SAQA
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South African Qualifications
Authority
An authority established in terms of the
South
African Qualifications Authority Act (No. 58 of 1995) with the
express
purpose of establishing, implementing and monitoring the National
Qualifications Framework.
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NQF
|
National Qualifications Framework
An integrated national framework for
learning
achievements that sets out to recognise all qualifications,
learning programs
and informal learning on standardised levels, as per the framework
following
this table. New qualifications and unit standards are accredited
according to
these levels through ETQA bodies.
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NSB
|
National Standards Bodies
In the NQF learning is organised into twelve
different fields. An NSB has been established by SAQA for each
field. Amongst
the main functions of NSB is to clearly define the boundaries of
its field of
responsibility, and to recommend the registration of qualifications
and
standards to SAQA. Please note that NSB does not generate standards
or
qualifications, but merely oversee these activities in its
field.
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SGB
|
Standards Generating Bodies
These bodies are associated with the NSBs
and have
among their main functions to generate qualifications and standards
and to
recommend them for accreditation to the associated NSB. They also
set the
criteria for the registration of assessors and moderators.
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SDL
|
Skills Development Levies
Fund the operations of SETAs through a
levy payable
by every employer with a payroll exceeding R500,000 per year.
Contributions
are currently calculated as 1% of taxable income of all employees,
and are
collected by the South African Revenue Services. An employer is
registered as
a member of one of twenty-five economic sectors (or sub-fields of
the fields
for which NSBs have been established) identified by the Skills
Development
Levies Act.
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NSF
|
National Skills Fund
20% of all skills development levies go to
the
Department of Labour’s National Skills Fund. It is used to develop
and
improve the skills of target groups within the workforce, including
the unemployed,
the disabled, or learning schemes in line with Government
priorities. Funds
for special projects may be sourced from the NSF by SETAs.
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SETA
|
Sector Education and Training
Authority
A SETA for each of the twenty-five
identified
economic sectors – or sub-fields – was established initially in
accordance
with the Skills Development Act, but have since been reduced to
twenty-three
as a result of amalgamations.
SETAs receive the remaining 80% of the
levies paid
by employers registered as members of that economic sector. SETAs
main
functions are to oversee learning activities in their specific
sector, to
promote learnerships, to promote the development and accreditation of
learning programs and to perform quality assurance and certification
functions.
Part of the 80% skills development levies
that an
employer pays to his SETA can be claimed back from the SETA if a
workplace
skills plan is developed and implemented.
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AgriSETA
|
Agriculture Sector Education and Training
Authority
The SETA that was established for the
agricultural
sector.
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ETQA
|
Education and Training Quality
Assurance
ETQA bodies have been established by SAQA
to monitor
and ensure the quality of education provided by all learning
providers, and
to ensure that the standard of a qualification can be guaranteed
across the
board. Every SETA has an ETQA manager who is responsible for the
accreditation of service providers and the monitoring of delivery
standards
within the sub-field of that SETA. ETQA managers does not set
standards, but
control and monitor the quality of learning delivery.
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WSP
|
Workplace Skills Plan
A workplace skills plan is submitted
annually by
employers that have more than 50 employees to the SETA that the
employer is
registered with. The WSP indicates the skills development
priorities and
objectives of the employer and states what skills development
activities are
planned for the following year. If the employer pays skills
development
levies and submits a WSP, he receives a mandatory grant from the
SETA, equal
to 15% of the annual skills development levies paid by
him.
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ATR
|
Annual Training Report
An annual training report is submitted by
employers
that submitted a WSP for that year to report on the implementation
of the skills
development activities that were outlined on the WSP. On submission
of an
ATR, the employer becomes eligible to receive a mandatory grant of
a further
35% of the annual skills development levies paid by him.
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ABET
|
Adult Basic Education and Training
Refers to learning programs designed to
develop and
enhance the basic skills of adults. These programs include life
skills,
functional literacy, numeracy and computer literacy.
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OBET
|
Outcomes Based Education and Training
An educational principle where a learner’s
achievements for a specific field, standard or qualification is
measured
according to his competence and skills (ability to do the job),
rather than
his theoretical knowledge or time spent in learning.
