Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

were of an indifferent quality. When this is considered in the light of the fact that many Seta ETQAsdo not have records indicating which of their accredited providers offer ‘fundamentals’ nor dothey quality assure either the courses or assessments in the ‘fundamentals’ separately from theoccupationally-oriented unit standards, it seems that the credibility of credits awarded againstlanguage and mathematics unit standards is questionable (Umalusi 2007b, p. 25).4.2.3 CHALLENGES RELATING TO THE STATE OF CURRICULA FOR THE GETCNQF LEVEL 1In this section, the report covers some of the challenges and concerns raised by DoE offi cials andother professionals involved in ABET. Two challenges relate directly to the proliferation of curriculaand the lack of a specifi ed intended curriculum. Difficulty in interpreting unit standards wasidentifi ed as a problem by six provinces: all felt that how to interpret the unit standards was notclear. During the course of the research, two direct and four indirect requests from these provinceswere made for national interpretation of unit standards in order to provide clarity and commoninterpretation across provinces. The call was for a common understanding of content and contextin particular learning areas: each unit standard needed to be ‘unpacked’ so that everyone couldagree on the associated content.The indirect requests for national interpretation included requests to work with other provinces;requests for national exemplars; requests for curricula in the form of the National CurriculumStatements; and requests for unifying learning and teaching support materials. Some provinceshave tried to address this challenge directly; others have made suggestions, which are noted here.One province expressed knowledge of gaps in their curricula, and concern about their lack ofknowledge as to how to address these gaps: the offi cials in this particular province feel that theyare working in isolation, and expressed a desire to be linked to other provinces. Two other provincesalso mentioned experiencing a lack of direction, and have already taken co-operative stepstowards monitoring what the other is doing. Two provinces asked for a simplifi cation of terminologyrelating to the unit standards – it was pointed out that educators do not have the training to workwith the unit standards. Two provinces asked for a syllabus with a format like that of the NationalCurriculum Statement, which was easier to read. That one province suggested the creationand use of specifi c learning and teaching support materials (presumably, a textbook) to createcommon understanding of content, indicates the seriousness of this challenge.The second challenge relates directly to the lack of an intended curriculum. Four provinces notedthe urgent need for good learning and teaching support materials. Offi cials felt that good textbookswould go a long way towards establishing common understanding of content within the learningareas. It was also noted that more reading resources were needed for adults, particularly sinceABET learners are not accustomed to a culture of reading, and they need to practice reading –with assistance at every step of the way. The need for exemplars for each of the learning areas, ofdifferent forms of assessment (projects, assignments, et cetera), of actual examples of assessmenttools, and for textbooks was expressed by different offi cials during the research interviews.A third challenge points to diffi culties with the content of the ABET curricula, such as they are. Eightprovinces drew attention to the types of skills and levels of difficulty of the content currently offeredin ABET, and made suggestions based on extensive experience of ABET policy implementation inthe fi eld. These provinces commented specifi cally on the relationship between theoretical andpractical work: there were requests both for a splitting-off of the ‘academic’ from the workplaceskills, as well as for an increase in practical work- and life-related skills. It was pointed out that ABETlearners are often failed Grade 12 learners seeking ABET certifi cates in the hope that these wouldassist them to gain employment. In terms of the academic aspect of ABET, one province identifi edthe need to link ABET more closely to FET, while seven provinces called for the introduction of morepractical workplace-related skills. This view of the need for a much stronger focus on work-relatedlearning was echoed at the national ABET meeting of October 2007, by provincial and nationalABET offi cials, and a SAQA representative who suggested that this type of skill be included in the32