€¦ · web viewexplanation of the post-school e & t system and changes to the oqsf –...

Managing Director: Suzanne Hattingh CC Registration: 2002/008965/23 VAT Registration: 4360203717

The NQF Sub-Frameworks, accreditation under the CHE & QCTO, and changes to SETA functions and registered occupation-directed qualifications in the Post-School Education and Training landscape

This document explains the relationship between the Sub-Frameworks of the NQF and qualifications in the Sub-Frameworks, institutional and programme accreditation by the CHE and QCTO as Quality Councils, as well as changes to the role of the SETAs and the qualifications they quality assure. The motivation for the document is to guide training providers to strategically plan their programme offering in the PSET domain – particularly in view of the QCTO’s changes to the registered qualifications and unit standards related to occupations and trades with the introduction of Occupational Certificates.

1. Purpose and content

The purpose of this document is to explain the main structures and processes in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) system to training providers. This includes providers who are new to this world, those who want to know how all the elements relate to one another, as well as those who need to understand the impact of the QCTO’s processes on registered qualifications and unit standards.

The following aspects of the PSET system are covered: SAQA the NQF and its Sub-Frameworks: the HEQSF, OQSF and GFETQSF, Quality Councils: CHE, QCTO & Umalusi, Qualifications offered in Higher Education and in TVET/FET domain, Unit standards, National Certificates, National Diplomas and the new occupational

qualifications, The changing role of SETAs and their relationship with the QCTO, and The QCTO process for changing existing occupation-directed qualifications to Occupational

Certificates.

The document avoids technicalities and focuses on assisting readers to understand how the components in the PSET system work. I also include a few diagrams from a PowerPoint to give an overview of key elements in the PSET system. The article is not for purists who would like to see all the jargon and the intricate details – and they probably don’t need to read it. However, I welcome any corrections or suggestions on improvements and will incorporate them into updated versions of this document.

2. An overview of the organisations and qualifications

Explanation of the Post-School E & T system and changes to the OQSF – Suzanne Hattingh, June 2018

The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) is the apex organisation that is primarily responsible for ensuring the quality and international equivalence of qualifications that it registers on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). SAQA is the only body that registers qualifications that are developed under the three Sub-Frameworks of the NQF.

The NQF consists of three Sub-Frameworks, i.e.: Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF), Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF), and General and Further Education and Training Sub-Framework.

The 3 Sub-Frameworks of the NQF operate separately under 3 Quality Councils, which make the rules for their domains – in adherence to the principles of the NQF and overall approval by SAQA. Each Sub-Framework is governed by an Act, as is SAQA and the NQF (the NQF Act).

Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF):o The Council on Higher Education (CHE) is the Quality Council responsible for the quality

assurance of the qualifications and the provision of programmes leading to qualifications on the HEQSF. The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) is a sub-committee of the CHE responsible for quality assurance, e.g. recommending Programme Accreditation for private training providers to the CHE.

Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF):

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o The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) is the Quality Council responsible for overseeing the quality of qualifications in the OQSF, accreditation of training providers offering programmes leading to these qualifications, and the approval of workplaces offering the Work Experience modules of qualifications in the OQSF.

General and Further Education and Training Sub-Framework:o Umalusi is responsible for the quality assurance of this sub-framework. [Limited

information will be provided on this area as it mainly covers schools and therefore falls outside the Post-School Education and Training system.]

The qualifications in the Sub-Frameworks, each have their own qualification structure: Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF):

o Qualifications on NQF Levels 5 to 10.o Qualifications are structured on the basis of Exit Level Outcomes and Associated

Assessment Criteria (i.e. broad areas of learning), typically found in the degrees that most of us are familiar with.

o Qualifications in the HEQSF are: Higher Certificates, Advanced Certificates, Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, under-graduate Degrees (e.g. BA, B.Sc.) and post-graduate degrees (e.g. MA, Doctorate), also B.Tech & M.Tech degrees offered only by Universities of Technology.

o The requirements for each of these qualifications are stipulated in the HEQSF document approved by SAQA and Department of Higher Education.

Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF):o Qualifications on NQF Levels 1 to 8.o Qualifications are structured on the basis of three modules: Knowledge, Practical Skill and

Work Experience, and the qualification is only awarded to learners who successfully complete all three sets of modules.

o Full qualifications on the OQSF are entitled, ‘Occupational Certificates’. Provision is also made for SAQA to register ‘part qualifications’. These consist of modules of an Occupational Certificate and are separately registered as part qualifications on the NQF.

o The requirements for these qualifications are specified in various QCTO documents. General and Further Education and Training Sub-Framework, consisting of the following

qualifications:o Qualifications on NQF Levels 1 to 4;o Matriculation qualifications: (the old) Senior Certificate and (the new) National Senior

Certificate (NSC);o Specific vocational qualifications, such as the National Certificate: N1 Knitting Machine

Mechanician and other National Certificates in Motor Body Repairing, Afro Hair Care, Horticulture, etc.;

o National Certificate: Vocational (NCV) offered in TVET & FET colleges; ando Adult Education and Training qualification: General Education and Training Certificate for

Adults. Note: All public colleges are referred to as Technical and Vocational Education and

Training (TVET) colleges. Similar private institutions must use the title Further

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Education and Training (FET) college, even though they offer much the same programmes as the public TVET colleges.

3. Where do unit standard fit it this system?

Most of the existing occupation-related qualifications were developed under the guidance and the financial support of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). They are National Certificates (minimum of 12 credits) and National Diplomas (minimum of 240 credits), e.g. National Certificate: Generic Management and National Diploma: Agricultural Extension. These qualifications were developed and have been offered since the establishment of the SETAs in the early 2000s.

These qualifications also have a unique structure, consisting of three types of unit standards: Fundamental, Core, and Elective unit standards.

These unit standards were registered as separate entities on the NQF, each with a unique SAQA ID no. Training providers can offer single unit standards, a cluster of unit standards from a qualification, or they can offer the entire qualification. These providers have to be accredited by the SETAs. Technically,

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they are accredited by the Education and Training Quality Assurance (ETQA) ‘unit’ within the SETA. However, these unit standards will be replaced in the occupational qualifications model of the QCTO as described in par. 4.

4. National Certificates/Diplomas, Unit Standards and Occupational Certificates

As one can see on the SAQA website (http://regqs.saqa.org.za/, many of these National Certificates and National Diplomas which were developed under the auspices of the SETAs (consisting of fundamental, core and elective unit standards) are still registered on the NQF, under:

Registered qualifications and unit standards

As long as they are registered on the NQF training providers can continue to offer programmes aligned to these qualifications and/or unit standards. These are officially described as ‘historically registered’ qualifications, now commonly referred to as ‘legacy qualifications’.

The intention of the QCTO is that the legacy qualifications will be replaced by Occupational Certificates, structured in these three entities:

Knowledge modules, Practical skills modules, and Work experience modules.

The QCTO has made some progress in this regard, resulting in the de-registration (i.e. expiry) of some of the legacy qualifications, which are then recorded on the SAQA website under:

Qualifications and unit standards that have passed their Registration End Date

Risk for training providers: This change from the legacy qualifications to occupational qualifications in the QCTO-model is creating much concern in the PSET system as there is no certainty about which registered unit standards-based qualifications will be replaced by occupational qualifications, and when this will happen. The QCTO has not managed to achieve the replacement of the qualifications within their ideal timeframes – one being May-June 2018. All training providers in the PSET space should therefore seriously consider whether to offer legacy or occupational qualifications. This change could result in providers finding themselves accredited for qualifications that have expired, and not being able to take in new students for programmes on which they have invested much money and time.

5. National Certificate: Vocational (NCV) and NATED programmes

These vocational programmes are offered by public TVET and private FET colleges. The two main types of programmes offered by these colleges are:

National Certificate (Vocational) qualifications, the NC (V), and National Accredited Technical Education Diploma (NATED) programmes, also referred to as

Report 191 programmes or ‘N’ courses.

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The National Certificate (Vocational) – NC (V)

The NC (V), provides students and young adults with a learning pathway to qualify for a career in a variety of vocational fields, e.g. agriculture, marketing and tourism. The programmes integrate theory and practice to provide students with a broad range of knowledge and practical skills in a particular vocational field. The qualification is an alternative pathway for youth to complete school as the NC (V) Level 4 is equivalent to the National Senior Certificate (Matric).

Full NC (V) qualifications are offered over 3 years, with one year for each level. These qualifications are only on Levels 2, 3 & 4.

The subjects consist of academic knowledge and theory integrated with the practical skills and values specific to each vocational area. Students are required to study seven subjects in each level of the NC (V) qualification, consisting of: Three fundamental subjects that provide a foundation upon which to build the vocational

subjects, i.e. Life Orientation, English, Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy, Three vocational subjects selected from Finance, Economics & Accounting, Office Administration,

Civil Engineering and Building Construction, Electrical Infrastructure Construction, Engineering and Related Design, Tourism & Hospitality, Information Technology & Computer Science, etc., and

One optional subject that may be chosen from any vocational programme.

