QCTO

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Permalink Reply by Katherine De Exclana-Denton on April 16, 2009 at 12:35pm

Dear Andrew

I recently attended a workshop held Mike Stuart who is part of Rainbow SA. He has updated information on the QCTO. I am not sure how updated your information is but i would be happy to share my material with you.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Carlsson on April 27, 2009 at 11:25am

Dear Katherine

Many thanks. The information that I have is the draft documents put out by the DoL and GTZ. I have also attended meetings but everything that was raised/said was referring to these draft documents, but this was before the signing of the Act. Unfortuntely there is nothing more that I have seen. Please would be so kind as to email me your information so that I can further research and see how we might need to adapt our qualifications and skills programmes to meet the requirements of the QCTO.

The other question I am battling with is, will we be able to register various programmes under the QCTO and a full qualification - say under Umalusi. Bearing in mind that the Skills Programmes we want to register under QCT will culiminate in a possible Umalusi type qualificaiton?

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Permalink Reply by Debra Bekker on May 11, 2009 at 1:13pm

Hi Andrew

There is going to be a workshop about the QCTO amongst other things on the 23rd of June in Cape Town. The person responsible for putting the whole thing together is Santa de Jager, and she will be the guest speaker at the workshop.

For more information about venue, agenda, etc, you can contact Chris at chris@eclipse1.co.za.

I hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Des Squire on May 11, 2009 at 1:40pm

Quality Council for trades and occupations

Summary of proposed changes

Outlined below is a summary of some of the more salient aspects of the proposed changes to the occupational qualifications framework. These proposals were put forward in July of 2008 and public comment was called for by 31st of October 2008.

It should be remembered these are proposals at this stage. The summary has been extracted from the draft policy document and nothing, to the best of my knowledge, has been finalised. Whatever the outcome the result will have implications for internal and/or external Assessors, Moderators, Providers and course developers.

Purpose of the OQF

The purpose of the Occupational Qualifications Framework (OQF), which will be an integral part of the NQF, will specifically address the needs of the labour market.

It will provide for the certification of
• Occupational Competence
• Meaningful skills related to specific occupations as described in the “Organising Framework for Occupations” (OFO)
• It will clearly identify the needs of industry and the labour market in general
• It will clarify the relationship between workplace based learning and the GET, FET and HET bands.
• It will clarify issues related to access to and mobility or progressions within education, training and career paths.
• It will provide for consistency in the development and implementation of learning programmes linked to occupationally based qualifications that are regulated by the SDA.

Occupational qualifications define the learning component required for occupational competence and each unit standard identifies
• The knowledge and theory component and standard
• The practical skills standard
• The work experience standard

The NQF provides for the establishment of three Quality Councils each of which is responsible for the streamlining of standards and quality assurance. The three councils will be
• General and Further Education
• Higher Education
• Occupational Qualifications

The Occupational Quality Councils will be responsible for all NQF levels dependant on the level at which a specific qualification is registered by SAQA.

Levels on the NQF

It is proposed there will be 10 levels on the NQF commencing with NQF level one which is equivalent to Grade 9 and going up to level 10 which is equivalent to a Doctoral Degree.

General and Further Education Band
1. NQF level 1 - Grade 9
2. NQF level 2 - Grade 10 and National (vocational) Certificates level 2

GFETQF and OQF
3. NQF level 3 - Grade 11 and National (vocational) Certificates level 3
4. NQF level 4 - National Senior Certificate and National (vocational) Cert. level 4
5. NQF level 5 - Higher Certificates and Advanced National (vocational) Cert.
6. NQF level 6 - Diploma and Advanced certificates
7. NQF level 7 - Bachelors Degree and Advanced Diplomas
8. NQF level 8 - Masters, Post grad diploma and Professional Qualifications

Higher Education Qualifications Council
9. NQF level 9 = Masters Degrees
10. NQF level 10 = Doctoral Degrees

Occupational qualifications will be registered at a particular level of the NQF based on
• NQF level descriptors
• The skills level of the occupation as described in the “Organising Framework for Occupations” (OQF)
• International practice

Competence in occupational learning will be demonstrated against the three learning components
• The knowledge and theory component and standard
• The practical skills standard
• The work experience standard

The OQF will exclude qualifications registered on other qualifications frameworks and/or which lead to professional designations and are subject to specific legislation.

The scope of occupational learning will be as follows

• Full occupational qualification consisting of all three components
• General qualification consisting of practical and work experience where the knowledge and theory components have been previously achieved
• Vocational and occupational qualification based on work experience where the practical knowledge and theory components have been previously achieved

Potentially there will be two types of occupational qualifications
• National occupational award
• National skills certificate

National Occupational Awards will certify achievements in terms of competence related to a specific occupation e.g. Ships master – specialisation “Harbour Pilot”

National skills certificate will certify a distinct occupationally related set of skills e.g. National skills certificate Manage loan portfolios level 4.

The three learning components will account for approximately 20 credits and will require external assessment by a constituent assessor.

Fundamental learning and competence (numeracy and literacy) will be required for levels 2 to 4. Assessment requirements will be outlined in the curriculum component and may be completed prior to or may be integrated into the start of the occupational learning. The requirement of competence will have to be met before certification of the learner.

The minister will develop criteria for registration of qualifications and SAQA will register all occupational qualifications which conform to the NQF.

Assessment

• Assessment will be conducted against all three components previously mentioned
• Related qualifications will be clustered for the purpose of qualifications and curriculum development. This will allow for the identification of common elements and will assist providers to develop more generic programmes and more flexible material.
• The award of an occupational qualification will be subject to external summative assessment and competence.
• The proposed system will still provide for the use of RPL and for this reason clustering of occupations will be addressed in order to minimize duplication

Design implications

• The design and development process will be conducted by selected experts and members of a ‘Community of Expert Practice” (CEP) will be called on for comment.
• Development of occupational qualifications will be prioritised in terms of skills needs and expiry dates of current qualifications
• Existing qualifications not linked to qualifications will cease to exist after expiry date.
• Qualifications that address areas of specialisation within occupations will be consolidated with the relevant occupational qualifications.

For more information please contact me
Des Squire (Director) Applied Management Studies International (Pty) Ltd
011 646 9369 or dsquire@amsi.co.za

Attachments:

• QCTO- Frequently asked questions.docx, 26 KB

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Permalink Reply by Debra Bekker on May 26, 2009 at 11:57am

Hi Andrew

On the 23rd of June there will be a workshop about the QCTO and the OFO at the Townhouse Hotel in Cape Town. If you need any further information, please email me at debra@eclipse1.co.za.

Kind regards

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