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BUSINESS AND TRAINING
Understanding transitional
arrangements for qualifications
The newly introduced occupational qualifications by the Quality Council
for Trades Occupations (QCTO) has created a lot of anxiety and panic.
By Dikeledi Molatoli
Government has introduced a number of initiatives
and incentives for training providers and employers,
to try and mitigate and meet the major challenge of
unemployment facing millions of young South Africans.
TRANSITION FROM NQF QUALIFICATIONS TO
OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICA TIONS
QCTO has provided guidelines on how the transition from
NQF qualifications should and will be addressed.
Firstly, the old, or what was called ‘historically registered
qualifications’, will be replaced by ‘occupational
qualifications’ registered on the Occupational
Qualifications Sub-framework (OQSF).
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BY AFFECTED PARTIES
Skills development providers (SDPs), plumbers, and artisans
have been in a state of panic due to the fear that the ‘old
qualifications’ are no longer recognised. Some employers
have started to not recognise these qualifications.
While the non-recognition may be the ultimate
impending situation resulting from the new policy
framework, it is however important to note that
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
These changes happened in line with the new
regulations in the Skills Development Act, 1998
(Act No. 97 of 1998), as amended and gazetted
through various regulation amendments, the latest
being the Trade Test Regulations introduced on 8
May 2015, and the subsequent policy formulations
and strategies introduced by the Department of
Higher Education and Training, to bring about
a shift towards creating a strong link between
training and skills development as well as work
and enterprise development.
this should not be an automatic assumption, since
there are urgent steps that should be taken for
consideration by both the people who qualified under
the old dispensation, and the SDPs themselves, to
meet the requirements of the new regulations. Until
such steps and verification are made by the QCTO,
it would be unwise to work on assumptions.
Qualifications with end date 31 March 2018
and those with end date 30 June 2018
The following facts are applicable:
• Qualifications reaching their end date will be
deactivated on the SAQA system.
• Enrolments can still happen, though, until what
is called a ‘teach-out process’ has been reached
according to the (N + 2) period, with the ‘N’
calculated as the duration of the qualification in
terms of the number of years of the qualification.
• SDPs currently accredited for registered
qualifications with end dates of 31 March 2018 and
31 June 2018 may, however, still enrol students up
to 3 March 2019 and 31 June 2019, respectively
(as per last date of enrolment).
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October 2018 Volume 24 I Number 8