THE ARTICULATION CHALLENGE

1. THE ARTICULATION CHALLENGE Presentation by Adrienne Bird (Outgoing Acting CEO:QCTO)

2. GG 3488323 December 2011 �It is clear that sufficient articulation of the proposed sub-frameworks has not yet been achieved although the need is recognised in all three draft documents. The public is especially requested to give advice on how articulation may be improved. Our integrated NQF must facilitate the greatest possible degree of mobility for learners and workers through our systems of learning, and in particular must lubricate the development of an integrated post-school system.� Minister Nzimande

3. Articulation deals with boundaries � and how to navigate them

4. Options in the Green Paper: Are these articulation options?

5. 5 core issues: Differences substantial or linguistic & historic only? General, academic or general formative education �General vocational� vs. �Vocational vs. �Occupational� �Nested� vs. �National� qualifications �Vocational� vs. �professional� �Work Integrated Learning� vs. �Work Experience Component�

6. Core issue1: General, academic or general formative education The problem? Here there is no problem. Progress from school to university clear. All agree that such learning is important and that it should constitute the principle core of schooling and a sizeable component of university learning. Discipline / subject based. Foundation for, and progression to, the generation of new knowledge (research) or the reproduction of such learning (teachers and lecturers).

7. Core issue1: General, academic or general formative education

8. Core issue 2: �General vocational� vs. �Vocational vs. �Occupational� The problem? How do �vocational� programmes articulate with �occupational� ones? Definition in GP suggests one broad other occupation specific (GP, p. 1) But distinction does not hold in many cases: vocational and occupational qualifications have very similar purposes: consider the NCV and �occupational qualifications� below level 4 and Higher Certificates and �occupational qualifications at level 5 for example:

9. But consider the purpose of the NCV vs Occupational Qualification NCV: �This � qualification signifies that the learner has attained �the necessary knowledge, practical skills, applied competence and understanding required for employment at an intermediate level of a particular occupation or trade, or class of occupations or trades�. In addition, the (NC(V)) contributes towards equipping learners for citizenship, and for the workplace� (GG 34883) The purpose of an �occupational qualification� is to qualify a learner to practice an occupation � and is a qualification associated with a trade, occupation or profession resulting from work-based learning and consisting of knowledge unit standards, practical unit standards and work experience unit standards� (Definition)

10. The purpose of the Higher Certificate vs Occupational Qualification Higher Certificate: �primarily vocational, with a strong industry-oriented focus. � the student has attained a basic level of higher education knowledge and competence in a particular field or occupation and is capable of applying (it) in an occupation or role in the workplace. The HC typically includes a simulated work experience or work integrated learning component� (GG 34883, p. 71) Occupational Qualification: (as above) with knowledge, practical and work experience components appropriate to level on NQF (Level 5 in this case) Similar alignment problem with proposed Further Certificate from Umalusi and proposed NCV Level 5 in the GP � all same purpose.

11. Green Paper ambiguous: 2 options Keep the two apart as �it is difficult to draw a clear line between vocational and occupational qualifications, the differences are nonetheless important� since �many vocational qualifications have considerable components of general education, which will not fit well in the QCTO. There is a great danger that the important academic content of such qualifications will be diluted� OR 2. Put them together under a single umbrella which �overcomes the problem of demarcating between occupational and vocational qualifications� (Green Paper, p. 76). Are they sufficiently different to warrant location on separate sub-frameworks?

12. How appropriate are these �academic� elements in vocational qualifications? �Success on the NCV is generally poor, as demonstrated by the 4% throughput rate of the 2007 cohort which completed the qualification in 2009. The drop-out rate in colleges is estimated to range between 13% and 25% per annum, the highest levels being evidenced in Level 2 of the� NCV.� (Green Paper, p. 22) The Green Paper then proceeds to give as one option: �the NCV should be aimed primarily at students who have completed Grade 9. The curriculum may need to be simplified.� (GP, p. 22) Also less then 65% of NCV get workplace after qualifying (p.26) Should the �knowledge component� of occupational qualifications not be strengthened somewhat and the �academic component� of NCV�s be �simplified�? And workplace learning strengthened? If so, where is the difference?

13. Similar problems with new, proposed qualifications E.g. Purpose statement for proposed Elementary Certificate (similar to Intermediate p.42, National Independent Certificate p. 44 and Further Certificate p.48 ): �In prospect, the Elementary Certificate, provides an alternative qualification for adults at this level, and is designated to fulfil needs similar to the NC(V) but provides greater flexibility to deal with divergent learning needs. This qualification specifically anticipates the need for articulation with artisan- and other occupational training in order to accommodate learners, already in employment who require formal additional skills� (p. 40) NOTE: Elementary Certificate is 120 credits (p. 39).

14. Align the two qualifications directly for automatic articulation

15. And similarly at levels five and six: for automatic articulation

16. Proposal: Merge Occupational and Vocational qualifications together Level 4 and below: two options as shown above (one with F no WE, other with WE no F) Level 5 and Level 6: merge (with knowledge component appropriate to the level on which it is registered). One vocational qual. �type� Note: from level 7 and above knowledge component �so big� it takes up the space of the whole qualification and WIL follows (cf �stage two� of engineering qualification).

