SETA Accreditation

Kaleidoprax can at last announce that its three Literacy Learning Programmes at ABET levels 1, 2 & 3 have been approved by the ETDPSETA after an extensive development process of practical Facilitator- and Assessment Guides for optimal learning quality.

Here is an article that sheds more light on the accreditation issue:

The Accreditation-dilemma

by Zerelde Uys

It is perhaps necessary to clarify the aspect of Accreditation and Programme Approval as part of the requirements of procurement departments, or in tender processes for the purpose of delivering an ABET Learning programme.

In the past, all ABET programmes were required to be quality assured by Umalusi. For this purpose, providers of adult learning programmes had to submit evidence of their capacity to operate as a provider of learning according to SAQA requirements and were duly registered. This is the same as the procedure to be followed when applying for Training Provider Accreditation with any SETA in terms of the organisation (QMS, Financial - and Administrative system with suitable equipment and premises as required from a responsible provider of learning).

Umalusi however, did not approve the learning programme itself, explaining why all ABET providers were issued Provisional Accreditation Status year by year.

The IEB (Independent Examinations Board) function as the ‘ETQA’ by assessing and awarding the credits of learners participating in ABET programmes. Such assessment is done through the writing of standardised examinations in registered assessment centres. To participate and award learner credits, a provider therefore has to be accredited by Umalusi as well as registered with the IEB. It is also important to note that only full qualifications in each of the ABET levels can lead to a certificate of recognition for the learner. This means successful passing of the exams in all three learning areas – Communication, Numeracy and Life Skills.

Around the beginning of 2011, SAQA had completed their negotiations with ETDP’s ETQA to take responsibility for the quality assurance of the ABET unit standards. These unit standards can now be viewed on the NLRD (via SAQA website) indicating such.

This opened the opportunity to offer ABET programmes and assess learners from the same platform as all other adult learning programmes – an accredited provider with a duly approved learning programme offers the training and assesses the learner through portfolio of evidence evaluation. Moderation and verification is performed as per the organisation’s QMS, learners awarded the credits for the unit standards and uploaded to the NLRD accordingly.

Because the outcomes for each ABET level (listen, speak, read and write) are described in three unit standards for the Literacy proficiency, the learner improving his proficiency level in Literacy can therefore be awarded the credits and receive the Statement of Results on successful completion of the programme and demonstration of competency. This learner does not have to complete the other two learning areas as well before qualifying for reward by certification.

Kaleidoprax has opted to integrate the alignment to the three unit standards per level in one short course delivery for Literacy in each ABET level. On completion of each of the 80 hour programmes, the learner will have collected evidence of competence through formative assessments, together with oral demonstrations as part of the summative portfolio. Learners are prepared in specific interventions for the final summative assessment which resembles the same format as would an IEB examination paper. This may be assessed and will serve as summative assessment to demonstrate competence, or a provider may choose to still have learners sit for the IEB exam. They will be prepared at the same level.

Why take this route?

Optimise own SETA accreditation, administrative- and quality management system.
Assess learners through a variety of methods for language proficiency.
Minimise adult anxiety in terms of examination conditions.
Provide opportunity to improve only language proviciency if so needed and still reward learners in short-course context.
Opportunity to customise delivery to workplace context and still assess the proficiency levels as per the unit standard criteria.
If no qualification is awarded, no Umalusi registration needed, only SETA accreditation to comply.
The opportunity to focus on provision of a bridging programme to prepare learners for entry into NQF 1 qualifications.

The core of the Hands-on English programmes were designed and developed by Hough & Horne and offered with great success in the past. Hough & Horne was an accredited Umalusi provider of adult education for eight years. Learning material were IEB approved and many providers purchased the workbooks and offered the programmes. During the course of 2010, as Kaleidoprax took over the management of Hough & Horne programmes, we also encountered the challenge to keep our provider accreditation without offering any programmes directly to learners.

With Umalusi not approving programmes, and us not directly providing delivery, we could not be accommodated in the current system. We posed the question to SAQA on how to keep providing the learning material whilst providing our clients with the assurance of compliance. The developments in terms of ETDQA responsibilities therefore suited us well, especially being an ETDP provider with full accreditation status ourselves. We immediately took up the development of the Assessment Guide with formative and summative activities, as well as the development of a detailed Facilitator Guide to compliment the learning. The three Literacy Learning Programmes aligned to ABET levels 1 – 3 were all approved in August 2011.

Our programmes now require the Facilitator to be a registered Assessor and our Induction programme includes the outcomes of the assessor unit standard 115753. Facilitators are trained to be assessors within the context of ABET learning and evidence are offered for credit award. We find it an excellent opportunity to demonstrate process and procedure of delivery within the NQF landscape.

Click on the links below to download the PDF versions of the approval documents from ETDP Seta: