Getting Qualified with NQF

First you learn and then you earn! That is how the saying goes.

It is vitally important to get qualified in today's job market, not just in South Africa - the whole world over.

Today I am going to show you a bit about how the NQF - National Qualifications Framework of South Africa works. As both a learner in the field of Refrigeration and as a Safety Officer I come into contact with the way that the law is written regarding both competency and how SAQA, NQF and the Department of Labour integrate with each other.

What the Law says:

Without getting into exhaustive detail let me quote some law here:

Construction Regulations
GNR.84 of 7 February 2014

1. Definitions
"competent person" means a person who-
(a) has in respect of the work or task to be performed the required knowledge, training and experience and, where applicable, qualifications, specific to that work or task: Provided that where appropriate qualifications and training are registered in terms of the provisions of the National Qualifications Framework Act, 2000 (Act No. 67 of 2000), those qualifications and that training must be regarded as the required qualifications and training; and
(b) is familiar with the Act and the applicable regulations made under the Act

Translation into easily understandable terms

First off the idea to understand from this definition is that "competency" is defined as a combination of knowledge, training and experience. What this cold hard law does not explain to you is that you can have three candidates who are all equally competent:

Candidate A has a college certificate and 4 years of experience
Candidate B has a Bachelors Degree and little to no practical experience
Candidate C has no official certifications and has 10 years of experience

All three of these Candidates can be deemed "competent persons". As a Health and Safety Officer, I can conduct a PTO (Planned Task Observation) in order to evaluate the performance of each of the Candidates or as a Group. There is so much more that goes into that task but I can leave that off for another time.

Where applicable however, certain tasks may ONLY be performed by a person with appropriate qualifications. This qualification needs to be registered under NQF. Example: Only a qualified electrician can sign a Certificate of Compliance on a Distribution Board, which can then legally be submitted to City Council for record.

Because this law references to another law, I have obtained that law and read it as well.

The gist of it is this: The Minister of the Department of Labour can (and has) appoint a governing body to manage the National Qualifications Framework.

This task, in writing, in law, has been delegated to SAQA - South African Qualifications Association. It is their duty then to prescribe the requirements for various qualifications.

Unit Standards

Under the NQF, learning has been divided into different Unit Standards, abbreviated as U/S. Each of these U/S are components of knowledge required for a certain qualification. Often one U/S is a requirement of more than one Qualification and I will get back to that later...

If you pursued a certain Qualification under the NQF then there will be a minimum requirement of credits you will need to obtain in order to gain your Certificate or Diploma. Some qualifications require a trade examination which may include either or both a written summitive assessment and a practical assessment.

Each Unit Standard awards you with 1-5 credits towards your total score.

Unit Standards also come in three varieties:

Core - A U/S that MUST be taken for a certain Qualification
Fundamental - An underlying Fundamental, usually majority of the Fundamentals are required to make up enough credits for your overall requirement.
Elective - These are not compulsory but there is a variety to choose from in order to make up your credits, these are chosen by the assessors according to what Standards would add the most value to the learners.

The overlap of U/S to Qualifications

Some Unit Standards are only used in a single Qualification.

An example of this is: U/S 116236 - Define and explain the principles of thermodynamics and carry out basic calculations involving heat

This is a Core Module for the Qualification, SAQA ID: 65449 - National Certificate: Air-conditioning, Refrigeration and Ventilation

There are no other Qualifications that use it and as such, when you study it, it better be for that one qualification.

Some Unit Standards, primarily Fundamental types, are used across many different types of Qualifications. To give an example, there is - U/S 7469 - Use mathematics to investigate and monitor the financial aspects of personal and community life

This Unit Standard will be an component for every Qualification from Agri Trade Process to Yacht Building. It has a broad range of application.

RPLs - Recognition of Prior Learning

What is great about the NQF system is that in order to gain a certain Qualification all you need to do is attain the correct credits, supply the evidence that you have done them, have the experience and you can use your previously learned Unit Standards to pursue another Qualification as well.

By the time I finish my NQF3 level Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Learnership I will have a wide variety of U/S under my belt that I can use to gain other Qualifications.

For instance, if I decided that I want to pursue the certificate: SAQA ID 23277 - National Certificate: Mechanical Engineering: Machining, then I would already be in possession of 58 out of the minimum 151 credits required to gain this Qualification!

One third of the way in!

Conclusion

If you are not in University, studying for a major degree and have a future set in mind for it, do remember that there are a whole swathe of practically applied qualifications in existence without which the economy cannot operate.

When the University trains up someone with a PHD or a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, who is going to put the Engineering plans into working? Not the person with the University degree. You will need Electricians and Boilermakers and a few more besides that are qualified in reading, understanding and building the systems drawn up by Consulting Engineers, which is where a lot of these Engineering graduates go to.

The qualified artisans are an indispensable level in the system and therefore have job security.

Therefore gaining a Qualification like the one I am pursuing is a great step in the correct direction for me. I will keep at it with utmost dedication.

Next time I will discuss in depth what I need to do in my upcoming year's learnership.