Transcript Occupational Competence: A Curriculum Model

Occupational
Competence: A
Curriculum Model
Santa De Jager and Christoph Vorwerk
German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) –
SDSI
Southern African Society for Co-operative Education,
Vereeniging, South Africa, April 2006
Introduction

South African economy characterised by
acute skills shortages on the one hand and
 high unemployment rates on the other
 considerable uncertainty amongst institutions old
and new (eg, Sector Education and Training
Authorities or SETAs), employers and learners.
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Older models and practices appear to be out
of step
• with the new requirements,
• the new institutions
• the new delivery options such as learnerships.
Purpose of Paper
Present a curriculum model
 Clarify the nature and requirements of
learning required for occupational
competence

part of systemic approach
 based on three modes of learning
 for achieving occupational competence.
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Benefits of model
What is Skills Development?
Skills development is the learning process
leading to occupational competence
 Occupational competence requires application
in context, ie
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work experience in a real-life, real-time working
environment.
Definition:

In this paper the term ‘occupations’ also includes
trades and professions
• See Chapter 2, paragraph 22 of Bill of Rights
Systemic Disconnect

Between labour market and education system
education institutions and training programmes
 employer expectations or labour market needs
on the other
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At different levels of the system
• Macro – policy & strategy
• Meso – partnerships and roles
• Micro – provider, workplace
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Definition
• labour market and workplace
• we mean this in the broadest sense, wherever people
engage in economic and social development activities
No systemic link between the labour
market and NQF
Labour Market
Actors
The ‘Disconnect’
Economy
SETA’s
SGBs
?
Needs
Labour
Market
?
ETQAs
Provider system
Qualifications
Flow of Skills
Prof Bodies
Occupations
Society
SAQA
NQF
The Re-connect
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To reconnect the labour market and the education and training
system, propose the following
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Organising Framework of Occupations
• capture skills development needs
• roles, tasks, changes in occupational patterns
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National Career Path Framework
• Organise occupational groups, show progression, articulation,
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National Qualifications Framework (NQF)
Curriculum Model
• structure education training interventions
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Proposals:
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at a strategic level would be about prioritising scarce and critical
skills
at sectoral level SETAs would structure their incentives in order
to encourage and focus stakeholder and provider efforts
at a local level providers would engage with sites to provide the
requisite work experience
Flow of information, trends, scarce & critical skills priorities
SGBs
Economy
National
Career Path
Framework
Organising
Framework
Occupations
Needs
Labour
Market
NQF
Provider system
Curriculum Model for
Quality assurance, impactOccupational
assessment,Competence
management
Society
Flow of Skills
Occupations
Misconceptions about learnerships
Learnership is a new type of qualification
 Learning only takes place in the workplace
 Occupational competence achieved through
learnerships means an inevitable sacrificing of
academic standards

Learnerships

A learnership is a learning programme which:
consists of a structured learning component;
 includes practical work experience of a specified
nature and duration; and
 results in a qualification registered by the South
African Qualifications Authority, and
 relates to an occupation.

