Vijayen Naidoo, QCTO CEO
The announcement of the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF) Policy of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) on 29 October 2021 is a big step forward for job training in South Africa. Until this revised OQSF is gazetted, all Occupational Qualifications are restricted to being classified as Occupational Certificates. This article touches on some of the ways the revised OQSF is changing the game for Occupational Qualification in South Africa.
The Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF) is the repository for all Occupational/Vocational and Trade qualifications – qualifications designed in and for the workplace. The custodian of this sub-framework is the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) – and the new OQSF gazetting allows vocationally trained graduates more freedom in their choice of further study, as well as direct access to the workplace, if they do not choose further study. A common refrain in the education fraternity is that “qualifications are not jobs” – and while this is true – Occupational Qualifications are designed to connect directly with the workplace with the clear objective that “qualifications lead to jobs”.
If the NQF is intended as a “single integrated framework” of qualifications, the OQSF has become an outlier in the system in terms of differentiated terminology. While qualifications at Level 4 of the NQF are usually National Certificates, until 29 October 2021 qualifications at that level can only be called Occupational Certificates (with appropriate qualifications). In addition, qualifications at Level 6 of the NQF are Diplomas or Advanced Certificates – but before qualifications in the OQSF at this level will again be called Occupational Certificates.
This situation where the OQSF was “not aligned” with the wider NQF terminology has finally been rectified with the gazetting of the revised OQSF policy – and now the OQSF broadly reflects the other sub-framework terminology at each level in the NQF. In many ways, the revised OQSF represents a game-changer for NQF integration.
The changes are more than cosmetic, but with the change in terminology comes a raft of improvements and optimizations to the job training system.
Not least among these is a direct improvement to the level of award equivalence, as it does not need a specialist in the NQF to determine the comparability of Occupational Certificates with other qualifications. Today, the casual observer can easily identify Diplomas appearing in the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) with Occupational Diplomas in the OQSF. Now that the term in the NQF is “matched”, it is no longer possible to see the OQSF as an outlier in that respect. Again, OQSF has changed the game in terms of recognition and recognition for on-the-job training.
The ability to list qualifications in the NQF based on terminology also opens the door for QCTOs to re-examine existing qualifications to ensure they meet the terminology requirements of the new standard. If the name of a qualification moves from Occupational Certificate to Occupational Diploma, for example, the QCTO updates the requirements and content of the qualification to ensure that it meets the Diploma standards that are generally understood in the education system.
It quickly began to attack the challenge of articulation – linking qualifications to allow students to move up the NQF and lifelong learning. If students wish to register for a qualification whose entry requirement is a diploma, they no longer need to provide substantial evidence that an Occupational Certificate at Level 6 of the NQF is equivalent to a Diploma. It should now be listed as an Occupational Diploma – and the question of whether a Diploma is a Diploma is unlikely to arise with any frequency. Indeed, with the revised gazetting of the OQSF, the game has changed for greater articulation of Occupational Qualifications and the NQF.
The revised OQSF also allows for the recognition of Expertise Programs by the QCTO, a class of qualifications similar to a “short course” or a form of “micro-credential”. Where Skills Programs have been in the system for some time, to date they have generally been unsystematic and introduced by the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) specifically to meet immediate skills needs.
While they always provide useful skills and training, these programs are not recognized and are not systematically designed. With the formal incorporation of the Skills Program into the OQSF, it allows this type of micro-qualification to be systematically implemented.
designed, developed quickly and made available to students and the labor market, and so that the program can be recognized which allows the holders of the Expertise Program to be admitted to the full Qualification if they choose. The ability for QCTOs to provide recognized and quality-assured micro-credentials to countries is just another game changer provided by the revised OQSF.
Although OQSF has now changed the game for the better, QCTO is determined to keep going so that the nation can count.