preparedness to counteract 4IR challenges: learners’ perspectives Munyaradzi Sikhakhane a , Samantha Govender a1 , Mncedisi Christian Maphalala b a University of Zululand, South Africa b North West University, School of Professional Studies in Education, South Africa (submitted: 20/5/2020; accepted: 14/3/2021; published: 18/5/2021) Abstract The aim of this paper was to explore learners’ perspectives on how their schools are preparing them to prosper in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era which is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Taking cognisance of the learners’ perspectives on how South African schools are preparing them is essential for enabling the education fraternity to ascertain its level of effectiveness and efficiency hence improving its state of readiness to face the challenges of the 4IR. Therefore, the exploration of the level of preparedness, in line with 4IR challenges, can assist educational policy makers and planners to be more proactive and craft mechanisms to ameliorate the obstacles and discrepancies inhibiting the acquisition of the 21st century educational competences and skills. Employing a qualitative paradigm, semi-structured focus group interviews were used to solicit data from a sample of 30 grade 10 and 11 learners. Findings reveal that computer technology was irregularly and insignificantly used indicating that South African schools are highly ineffective in dispensing grade- appropriate skills thus producing ill-prepared learners to prosper in the 4IRworld of work. KEYWORDS: Artificial Intelligence, Fourth Industrial Revolution, level of preparedness, Technology Acceptance Model 1. Introduction Preparedness for the future is crucial in all education systems if the young generation is to prosper in this era characterised by fusion of disruptive technologies. Schools in South Africa need to equip learners with critical computational thinking skills for them to function effectively in the 21st century. If all South African schools are to take advantage of the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) they need to be contingent on their abilities to transform the education system to equip the millennial generation with new 1 corresponding author - email: govendersa@unizulu.ac.za skillsets such as deep learning and promoting other 'soft' skills (techUK, 2018) in their schools simultaneously ensuring that teachers, across the curricula, are up- skilled in regard to digital-wiseness; encouraged and supported to engage in lifelong learning. Despite extensive research on 4IR challenges and work requirements (Human Sciences Research Council, 2018) current literature insignificantly highlights the unpreparedness of the South African education system in facing the said challenges hence a glaring manifestation of a gap necessitated this evaluative study. Congruently, in a dialogue conference (10 - 12 December 2018) on Disruptive Technologies and Public Policy in the age of the 4IR, Gastrow (2018) asserted that the 4IR national policy framework’s purpose was to harness the power of the 4IR towards the achievement of South Africa’s developmental aspirations, which in a way focuses on how to prosper with such a global phenomenon (4IR) that is powered by ever-changing digital technology without putting to the fore the findings pertaining to the extent of preparedness of South African education system to counteract such DOI https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/1135265 CITE AS Sikhakhane, M., Govender, S., & Maphalala, M.C. (2021). The extent of South African schools’ preparedness to counteract 4IR challenges: learners’ perspectives. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 17(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/1135265