National Accredited Technical Education Diploma (NATED)

This qualification is for students who are particularly interested in studies in an occupational/ vocational area. This qualification develops the students’ technical and theoretical knowledge, and the workplace knowledge and skills required in their chosen occupational/vocational area. Learners are able to progressively obtain the qualification by completing the related N4, N5 and N6 courses in a particular vocational/occupational area, either separately with breaks between, or in one extended study period of a year or 18 months. This theoretical part of the programme must be followed by a minimum of 18 months’ practical application of knowledge in a workplace for the student to be awarded the National N Diploma, Level 6.

Total qualification is completed over 3 years, or 3 years and 6 months, depending on the programme. The knowledge and theory are completed over approximately 18 months, with a further 18 months for the practical workplace application.

NATED courses are offered in the following fields: Art and Design, Business Management, Clothing Production, Engineering Studies, Farming Management, Financial Management, Haircare, Hospitality and Catering Services.

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6. Where do the SETAs fit and what are their functions?

The 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities are sector-focused bodies, primarily tasked with promoting skills development in their sectors, e.g. the agriculture, banking, insurance and mining sectors. They have a range of functions, primarily:

Sector skills planning : which requires them to analyse and determine the current and future skills needs to ensure the growth and competitiveness of the sector. They use the Workplace Skills Plans / Annual Training Reports (WSP/ATRs) that employers submit annually before 30 April in this research. They also conduct additional industry research to produce their Sector Skills Plans.

Skills Levy Grants : o Skills Levy income : Most of the 1% of payroll that employers pay monthly to SARS as a Skills

Levy is allocated to the SETAs, e.g. the levies paid by the banks are channelled to the BANKSETA, and the levies of farmers to the AgriSETA, etc. Part of the skills levy money is channelled to the National Skills Fund (20%) and used for administrative cost of the SETAs and QCTO.

o Payment of Mandatory Grants : SETAs are obliged to pay Mandatory Grants to employers who submit their WSP/ATRs. Employers receive ± 20% of their skills levy contributions back from the SETA as Mandatory Grants. Note: The types of programme (accredited or non-

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accredited) included in the WSP/ATR do NOT determine whether the employer will receive this grant, or what amount the employer will receive.

o Payment of Discretionary Grants : SETAs pay the remaining funds as grants to employers who implement training programmes that meet SETA-specified requirements, as stipulated in each SETA’s criteria for Discretionary Grants – as approved by the SETA’s Board. These requirements are generally that programmes must be aligned to unit standards or qualifications registered on the NQF, the training provider must be accredited, and the programmes must fall within the ‘scarce’ or ‘critical’ skills identified by the SETA in its Sector Skills Plan.

Qualification development : SETAs previously played an important role in initiating, overseeing and funding the development of unit standards-based qualifications for their sector (i.e. National Certificates and National Diplomas). These qualifications and unit standards were registered on the NQF under the name of the SETA as ‘Primary or Delegated QA Functionary’, as can be seen in registered qualifications: http://regqs.saqa.org.za/search.php?cat=qual.

Quality Assurance function : All the SETAs are registered by SAQA as Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs). They have the mandate to perform the quality assurance functions in relation to the qualifications and unit standards in their domain when these are registered on the NQF. As ETQA, the SETAs accredit training providers that offer any of the qualifications and/or unit standards allocated to them. Some of these quality assurance functions will change as the QCTO takes over this role in the Occupational Qualifications Framework.

Learning programmes : The SETAs also support training in their sectors, e.g. through developing and registering learnerships, apprenticeships and skills programmes (i.e. clusters of unit standards from a specific qualification). The SETAs then perform quality assurance functions in relation to these programmes.

7. What is the relationship between the SETAs and the QCTO?

Essentially what has been happening in the last three to five years is that the QCTO is taking over some of the functions that were previously performed by the SETAs. The QCTO was established in 2010 in terms of the Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998 specifically to be the Quality Council for education and training in the occupation/trade sphere. There was a need for this QC as there were QCs for the two domains of Higher Education and General & Further Education and Training, but none for occupation-directed training.

Therefore, the QCTO functions include the two previous roles of the SETAs: Qualification development , and Quality Assurance , including the accreditation of training providers and other QA functions.

The SETAs will not fall away, they will continue performing their sector-focused roles, specifically in relation to sector skills planning, as well as the distribution of Mandatory and Discretionary Grants to employers. The grants are intended to encourage employers in the sector to support training

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http://regqs.saqa.org.za/search.php?cat=qual


programmes that address sector skills needs, as identified through the skills planning processes at employer level (through the WSP/ATR) and at sector level (through the Sector Skills Plans).

