NQF Sub-Structures

The NQF standards setting and quality assurance processes embrace two basic tenets:

Knowledge, relevant for the current world, is created through partnerships between and amongst varied groupings in society, from academics and researchers to business, from workers to professional experts, from government to community organisations, from learners to professors i.e. knowledge creation is no longer the preserve of narrowly-defined groups of ‘experts'

The national system of education must balance the need for quality education for all its citizens with the need for flexibility to cater for the wide-ranging circumstances that face learners and the wide-ranging options in what constitutes relevant education and qualifications i.e. a balance between society's needs and the needs of the individual.

The first of these tenets is addressed in the structures that SAQA has in place. SAQA itself is made up of representatives from education and training stakeholders in South Africa. Consultative Panels are made up of subject matter experts as well as qualifications experts taking due consideration of representivity. SGB members are nominated from key education and training stakeholder interest groups and experts in the sub-field, again recognising that relevant knowledge creation is brought about through discussion on a broader front by experts.

The NQF's commitment to outcomes-based education and training as the means for bringing about systemic change in the nature of the education and training system in South Africa addresses the second tenet. By describing national standards and qualifications in terms of learning outcomes through a participatory process, the NQF is placing the national demands in respect of quality, before the citizens of the country. No longer can the nation tolerate a situation where the range of competence that exists between holders of the same qualification is so wide that the employers of the qualifying students cannot be sure of what the competences are; no longer can the nation tolerate discrimination against learners on the basis of perceptions of what their competences are; no longer can the nation afford to ignore global standards in qualifications. In short, the learning outcomes, standards and qualifications, must be clear so that there is no doubt as to what is expected of qualifying learners.

By the creation of Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs), SAQA has recognised that delivery of the standards and qualifications is the preserve of the professional providers and learners and other key stakeholders in the field. Different qualifications and standards will make different demands on curriculum development and delivery, on assessment and teaching. SAQA's concern is not in ensuring that all providers follow a national programme of delivery but rather in ensuring that the learners who are awarded a registered NQF-qualification or standard are able to demonstrate the learning outcomes of the qualification or standard in accordance with the described criteria and requirements.

SAQA therefore will not register learning programmes on the NQF; however ETQAs will evaluate the learning programmes of different providers in a process of accreditation, thereby assuring learners and other users of the system that any learner who has been deemed successful after participating in that learning programme, has displayed the learning outcomes required for that qualification or standard. The best group for ensuring that this will be the case, is a body made up of representatives of stakeholders, active in the area of the qualification or standard i.e. the ETQA which has that area as its primary focus. For that reason, in respect of its quality assurance functions, an ETQA must have national stakeholder representation at decision- making level, which representation shall ensure public accountability and transparency.

SAQA has two ‘arms' i.e. Standards Setting and Quality Assurance. The sub-structures in the standards setting arm are the Consultative Panels and the Standards Generating Bodies (SGBs), while the sub-structures in the quality assurance arm are the Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs). SAQA may choose to appoint moderating bodies if it deems it necessary. The functions of SAQA are set out in the SAQA Act and have already been outlined above. The functions of the NSBs(which were subsequently replaced by the Consultative Panels) and SGBs are set out in the Regulations under the South African Qualifications Authority Act (Act No. 58 of 1995): NSBs, Government Gazette No. 18787 (28 March 1998) while the criteria for accreditation and the functions of the ETQAs as well as providers of education are set out in the Regulations under the South African Qualifications Authority Act (Act No. 58 of 1995): ETQAs, Government Gazette No. 19231 (8 September 1998).

In the NQF all learning is placed into twelve organising fields as Follows:
Organising Field 01: Agriculture and Nature Conservation
Organising Field 02: Culture and Arts
Organising Field 03: Business, Commerce and Management Studies
Organising Field 04: Communication Studies and Language
Organising Field 05: Education, Training and Development
Organising Field 06: Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology
Organising Field 07: Human and Social Studies
Organising Field 08: Law, Military Science and Security
Organising Field 09: Health Science and Social Services
Organising Field 10: Physical, Mathematical, Computer and Life Sciences
Organising Field 11: Services
Organising Field 12: Physical Planning and Construction

Standards Settings Quality Assurance

The functions of the Directorate Standards Setting and Development include the following:

Defining and recommending to SAQA the boundaries of the field and, within this, a framework of sub-fields;
Recognising or establishing SGBs within the framework of sub-fields, and ensuring that the work of the SGBs meets SAQA requirements;
Recommending the registration of qualifications and standards to SAQA;
Overseeing the update and review of qualifications and standards;
Liaison with ETQAs;
Defining requirements and mechanisms for the moderation of standards and qualifications.

The function of the Consultative Panels is to evaluate qualifications and standards.
The functions of SGBs include the following:

Generating standards and qualifications in accordance with the Authority requirements in identified sub-fields and levels;
Updating and reviewing standards;
Recommending standards and qualifications to NSBs;
Recommending criteria for the registration of assessors and moderators or moderating bodies.

An ETQA may be established in a social sector, in an economic sector or in an education and training sub-system sector. The principle of minimum duplication will apply in the establishment of ETQAs i.e. an ETQA is accredited in respect of its primary focus, based upon its association with the sector, so that its functions do not duplicate the functions of an existing ETQA.
The functions of ETQAs include the following:

Accrediting providers;
Promoting quality amongst constituent providers;
Monitoring provision;
Evaluating assessment and facilitating moderation among constituent providers;
Registering assessors;
The certification of learners
Co-operating with relevant moderating bodies;
Recommending new standards or qualifications to NSBs or modifications to existing standards and qualifications;
Maintaining a database;
Submitting reports to SAQA.

ETQAs do not set standards; they assure the quality delivery and assessment of registered standards and qualifications.
Furthermore an ETQA may not be a provider; its primary function is to assure the quality of provision and assessment of providers it has accredited.
In seeking accreditation from ETQAs, providers will have to fulfill the following criteria:

Be registered as a provider in terms of applicable legislation;
Have a quality management system;
Be able to develop, deliver and evaluate learning programmes which culminate in specified NQF qualifications or standards;
Have the necessary financial, administrative and physical resources;
Have policies for staff selection, appraisal and development; for learner entry, guidance and support systems; for the management of off-site practical or work-site components; for the management of assessment;
Have necessary reporting procedures;
Have the ability to achieve the desired outcomes using available resources and procedures.

SAQA recognises the need for accommodating providers in the system that do not meet all the criteria for accreditation. In such cases SAQA allows for provisional accreditation during which time the provider shall undergo a programme of development which is designed to enable the provider to meet the required criteria for accreditation. Furthermore provisional accreditation will only be granted if the interests of the learner are protected during the development period.

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