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Unit Standards form part of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The NQF defines 3 bands within South African
education. These are similar to but not quite the same as the traditional Primary, Secondary and Tertiary levels. The bands
are further divided into NQF levels from 1 to 8:
- NQF Level 1 represents the end of the lowest band (General Eduaction and Training,
or GET), which is Grade 9, and is equivaleant also to Adult Basic Educattion and Training (ABET) Level 4
- NQF Level 4 is the end of the middle band (Further Education and Training, or
FET), with Matric (Grade 12) being Level 3
- NQF Level 8 is the end of the top band (Higher Education and Training, or HET)
and refers to doctorates and post doc qualifications, with bachelors' degrees at about NQF Level 6
Every US is pegged at an NQF Level, and also is allocated a certain number of
credits at that level. Whereas the NQF Level indicates the difficulty or depth of th topic, the credits indicate the effort
required to qualify. A credit is equivalent to 10 hours of work. The statistics US mentioned on the previous page is 3 credits
at Level2. It is thus equivalent to about 30 hours for a Grade 10/11 learner.
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Unit Standards may be bundled together
into Qualifications. Qualifications carry credit, which are of course the total
of the credits for the constituent Unit Standards. The Unit Standards of a qualification fall into three categories,
Fundamental, Core and Elective. For example, US 59099 is the National Certificate for the service and repair or agricultural
equipment. It comprises over 30 Unit Standards for a total of 128 credits at NQF Level2. For example:
- US 9009, the statistics one, is a fundamental
US for this qualification. The use of statistics is not specific to fixing farm implements, but is of a more general nature.
Most workers in the field would be reasonably expected to calcualate statistics to do with machine down-time, spare-parts
usage and so on. But the learner may have encountered US9009 elsewhere in her studies, because stats
are useful in many fields.
- US 246768 however, Split a Tractor, is clearly specific to this kind of work,
and is thus a core US to this qualification.
- US 13205 is to do with operating a lathe. Not every worker in the field would
be expected to turn simple components on a lathe, and so this US is an elective
one.
Continued on next page...
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