Occupational Competence: A Curriculum Model

Santa De Jager and Christoph VorwerkGerman Technical Co-operation (GTZ) –

SDSISouthern 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.

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.

Benefits of model

What is Skills Development?

Skills development is the learning process leading to occupational competence

Occupational competence requires application in context, ie 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 At different levels of the system

• Macro – policy & strategy• Meso – partnerships and roles• Micro – provider, workplace

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

Eco

no

my

So

ciety

LabourMarket

Needs

Flow of Skills

?

?

The ‘Disconnect’

Labour MarketActors

Occupations

SETA’s

Prof Bodies

Qualifications

NQF

SGBs

Provider system

ETQAsSA

QA

The Re-connect

To reconnect the labour market and the education and training system, propose the following Organising Framework of Occupations

• capture skills development needs • roles, tasks, changes in occupational patterns

National Career Path Framework• Organise occupational groups, show progression, articulation,

National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Curriculum Model

• structure education training interventions Proposals:

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

Eco

no

my

So

ciety

LabourMarket

Needs

Flow of Skills

Occupations

NQF

Organising Framework Occupations

National Career Path Framework

Curriculum Model for Occupational Competence

SGBs

Provider system

Flow of information, trends, scarce & critical skills priorities

Quality assurance, impact assessment, management

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

National Certificate NQF Level X National Certificate NQF Level X

Learnership1

Skills Programmes

CertificateCourse

Internship

Learnership2 Courses

RPL

Experience

Learnership1

Learnership1

Skills Programmes

Skills

Programmes

CertificateCourse

Internship

CertificateCourse

Internship

Learnership2

Learnership2 Courses

RPL

Experience

Courses

RPL

Courses

RPL

Experience

Exp

eri

en

tial

learn

ing

BTech

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

Key problem in implementing learnerships

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 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

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 public education institutions private education and training providers workplaces

Provide a common language for the development of learning programmes with an occupational intent improves coherence

Learners achieve occupational competence

Occupational Competence

Integration of Education and Training

Three learning modes required

1. Knowledgeacquisition

(general and contextual)

2. Developmentof

practical skills

3. Workplace experience

The ability to perform activities in the jobs within an occupation, to the standards expected in employment

Curriculum Model

Knowledge

General and occupationally relevant knowledge and theory

Specialised and contextual knowledge & theory

Practical skills

Application(structured learning)

Workplace experience(practice)

Subjects

Topics

Practical learning activities

Products/services

Curriculum Model: Outline

Collaboration is the key to coherence and integration The modes of learning need to be linked, woven together

and reflected in the curriculum

Knowledge learning component

Knowledge - a series of topics that can be clustered into subjects 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

Practical activities structured as modules class room exercises laboratory work hands on work in workshops field trips assignments Role play, simulation, discussion groups …

Work experience

Develops relevant skills applicable to the occupational competence within a specific context

Real-time, real life• Experience the uncertainties, the challenges and the

ambiguities Reasonable period of time is essential Results in the development or delivery of

products or services structured as assignments or projects under guidance of practitioner not just dumped in workplace to sink or swim

Structure of the Curriculum Model

Two parts Part 1

• the development of a curriculum framework for a group of related occupations that share similar general theory, knowledge and basic skills

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: 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• 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 unit standards broken down into the smallest

possible components grouped to eliminate duplications

Developed curriculum

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

Topics and modules were grouped vertically into ‘subjects

Example

Benefits of the Model

Same curriculum framework and core content used for a number of related occupations

• Don’t need to develop one for each qualification for various different learning programmes

• Learnerships. skills programmes, internships. 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

Reflections on the process 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

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 learner-centred, 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

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

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

Mouton proposes five reasons for interventions failing: The intervention is inappropriate

• not addressing the real problem Implementation is poor

• poor quality delivery Not all members of the target group receive the intervention as

planned or do not receive the same intervention• inadequate coverage• lack of standardisation

The intervention is appropriate, implementation is good but implementation is insufficient

• diluted intervention• insufficient dosage

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 programme purpose & design• the implementation strategy• the programme processes and resources• the delivery and the learning activities• the 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

Key requirements• responsiveness & relevance• effectiveness, efficiency• impact

The curriculum model tool for higher education institutions to:

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 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