NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Business Administration Services
SAQA QUAL ID – 67465
Purpose:
This qualification is for any individual who is, or wishes to be, involved in the Administration function in any organization or business in any sector, or field as well as in non-commercial organisations such as clubs and charitable organisations. It contains all the competencies, skills and values required by a learner who wishes to access the National Certificate in Business Administration Services at NQF: Level 4.
The core component contains competencies in Information Handling, Communications, Enterprise/customer service, Technology, Organisation skills, Self-development, Teamwork and Business policies and procedures. The elective component allows the learner to gain specialist knowledge, skills and insight in the areas of Reception, Executive Administration, Financial Services and Banking, Legal administration and Human Resources.
Learners working towards this qualification will find that the acquisition of competence in the unit standards, which make up the qualification, will add value to their work performance. This qualification is intended to enhance the provision of service within the field of Administration within all sectors.
Through building day-to-day administration skills, as well as general operational competencies, the qualification ensures progression of learning, enabling the learner to meet standards of service excellence required within the administration field of learning.
The qualification will provide the broad knowledge, skills and values needed in the administration field in all sectors and will facilitate access to, and mobility and progression within, education and training for learners who:
Were previously disadvantaged or who were unable to complete their schooling and were therefore denied access to Further Education and Training.
Have worked in this field for many years, but have no formal qualifications and would like to achieve this qualification through the process of RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) and/or formal study
Wish to extend their range of skills and knowledge of administration within their respective industries so that they can extend their competency levels.
The qualification has building blocks that can be developed further in qualifications at a higher level. It also focuses on the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes required to progress further. The intention is:
To promote the development of knowledge, skills and values that are required for service excellence within the field of administration.
To release the potential of people.
To provide opportunities for people to move up the value chain.
Rationale:
The National Certificate in Business Administration Services: NQF Level 3 is designed to meet the needs of those learners who are already involved, or wish to become involved, in the field of Administration. It is applicable to employed and unemployed learners. Administration is an essential field of learning as the competences required by people doing administrative tasks are generic in nature and apply to all businesses in all sectors and to many non-business organizations such as sports and cultural clubs and the like. Administrative tasks and administration are done at various levels depending upon the nature and size of the organization and its management structure. People involved in administration are known by such terms as secretaries, administrative assistants, administrators and clerks depending on the organization in which they are employed. There is therefore an on-going need for highly skilled administration personnel and a need for a well developed learning pathway to cater for administrative personnel at the various levels at which they operate.
The National Certificate in Business Administration Services at NQF: Level 3 is the second qualification in a learning pathway that starts with the National Certificate in Business Administration level 2 and ends, at present, with the National Certificate in Administration Level 5. It is planned to develop degrees in Administration at levels 6, 7 and 8 as the final steps in the learning pathway.
The National Certificate in Business Administration Services at NQF: Level 3 supports the objectives of the NQF in that it gives the learner access to a registered qualification. It will ensure that the quality of education and training in the sub-field is enhanced and of a world-class standard. The qualification will allow learners not only to develop their knowledge and skills in the field of Administration but will also enable them to benchmark their competence against international standards.
NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Hygiene and Cleaning Supervision
SAQA QUAL ID – 67465
Purpose:
The contextualized purpose of this Qualification is to maintain the foundational, practical and reflexive competencies in an individual, required for a career in the Hygiene & Cleaning Services Industry, which will positively impact on the National social and economic transformation.
Central to the Qualification is the enhancement, implementation and maintenance of quality service and professionalism in the Hygiene and Cleaning Services Industry. This Qualification intends to provide skilled supervisors who can sustain gainful employment and deliver qualitative and quantative results within an organization. This will also achieve the objectives and principles of the NQF.
Credits gained at this level for this Qualification will be portable and transferable throughout the NQF system, giving the learner the opportunity of building up credits, within the wider spectrum of employment in South Africa, towards additional Qualifications. This will contribute to the self and career development of the learner. The credits reflect the practical and theoretical education and training aspects of the Qualification.
Rationale:
The scoping exercise followed, (which included training priorities identified in the workplace skills plans) clearly indicated the need for a Qualification and incorporated Unit Standards that will allow employees in the Hygiene and Cleaning Services Industry to obtain Qualifications and/or standards at NQF Level 3. This Qualification will promote advancement for learners in the industry from the NQF level 2 National Certificate: Specialist Hygiene and Cleaning Services.
This Qualification is needed to expand the knowledge and application in the Hygiene and Cleaning Services by:
- Applying the rationale of performance management and continual improvement
- Complying with international and world-class standards
- Added value for the learner, society and the economy of the country
The Qualification aims to:
- Allow employees within the industry portability in terms of career advancement as well as career pathing
- Develop a sense of achievement amongst employees about their performance within the industry
- Integrate cleaning knowledge and skills within the industry amongst employees
- Develop a sense of pride amongst employees for their jobs and their industry
- Enhance a code of ethics inclusive of viable and sustainable environmental management practices
- Provide consistent quality and safety standards
- Educate clients about hygiene, for the purpose of using “best practice” cleaning methods
- Create environmental awareness
NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Management
SAQA QUAL ID – 83946
Purpose:
The purpose of the qualification is to build the knowledge and skills required by employees in junior management who have had schooling below NQF level 3. It is intended to empower learners to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required to operate confidently as junior managers in the South African community and to respond to the challenges of the economic environment and changing world of work.
As a qualification that covers management, it provides a framework for learners to develop competencies that will enable them to become competent junior managers. It introduces some theoretical concepts, requires the application of a limited base of knowledge and requires a well-developed range of skills that will enable learners to be informed workers in their chosen industry. It provides a balanced learning experience that allows flexible access to further education, life long learning, higher education and to productive employment in a range of occupational contexts. It provides an opportunity for learners to learn and apply academic skills in relation to management and will provide them with skills to adapt to changes in work procedures and processes in business and industry.
The National Certificate in Management: Level 3 is intended for personnel already employed and other learners who intend to follow a career in management. The unit standards classified as core may be added to other industry qualifications to provide a management focus and align qualifications to the work done by learners. Practical competence is within a number of contexts some of which may be non-routine. The focus is on comparison, choice, interpretation and application of knowledge.
Qualifying learners are capable of:
- Carrying out simple research tasks.
- Interpreting current affairs related to a specific business sector.
- Recognising the effect of HIV/AIDS on the specific workplace, business sub-sector and own organisation.
- Applying knowledge of self and team to enhance team performance.
- Maintaining records.
- Managing time and the work process.
- Explaining the structure of an organisation.
- Conducting a formal meeting.
- Inducting a new member of a team.
- Motivating a team.
- