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Unit Standards are all the rage- yet if you've never been exposed to them, you might find them pretty daunting.
The discussion below should clarify them for you.
According to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), a Unit Standard (US) is “registered statements of desired education and training outcomes and their associated assessment criteria together
with administrative and other information.” Two key elements of a US are the Specific Outcome
(SO) and the Assessment Criteria (AC), which are the first two things I describe below. The name of the US, of course, indicates
its overall purpose, such as this abridged one: "Apply basic knowledge of statistics ... to investigate life related problems".*
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The Specific Outcomes (SOs) describe what the learner should be able to
do, or what he or she should know and understand. They might well describe a combination of these elements. Collectively,
the SOs should satisfy the objective of the US as defined in its title. For example, the statistics US mentioned above has
the following two (abridged) SOs:
- apply various techniques ... in order to model situations
- give opinions on the implications of the modelled data ...
In this US, the first SO includes an Outcome Range, which clarifies the
term "various techniques" by listing things like using pie charts, recording data in tables, and calculating the mean.
Assessment Criteria (ACs)
then define how the learner's ability to carry out the SO will be ascertained, and it is these ACs that the Assessor will
expect a learner to meet. So the first SO above includes 7 ACs, some of which are shown (abridged) here:
- Effective methods to record data are used ...
- Calculations of statistics are correct
- Raw data ... are used correctly
The assessor would use an instrument to measure the attainment of each criterion, having read the US's Assessor Criteria
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Next we have Critical Cross-Field Outcomes (CCFOs). While the specific
Outcomes are by definition specific to the topic of the Unit standard, CCFOs are to do with life-long learning in the world
at large. They include such things as Identifying and solving problems, Working effectively
with others and Using science and technology effectively and critically.
Take US 9897: Manage inevntory for example. As you might expect, its SOs include
positioning materials for production flow, documenting materials movement, and establishing reorder points. These are all
specific aspects of inventory management. Under the CCFO Work effectively with others, they have "Interact with production
personnel to determine effectiveness of material flow". Such interaction is not a technical requirement of inventory management,
yet it is part of the more genaral notion of working with others.
An assessor's instrument will include a means of capturing proof that the candidate
meets the CCFOs.
Then we have the Essential Embedded
Knowledge (EEK). This is learning which a training intervention must ensure is covered and assessed. It is knowledge
that is so essential, that it is unlikely that competence in the ACs will be shown without such knowledge. Examples from the
above US include Knowing the names and functions of inventory in stock, and knowing the required maths and stats.
EEK must not be confused with what the learner is expected to know before she
studies towards the US; that is called Learning assumed to be in place by SAQA.
Continued on next page...
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* US9009, fully known as: Apply basic knowledgede of statistics and probability to influence the use of data and procedures
in order to investigate life related problems.
Jim Brown, Johannesburg, South Africa
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