The FET band is fed by NQF Level 1 and ABET level 4, equivalent to grade 9 at school. The learner who completes an FET qualification, graduates after three years with an NQF level 4 qualification, the full equivalent of the senior certificate, but with a practical vocational qualification that can mean immediate employability. At the same time, the curricula of the NC Vocational have been designed to permit qualified students to access higher education, so they are not handicapped educationally, and without further opportunities.

 

From 2007 the vocational education scenario changes. The old Nated “N” courses are being phased out progressively and replaced by the National Certificate (Vocational) which allows specialisation in what are currently 11 fields. From January 2007 it will no longer be possible to enrol for N1 & NIC courses.

 

The NC Vocational is based on OBE (Outcomes Based Education) principles. Each year is a separate NQF (NQF Levels 2,3 & 4) certificate and after three years a successful student will achieve a vocational qualification at NQF level 4.

 

This provides learners who do not intend going to University with an opportunity to acquire a relevant qualification in a vocational field. Instead of continuing past grade 9 in the school system to get a Senior Certificate from a school, learners can get a vocational qualification. FET graduates will have a much better prospect of employment (including self-employment).

 

The National Department of Education funds Vocational education.

The difference between vocational and occupational qualifications is the breadth of it. Occupational qualifications is a degree of specialisation.

 

In the new education and training landscape the Department of Labour, via the SETAs, funds Occupational training.

 

Occupational training is based on the National Qualifications Framework (the NQF) and the qualifications are registered with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Credits carefully selected over time will add up to a full qualification. Furthermore, learners with working experience obviously have acquired some level of competence in the workplace already. For many qualifications it is possible to undergo a formal process of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) that will give them credit for the knowledge and competence that they have obtained through their experience.

NQF – based training ends with a summative assessment in which the learner, if successful, is declared competent and the outcome is registered in the National Learner Record Database (NLRD).

Recapatilisation of FET Institutions

The government is investing some R2bn over a three year period to upgrade and improve the resources available in the FET College sector. This is linked to the introduction of the new National Certificate Vocational (NCV). At the same time proposals are being considered that are intended to improve the funding model for FET Colleges, and to change the legislative framework. The proposed FET College Bill was tabled in parliament during 2006.

 

A learnership is very similar to the older apprenticeship system (which has never been withdrawn and is still supported by certain SETAs). In this system, work experience in the workplace is supplemented by formal training at the College.

A learnership is a formal contract. The SETA funds it, the employer is the custodian of the learnership (with responsibility for the learners) and Port Elizabeth College provides the theoretical component and spesialised practicals (because not all of the companies have all of the equipment needed).

 

Skills programmes are credits that are usually based on NQF unit standards and that could (if carefully chosen) add up to a qualification once one has accumulated that requisite number of credits. Though legislation permits SETA to fund skills courses that are not NQF based, it is the policy of Colleges to offer only courses based on NQF unit standards (except where life enrichment courses are concerned).