17. Core issue 3: �Nested� vs. �National� qualifications Problem? You cannot align occupational qualifications to HEQF qualifications because the OQF are �national� and HEQF qualifications are �nested�. This means it is impossible to articulate from one to the other without �CAT� which is time-consuming and is anyway restricted by 50% rule! Learners will have to �start again� if they want to change tracks! Or undergo RPL!

18. CHE �nested� model

19. But not all HE qualifications are IN FACT �nested� Qualifications that open doors to the professions have to be quality assured by professional bodies; Professional bodies set national, minimum standards to be met by providers �Nested�, provider specific qualifications that do not meet their prescriptions do not qualify graduates to proceed to attain professional designation (e.g. recent accounting �spat�) Not only Universities, also UOTs have many programmes quality assured by professional bodies � between 60 and 70% of UOT programmes! The distinction between �nested� and �national� needs to be made explicit on the HEQF so that articulation can be achieved without CAT for professions and vocations.

21. SAQA Policy and Criteria:

22. The link between occupational and professional needs clarification Option three in the GP proposes putting professional qualifications with QCTO This is logical and can address certain �protectionist practices� concerns raised in GP; However tradition gives CHE the authority over �stage one� qualifications. Proposal may apply to �stage two� i.e. �professional awards� for application of knowledge and work experience cf. ECSA pilot project. Requires system level solution � otherwise protectionist practices could go unchecked.

23. Core issue 4: �Vocational� vs. �professional� Problem: Vocational students struggle to progress to attain �professional qualification� � start again! CHE draws this distinction in their recent publication �A Framework for Qualification Standards in Higher Education� (November 2011); They propose that there are three pathways: �vocational, professional, general� � with vocational focused on �contextual knowledge�, general on �general formative knowledge� and professional in between - but does the distinction between vocational and professional hold?

24. [3] �Vocational� vs. �professional� �It is in the nature of higher education that qualifications in its realm are based on the premise that a conceptual base of knowledge � lays the groundwork for, and precedes, the application of such knowledge to the skills and applied competence that would be required of a graduate in the workplace. Such qualifications can be distinguished from other qualifications � for which workplace-based needs, skills and applied competence provide the rationale and experiential basis for the institutionally-grounded knowledge that serves to conceptualize, justify and enhance such skills and applied competence. This implies two different approaches to the award of a qualification: one, from a conceptually-grounded (institutional) identification of a knowledge base necessary for contextual application and, two, from a contextually-grounded (workplace) identification of a skills and applied competence base that, through the qualification, is bolstered by a conceptual underpinning. (CHE, 2011, p. 15)

26. �Vocational� vs. �professional� Consider how professional bodies work: They set minimum criteria for provider accreditation The criteria they set refer to workplace as well as knowledge requirements (even if they are solving problems from �first principles� � the selection of which principles they must learn is derived from the range of problems they are likely to solve) The difference is of degree not an absolute difference. The distinction is not of �starting point� (knowledge vs. workplace) rather the difference is one of level. So: proposal one professional / vocational pathway!

27. �Vocational� vs. �professional� If professions and vocations are on the same ladder - at what level does a vocation becomes a profession? Answer: When the knowledge load required for the �profession� requires a full, stand alone knowledge/theory qualification before application is practised (engineering = �stage one� then �stage two�; medical qualification blends the two). This distinction is used by the CHE itself: �� the HEQF attempts a limited differentiation between qualifications, mainly through the presence or absence of the need for a �typical� inclusion of work-integrated learning , for example differentiation in workplace emphasis between a diploma and a degree �� (CHE 2011, p.36, emphasis added) Vocation up to level 6, profession at higher levels

28. Core issue five: �Work Integrated Learning� vs. �Work Experience Component� Work integrated learning is �typically� included in Higher Certificates, Advanced Certificates and Diplomas for HEQF (GG.34883, p. 71, 73, 74) The purposes of these qualifications are very similar to occupational qualifications Similarly WL proposed for Further Certificate by Umalusi (p. 48) Should these too not be brought into alignment?

29. [5] �Work Integrated Learning� vs �Work Experience Component�

30. WIL recommendation It is proposed that where the purpose of a national qualification is vocational or professional performance, then WIL should be QCTO or professional body accredited so that learners attain the greatest possible number of credits toward the attainment of the requirements for designation or, in the case of QCTO, occupational qualification. WIL should be workplace-based NOT institution-based variants. NOT WIL if institution-based. The responsibility for securing WIL is more complex and requires partnerships � not just institution responsibility (bring in SETAs in systemic way e.g. employer requirement for PIVOTAL grant � )

31. GP concludes with the following statement: �Finally the Green Paper argues for a simpler NQF. � The governance arrangements that pertain to quality assurance and standard setting are not yet optimal for the envisaged post-school system and must be re-examined� (p. 84) If the above 5 propositions are accepted, a very much simpler NQF results: Consider the following and what it means for what we have got now �