I’m feeling stupefied. That doesn’t mean I feel stupid (although sometimes I do). More like I am stumped by a stupid situation. And I need your help in getting unstupefied.
The alphabet soup of accreditation
A few weeks ago, a client asked if we are accredited. This client wanted to send developers on our Linux Fundamentals course.
The dictionary defines accreditation as "the act of certifying an educational institution or program as meeting all official formal requirements of academic excellence, facilities, curriculum, etc."
To understand accreditation in South Africa, we need to know our alphabet soup agencies:
- DHET: Department of Higher Education and Training
- QCTO: Quality Council for Trade and Occupations
- SETA: Sector Education Training Authority
- SAQA: South African Qualifications Authority
In SA, DHET and QCTO are responsible for accreditation. They only accredit training programs, not training institutions.
The DHET does not accredit any course shorter than one year. The QCTO is responsible for the rest. The QCTO has taken over this accreditation function from the various SETAs.
(Note: accreditation is not the same as certification. If you, as an individual, want to be certified, you have to write an exam. What exam? That’s a topic for another day.)
The first question
The first question is this: what course should we accredit?
In the past, the SETAs accredited courses that matched either a SAQA qualification, or a SAQA unit standard. These have now expired. (Good riddance – most of the ICT unit standards were terrible.)
The QCTO will only accredit a course that matches a new QCTO skills programme or qualification. Unlike before, the QCTO skills programme must have a minimum duration of 10 days.
In 2018, there were over 15,000 SAQA unit standards. On the QCTO site at the moment, there are 120 skills programmes. That’s across all industries. (I’m not including qualifications.) That’s not a gap – more like a chasm.
The current QCTO skills programmes for programming have a duration of 75 days. They are for novices who want to enter the software development industry.
Remember that client who asked about accreditation? Well, there is nothing for short courses like the ones Incus Data presents. And there is nothing at all for Linux.
So, I have no answer to the first question.
The second question
The second question is this: why do you want accreditation?
The government wants to set criteria for what people must know to be able to do a specific job.
Why does your company want accreditation? Most of our delegates are experienced programmers with tertiary qualifications. You are certainly not interested in the government’s definition of competent.
I think there are two possible answers to this question:
You want to know if the training provider is reliable
Nobody wants to shell out money to a dodgy, fly-by-night training provider.
But remember, the QCTO accredits programs, not providers. Yes, the provider has to have lots of documents: resource management plans, financial management plans, quality management plans, learner management plans and so very many more. (I know, because I’ve written all of them.)
Do the QCTO staff read those documents? Do they check that you do what you say you do? In my many years of experience with the MictSETA, the answer is "No". (They will check your fire extinguishers, as I complained in "The importance of fire extinguishers".)
Do you want to rely on the government’s definition of reliable?
Incus Data has been training programmers for more than 30 years. That should prove we are reliable. (We were also approved and accredited by the various forms of the MictSETA for about 18 years.)
You want to claim BBBEE points or a skills levy refund for the training
I understand this reason: it makes business sense.
Does the training need to be accredited? What if the training provider is accredited for course A, but not course B which you want? (Like the Linux course, which cannot be accredited.) Can you claim?
No-one knows. There has never been consistency across the SETAs in this regard. Now there is even more confusion with the change to QCTO accreditation.
The question for you
QCTO accreditation takes a lot of time, effort and money. And, given the courses we present and the profile of people we train, I believe it has no value.
For now, we have decided against QCTO accreditation. But it all depends on what you need. So I need your help. I need the answer to one question:
Will it be easier for you to get approval for the course you need if we have QCTO accreditation (even if your course is not accredited)
And if you are a Learning and Development consultant, I’d like to know your answer to question 2.
Your answer really matters. So please help me.
Feel free to share this with whoever approves your training. There is a similar page on our website as well.