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Implementation of the National Qualifications …

Report of the Study Team on the Implementation of the National Qualifications framework Department of Education Department of Labour April 2002. Report of the Study Team on the Implementation of the National Qualifications framework Department of Education Department of Labour April 2002. Department of Education and Department of Labour 2002. ISBN 1-919917-09-8. Copies of this publication can be obtained from: (Department of Labour enquiries). The Government Printing Works Publications Section Private Bag X85. Pretoria 0001. 149 Bosman Street Pretoria Tel: +27 (12) 334 4712/3. (Department of Education enquiries). Directorate: Communication Sol Plaatje House 123 Schoeman Street Pretoria Private Bag X895. Pretoria 0001. Tel: +27 (12) 312 5410. Fax: +27 (12) 324 2110. e-mail: Contents CONTENTS. Executive summary i Preface xiii NQF Study Team xv Acknowledgements xvii PART 1.

Report of the Study Team on the Implementation of the National Qualifications Framework Department of Education • Department of Labour April 2002

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1 Report of the Study Team on the Implementation of the National Qualifications framework Department of Education Department of Labour April 2002. Report of the Study Team on the Implementation of the National Qualifications framework Department of Education Department of Labour April 2002. Department of Education and Department of Labour 2002. ISBN 1-919917-09-8. Copies of this publication can be obtained from: (Department of Labour enquiries). The Government Printing Works Publications Section Private Bag X85. Pretoria 0001. 149 Bosman Street Pretoria Tel: +27 (12) 334 4712/3. (Department of Education enquiries). Directorate: Communication Sol Plaatje House 123 Schoeman Street Pretoria Private Bag X895. Pretoria 0001. Tel: +27 (12) 312 5410. Fax: +27 (12) 324 2110. e-mail: Contents CONTENTS. Executive summary i Preface xiii NQF Study Team xv Acknowledgements xvii PART 1.

2 Chapter 1 Remit and methods of the Study Team 3. Chapter 2 The current status of the NQF 5. Chapter 3 Summary of submissions to the Study Team 21. Chapter 4 International developments 35. Chapter 5 Conceptual framework for Implementation 65. PART 2. Chapter 6 Qualifications and programme issues 77. Chapter 7 Standards setting and quality assurance 91. Chapter 8 Leadership and governance 111. Chapter 9 Resourcing the NQF: funding and capacity 117. PART 3. Chapter 10 Conclusions and recommendations 131. APPENDICES. Appendix A Members of the Study Team 139. Appendix B Terms of reference 141. Appendix C Notes on an introductory meeting 143. Appendix D NQF legislative framework 147. Appendix E Written submissions received 165. Appendix F Bodies consulted 167. Appendix G Documents consulted 171. Appendix H Acronyms and abbreviations 179.

3 Chapter 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Remit and methods of the Study Team 1. The Study Team was given a clear brief by the Ministers of Education and Labour to recommend ways in which the Implementation of South Africa's National Qualifications framework , established in terms of the South African Qualifications Authority Act, 1995 could be streamlined and accelerated. 2. The Study Team undertook a detailed analysis of the current status of the NQF and relevant legislation (chapter 2 and Appendix D), received written and oral submissions from the Departments of Education and Labour, SAQA, statutory bodies and a broad range of role-players (chapter 3), and examined international developments in National Qualifications frameworks (chapter 4). On the basis of this preparatory work, the Study Team formulated seven principles to provide a conceptual framework for its analysis and recommendations (chapter 5).

4 The Study Team's recommendations are clustered in four categories: Qualifications design and Implementation (chapter 6), standards setting and quality assurance (chapter 7), leadership and governance (chapter 8), and resourcing the NQF: funding and capacity (chapter 9). 3. A reader may be struck by the amount and complexity of detail the report contains. This flows from the Study Team's commitment to present as accurately as possible the local and international context of NQF imple- mentation and focus our proposals on the practical details of Implementation . To assist readers to keep in mind the bigger picture, the report follows an iterative three-step process: written and oral submissions are used to identify an area of the NQF where Implementation could be improved;. using the submissions and our understanding of relevant international developments, we propose one or more guiding principles to address the issue; and we make recommendations that would help to streamline the Implementation of the NQF.

