Abstract
M.Ed.
South Africa needs to spread its available and required competence, skills and educational basis among its broad population (Valchanges, 1992:23). This is reflected in South Africa being rated 43rd out of 47 countries in the human development and skills level, or put differently, 14th out of 15 Group II countries in the World Competitiveness Report of 1992 (Gerber, Nel and Van Dyk, 1995:6). The South African educational system also ranked 14th of the 15 Group II countries in the same report (Gerber, et al, 1995:7). The situation is even worse if the World Competitiveness Report of 1995 is taken into consideration. South Africa ranked. 44th of 46 countries regarding its human resource development (Buffington and Associates, 1996; Rossouw, 1996:3; Pretoria News, 29 May 1996). If the above is taken into consideration it is clear that the start of the National Training Board (NTB) process that began in 1993 was necessary. The initial debates in the process were located within the vocational training context (HSRC, 1995:34). Four stakeholders entered the initial NTB process; namely: The government of the day with official representation by the departments of Education and Labour (called the Department of Manpower at the time); Representatives of different employers organisations; Representatives of organised labour; and Providers of learning. Different concerns from each of the above stakeholders caused a shift in the debate from a concern about vocational training to a broader concept of vocational education and training. This lead to the argument of an integrated approach. Thus: The field of education, training and development should adopt an integrated approach to all activities and systems currently classified as education and training and, unlike the past concentrate on vocational training only (HSRC, 1995:35). As part of such an integrated approach, education, training and development should not be seen as separate entities, but as one unit within the larger field of human resource development, i.e. the development of all those involved in Education, Training and
Development (ETD), must be ranked as one of the biggest priorities in South Africa (National Training Board, 1995a:5). In November 1993, Working Committee 3 of the NTB submitted a report on "Trainer Development", under the title of "Education, Training and Development Practitioner" (NTB Annexure A, 1995c:2) thus starting a process of integrating the ETD field. Those involved in ETD were referred to as Education, Training and Development Practitioners (ETDP). The original task given to Working Committee 3 reads as follows: "Develop a South African competency-based model for trainers. Identify requirements for registration, certification, accreditation and recognition of existing qualifications and experience or competency in a national integrated certification/qualification structure." The ETDP competency model must be based on outcomes/outputs as a central focus, that will link the ETDP competency model with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), thus ensuring registration,
certification, accreditation and recognition of existing qualifications and experience (NTB, 1995c:21. To ensure that the ETDP Model complies to the requirements of the NQF (NTB, 1995a:5) it must be described in terms of: Roles; Outputs/Outcomes; Quality Standards; Competencies linked to outputs/outcomes; Range variables; and Levels of complexity.