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Learnership
|
A learnership is a vocational learning
program. It
combines theory and practice, culminating in a registered
qualification. A
learnership is normally undertaken over a period of one year. A
person who
successfully completes a learnership will have a qualification that
signifies
occupational competence and is recognised throughout the
country.
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Skills Program
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A skills program is a short learning
program that
focuses on one or more unit standards.
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Qualifications
|
Qualifications can be achieved by
completing the
range of unit standards as determined by the SGB for that
qualification, and
achieving the outcomes and competencies of each unit standard
separately. A
qualification can also be achieved by achieving the exit level
outcomes for
the qualification, those being outcomes that are set not for
specific unit
standards, but for a qualification as a whole. It is like passing
matric not
by achieving a pass on each subject, but by being judged to have
the skills,
knowledge and attitude required for a person holding a matric
qualification.
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Unit Standard
|
A building block of a qualification,
identified as
one comprehensive unit of learning. A unit standard can be loosely
compared
to a high school subject or a module in tertiary education.
Achieving a unit
standard may require simply attending a single skills program
(learning
course), or it may require attending a number of courses over a
given period.
Each unit standard has defined outcomes and
competencies that the learner must achieve before he can obtain the
credits
for it, and which are measured against the assessment criteria that
have been
set for each specific outcome.
A unit standard can be compiled by any
expert in the
field. Application for the accreditation and registration of the unit
standard are made to the ETQA manager of the relevant SETA. The
ETQA manager
brings the developed unit standard to the SGB associated with the
SETA. The
SGB determines the NQF level (standard) of the unit standard and
assign the
number of credits that a learner will obtain on the successful
achievement of
the set outcomes.
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Credits
|
The number of credits assigned to a unit
standard is
credited to a learner once he displays a competency in the unit
standard. The
credits can be used as an indicator for the extent of learning
material. The
credit value of a unit standard is determined by the notional hours
for the
completion of the unit standard, ten notional hours being equal to
one
credit.
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Notional Hours
|
Notional hours for a unit standard refer
to the
number of hours that an average learner should require to achieve the
specific outcomes. An indication of the notional hours for a unit
standards
must be given when it is developed, including time spent in formal
learning,
practical learning and assessment.
The time period of a skills program is
calculated
according to the number of credits assigned to the unit standard(s)
covered
by the skills program, with one credit equating to ten notional,
seen as one
day of learning and / or assessment.
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SO
|
Specific Outcomes (Practical
Competency, Skills)
Implies the ability to apply acquired
knowledge
practically in the workplace to achieve a related task. An
observation
checklist relating to the set assessment criteria are used to
assess the
learner’s achievement of the specific outcomes.
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AC
|
Assessment Criteria
The criteria against which the achievement
of the
specific outcomes of a unit standard are measured. Assessment
criteria are
normally set for specific outcomes only, with essential embedded
knowledge
implied in the assessment criteria.
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CCFO
|
Critical Cross-field Outcome
(Reflexive Competency, Attitude)
Refers to the learner’s attitude towards
achieving a
specific task in terms of his ability to apply knowledge and skills
achieved
over a wide range of fields, for example the learner’s ability to
apply life
skills (personal hygiene) and numeracy skills when applying spray
material. It
may also refer to the learner’s ability to apply such skills as
observation
and problem-solving while performing an unrelated task, such as
observing and
solving a problem with irrigation while performing weed
control.
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EEK
|
Essential Embedded Knowledge
(Foundational Competency, Knowledge)
The underlying knowledge that enables a
learner to understand
what he is doing, or in other words the fundamental knowledge
necessary to understand
how specific task should be performed. The assessment of a
learner’s essential
embedded knowledge may be done through a theoretical test, but the
preferred
method is to ask questions while specific outcomes are being
assessed. Worksheets
included in the learner material are also used to re-enforce and test
essential embedded knowledge.
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RPL
|
Recognition of Prior Learning
Recognition of prior learning is aimed at
giving
credit for what learners already know and can do, regardless of
whether this
learning was achieved formally or informally. RPL implies an
assessment of
the learner’s current skills and knowledge against an existing unit
standard
or qualification without requiring the learner to attend a learning
program.
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