5 Current status of the NQF. 4. The concept of an NQF emerged in various policy initiatives of the democratic movement prior to 1994 and was given substance in the National Training Strategy Initiative and the RDP. It was regarded as a major innovation of the new democratic government, aiming to bring all learning under a single framework of outcomes-based standards and Qualifications . The intention was to widen opportunities for learning and enable prior learning, however achieved, to be recognised so that workers and learners could advance either in education and training or in their career paths. The South African Qualifications Authority Act was passed in 1995, with the joint sponsorship of the Ministers of Education and Labour. The Authority began work in 1997 and the National Qualifications framework was established by regulation in 1998.

6 5. The Study Team documents a complex record of activity undertaken by many thousands of South Africans in hundreds of institutions, statutory bodies, organisations and workplaces across the country. By 1999 the SAQA. Executive Officer reported that the NQF is part of the South African psyche . The quality of Implementation must be measured, however, by the extent to which and the manner in which the objectives of the NQF are being achieved. Summary of submissions to the Study Team 6. Without exception, those who made representations to the Study Team supported the overall objectives of the NQF in achieving the transformation of the South African education and training system. 7. However, submissions to the Study Team also indicated strong consensus on many problems of implementing the NQF. There is general dissatisfaction with the pace of Implementation especially in respect to access, progression and redress.

7 The architecture of the NQF, embracing policies, regulations, procedures, structures, and language, is experienced as unduly complex, confusing, time consuming and unsustainable. Concerns with the architecture were linked to uncertainty over the respective responsibilities of SAQA and government Ministers and departments, and a perception among many stakeholders of a lack of leadership at all levels. i Executive Summary 8. The proliferation of bodies responsible for standards setting and quality assurance was strongly criticised. Respondents consider that there is an absence of strategic leadership and co-ordination, and confusion over the respective roles of the sponsoring departments and SAQA. This is compounded by inadequate funding from state resources and over-reliance on donor support, despite this being a flagship project of the democratic government.

8 The Implementation of the NQF depends on the voluntary involvement of citizens in standards setting structures, and this is not considered to be a permanent recipe for success. Governance structures are criticised for being slow and indecisive. Respondents consider that this stems from a misplaced application of the stakeholder principle and failure to give expertise its due. Strong tensions have developed as a result of the overlapping roles of quality assurance bodies accredited by SAQA. 9. Both the DoE and DoL assert that strategic priorities for the NQF must be set, but they present mirror-image perceptions of the current threats to the education and training system from the institutional machinery of NQF Implementation . DoL fears that the band ETQAs are seeking undue influence over career focused training, in which they (and the formal system of provision they represent) have little if any experience.

9 According to DoL, quality assured standards and Qualifications for labour market related, career focused training are the particular mandate of the SETAs. By contrast, DoE fears that the financial power of the SETAs is already unduly influencing providers in the direction of unit standards-based Qualifications without regard for the National policies and plans of the Ministry of Education. Nevertheless each department is against both academic drift and vocational drift in the design of standards and Qualifications . 10. The briefing, submissions and consultations demonstrated that there was strong agreement about the key factors that were impeding Implementation , and a growing understanding of the basic concepts and practices that were an integral part of implementing South Africa's NQF. Despite this broad consensus, the Study Team found that when people speak of the NQF it was not always clear exactly what was meant.

10 Four distinct but related meanings could be distinguished: the set of approved unit standards and Qualifications , level descriptors and quality assurance guidelines that make up the framework ;. all the activities of SAQA;. the activities of the whole range of partners and stakeholders involved in development and delivery of standards and Qualifications ;. the achievement of all the objectives of the NQF: an integrated framework of learning achievements, and improved access, mobility, progression, quality, redress and development. 11. The Study Team's view is that the NQF is an important part of the South African system of education and training. It is a means, closely dependent on other means, for achieving major improvements in the education and training system and in so doing accelerating transformation of the nation's human resource base.


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