A learnership is one route to an occupational
qualification
Experiential
learning
NationalCertificate
Certificate
NQF
Level
National
NQF
Level
X X
RPL
RPL
Internship
Internship
Experience
Experience
Certificate
Certificate
Course
Course
Courses
Learnership Learnership
2
1
BTech
Skills
Skills
Programmes
Programmes
Courses
Key features of a learnership
Learner is employed and has workplace
exposure during the formal education and
training processes
 The work experience component must be
specified, planned for and assessed
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Key problem in implementing learnerships
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At heart of disconnect at the operational level lies
an implicit theory of provision:
• if I teach people enough of the right things, they will be
able to do these things in context
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Providers view workplace learning as informal,
difficult to codify, therefore impossible to direct
or evaluate.
• as a result experiential learning processes typically
provide only vague guidelines to employers and learners
to acquiring occupational competence
Curriculum model developed to
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Integrate education, training and workplace practice
Bridge between formal education, formal training,
practical training and workplace experience which
lead to integration
Bridge & basis of partnership between
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Provide a common language for the development of
learning programmes with an occupational intent
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public education institutions
private education and training providers
workplaces
improves coherence
Learners achieve occupational competence
Occupational Competence
The ability to perform activities in the jobs within an
occupation, to the standards expected in employment
Three learning
modes required
1. Knowledge
acquisition
(general and
contextual)
2. Development
of
practical skills
3. Workplace
experience
Integration of Education and Training
Curriculum Model
Curriculum Model: Outline
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Collaboration is the key to coherence and integration
The modes of learning need to be linked, woven together
and reflected in the curriculum
Knowledge
Subjects
Topics
Practical skills
General and
occupationally relevant
knowledge and theory
Application
(structured learning)
Specialised and contextual
knowledge & theory
Workplace experience
(practice)
Practical
learning
activities
Products/
services
Knowledge learning component
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Knowledge - a series of topics that can be
clustered into subjects
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must support and underpin, and enable the
learner to successfully engage in, the practical
activities leading to the development of skills.
• Much is applicable to the group of occupations, and
• specialised knowledge applicable to the more specific
occupations and contexts
Practical skills learning component
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Practical activities structured as modules
class room exercises
 laboratory work
 hands on work in workshops
 field trips
 assignments
 Role play, simulation, discussion groups
…
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Work experience
Develops relevant skills applicable to the
occupational competence within a specific
context
 Real-time, real life
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• Experience the uncertainties, the challenges and the
ambiguities
Reasonable period of time is essential
 Results in the development or delivery of
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products or services
 structured as assignments or projects
 under guidance of practitioner
 not just dumped in workplace to sink or swim
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Structure of the Curriculum Model
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Two parts
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Part 1
• the development of a curriculum framework for a group
of related occupations that share similar general theory,
knowledge and basic skills
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Part 2
• the development of curricula for each occupation within
that group
• the identification of specialised and contextual
knowledge components
Applicability of the Model
Programmes for occupational competence not
new, no radical changes required
 What’s new is:
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to define, describe and quality assure learning in
the workplace in relation to the formal learning
processes
 combine institution-based and workplace-based
learning
 flexibility to create programmes which
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• accommodate learners with varying needs based on
prior knowledge or experience
• Adjust to sites and distances from institution
Application of the model
Origin: Further Education and Training sector
(FET) in order to implement learnerships.
 Successfully used to restructure a can-making
apprenticeship into a series of learnerships
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unit standards broken down into the smallest
possible components
 grouped to eliminate duplications
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Developed curriculum
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Clustered horizontally into meaningful units of
learning
• General theory and knowledge topics
• Practical skills modules
• Specialised and contextual knowledge topics
• Work experience modules– ie workplace practice
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Topics and modules were grouped vertically
into ‘subjects
Example
Benefits of the Model
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Same curriculum framework and core content
used
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for a number of related occupations
• Don’t need to develop one for each qualification
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for various different learning programmes
• Learnerships. skills programmes, internships.
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clarifies issues of articulation, portability and
progression
Provides a structure for all role players to
decide on issues related to delivery, funding,
quality assurance, assessment
Work experience
Structure of work experience modules,
assignment or projects
 Title:
 Purpose/Relevance
 Duration
 Outcomes (tasks)
 Methodology
 Evidence Required
 Method of assessment and details of the
assessment process
 List of resources
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Reflections on the process
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Notable gap was that the trade theory subjects
Other gaps non-technical in nature eg basic principles
of business, HIV/AIDs, team work.
 But illustrate the danger of a field of study focused
approach – people skills not in domain of
engineering
Topics under general knowledge and theory & many
practical modules applicable for virtually any process
that manufactures packaging, including glass,
plastics and paper products.
No difficulty in integrating all the product variations
into the overall curriculum
Easy to construct a management system to sequence
learning, allocate responsibilities and review or
develop materials.
Lessons for the Higher Education Sector
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Structures collaborative processes between all components of the
delivery system:
• the curriculum developers, the education and training
practitioners, other specialist training providers the employers,
professional bodies and even the students.
Sufficiently flexible to allow the development of various kinds of
programme arrangement
Facilitates the transition from a teacher-led paradigm to a learnercentred, outcomes- and occupational competence- based paradigm.
Quality assurance of the learning process overall still lies with the
primary institution
• no loss of control when universities of technology engage in skills
development processes
Will improve the credibility of the programme
• thus the student’s ability to enter the occupational context or
employment.
Impact assessment
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National Skills Development Strategy
• Department of Labour, 2005
much greater emphasis on achieving targets
(outcomes) &
 making an impact ie,

• real changes in the labour market
• particularly for vulnerable groups
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SETAs, employers & partnering providers will
have to:
• collect & report more information so that the
government can evaluate and reconfigure policies and
incentives where necessary
Quality assurance – change of focus
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Mouton proposes five reasons for interventions failing:
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The intervention is inappropriate
• not addressing the real problem
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Implementation is poor
• poor quality delivery
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Not all members of the target group receive the intervention as
planned or do not receive the same intervention
• inadequate coverage
• lack of standardisation
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The intervention is appropriate, implementation is good but
implementation is insufficient
• diluted intervention
• insufficient dosage
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The intervention is good, implementation is good and sufficient,
but the target group is not receptive
• lack of minimum necessary conditions for change (Mouton, 2003)
Curriculum model links to an overall quality
assurance system, including
• the
• the
• the
• the
• the
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programme purpose & design
implementation strategy
programme processes and resources
delivery and the learning activities
specific needs of each target population.
Not just the content of the teaching
programme:
• also the purpose, the relevance, and the impact in the
labour market of the programmes
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Key requirements
• responsiveness & relevance
• effectiveness, efficiency
• impact
The curriculum model tool for higher
education institutions to:
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Conceptualise or re-conceptualise work-integrated
learning programmes for the development of practical
skills
Manage of workplace experience and practice
Engage pro-actively & productively with the world of
work
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employers, industry and professional associations, SETAs
and communities)
Re-establish a connection to the labour market
Ensure the quality of education and training in and
for the workplace
Link directly to the national programmes (JIPSA,
NSDS) & contribute to the reduction of skills
shortages & alleviation of un- and under-employment