Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

Executive summaryUmalusi has a history of undertaking research with a view to understanding more clearly thestandards which it is mandated to maintain and develop through its quality assurance processes.While continuing to do groundbreaking evaluative research on the National Senior Certifi cate andthe new National Curriculum Statements, Umalusi has also started to widen the extent of its focus.Umalusi has quality assured the General Education and Training Certifi cate (GETC) since 2001: eventhough the quality assurance processes for the GETC assessment have made good progress, itnevertheless was apparent that Umalusi needed to understand the standards for the GETC muchmore clearly. To that end, Umalusi undertook a review of the qualifi cation and the curricula whichunderpin the GETC: Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET).The research question which has shaped the study of the National Qualifi cations Framework (NQF)Level 1 qualifi cations in General and Further Education and Training (GENFET) is:What is the standard of the intended and examined curricula in General Education andTraining (GET)?This report, the fi rst phase of a larger study, focuses on the adult NQF Level 1 qualifi cation. Thequestion in this phase was:How are curricula available to South African adult educators and their learners in the GETband constituted and what are the standards of these curricula?The methodology for this research entailed gaining access to as many of the curriculum documentswhich underpin the teaching, learning, and assessment of the GETC: ABET as possible. The processof acquiring the documents, and the unevenness of their distribution across provinces and learningsites, led to the conclusion that there is currently no uniform standard for the qualifi cation.While part of the research investigated the qualifi cations, assessment, and certifi cation of theSectoral Education and Training Authority (Seta) system, Umalusi was primarily interested in thechallenges which beset the system it is responsible for. So, while this report contains fi ndings relatedto the Seta qualifi cations system and processes, its main focus is on the national qualifi cation (inboth forms) and the associated curriculum documents. A miscellany of observations regarding theeducation system for adults, which emerged during the course of the research, is also presented.The research argues that a well-functioning adult learning sector in education, especially one thathas deliberately established connections with post-NQF Level 1 learning, requires the following:• There must be an absolutely consistent commitment to move away from the notion of AdultBasic Education and Training to the understanding that the system must deal with AdultEducation and Training (AET), or adult learning as a whole.• Learning pathways must be defi ned by meaningful qualifi cations and part-qualifi cationswhich provide access to further learning and to employment. Such qualifi cations need to beregulated in order to allow for the development of directives that allow learners to receiveformal recognition for their learning in the form of certifi cates.• Sound qualifi cations need to be supported by good curricula which provide proper guidancearound content and levels of achievement. Such curricula need to be nationally developedand available at every level of the system. Umalusi has, through its research, formulatedguidelines for curriculum evaluation, which could equally provide a sound framework forcurriculum development. The need for suitable curricula to supplement the qualifi cation isurgent.5