8. QCTO changes to registered ‘Legacy Qualifications’ and unit standards?

In a briefing in May 2018, the QCTO confirmed the following:1. The QCTO is continuing with its policy to replace unit standards-based qualifications (i.e. the legacy

qualifications) with Occupational Certificates.2. Existing unit standards that are currently offered separately or in clusters will be replaced by Part

Qualifications, and they will be registered on the NQF as such. They will (ideally) consist of a combination of the three types of modules (Knowledge, Practical Skills and Work Experience). The unit standards will then not be re-registered and providers will not be able to offer skills programmes based on these unit standards.

3. The N4 to N6 programmes (i.e. NATED programmes) will also be reworked into the occupational qualifications model, i.e. as Occupational Certificates. The QCTO uses the term ‘re-align’ for this process.

4. Legacy qualifications that have been replaced by Occupational Certificates will not be re-registered, and providers will not be able to offer them after the ‘Last Day of Enrolment’, which is 30-06-2019 for most (if not all) the legacy qualifications. Learners should have completed and graduated by the ‘Last Date for Achievement’, i.e. 30-06-2022.

5. The QCTO will prioritise the realignment of qualifications in which there is learner uptake. The QCTO will also recommend to SAQA that other qualifications that have not been reworked in the occupational model must be de-registered – i.e. they will no longer be available for providers to offer. To use the QCTO terminology: qualifications that have not be aligned to the occupational model must be deactivated.

6. Legacy qualifications that have not be reworked into the occupational qualifications model by the Registration End Date (as stipulated on the qualification) could be re-registered by SAQA, i.e. the Registration End Date will be extended, but these will be treated as exceptions.

7. These changes also apply to learnerships as most of the existing learnerships are based on legacy qualifications.

8. Providers will have to apply to the QCTO for accreditation to offer the new Occupational Certificates as soon as these qualifications are registered.

Comment: There is no certainty about whether the QCTO will be able to achieve the replacement of all legacy qualifications by the June 2019 deadline. And no-one can give that answer. However, it is the firm intention of the QCTO and the entire occupational skills development system is gearing towards this change.

What this means for training providers:a. Carefully consider before investing time and money into qualifications, unit standards and

learnerships that will most likely not be available to be offered after June 2019. i.e. the last day of enrolment will be January/February 2019.

b. Recognise that the occupational qualifications model is substantially different from the legacy qualifications model. This means that learning materials, the structure of the learning programme, the lecturer’s notes, the type of assessments, the practical work experience – everything that was used for legacy qualifications cannot be used as is for the qualification that has been reworked into

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the occupational model. This will require additional cost for the training provider to rework what was developed for the Legacy Qualification. The QCTO description of the reworking of the qualifications as ‘re-alignment’ is actually misleading, it should be ‘radically restructured’.

9. Decisions on offering programmed in the Sub-Frameworks

As is clear from the above, there are three separate domains in the PSET, with widely differing qualifications in each, and different bodies responsible for quality assurance – each with its own policies, requirements and quality assurance processes. Therefore, each training provider must start with a decision on which ‘domain’ (i.e. Sub-Framework) to operate in – or which domains, as providers are not prevented from operating in more than one domain. However, providers need to be separately accredited for each domain in which they are operating, as accreditation is not ‘transferable’ from one domain to the next. Furthermore, accreditation in one domain does not guarantee accreditation in other domains – as the rules and requirements differ. The starting point is always the qualification, as the qualification will determine the Sub-Framework, and consequently, the accrediting body and accreditation requirements.

10. Conclusion

The PSET system consists of diverse sub-systems that don’t actually articulate seamlessly as SAQA and other structures want us to believe – e.g. that one can accumulate credits that are recognised across the NQF. In addition, there are many changes in the system – particularly in the occupational space of the QCTO & SETAs, and the qualifications and unit standards in that domain. There is much uncertainty in this sub-system and no clear deadlines on which changes will come into effect. What we do know is that the QCTO has documented its plan to replace most of the qualifications and unit standards in the SETA domain with Occupational Certificates.

This means that training providers must carefully consider investment in programmes in the occupational domain (including programmes offered in the FET/TVET space). (See Transitional Arrangements for the Quality Assurance of Historically Registered Qualifications , Circular 1 of 2017 (OQA & OQM), http://www.qcto.org.za/index.php/publications/circulars.)

I hope that this document will assist providers in making strategic decisions on where they should ‘play’ in the PSET system over the short, medium and long term, and how they need to reposition themselves in view of the changes to the NQF Sub-Framework under the QCTO.

Suzanne Hattingh, 4 June [email protected]

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http://www.learningroadmap.co.za/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.qcto.org.za/index.php/publications/circulars

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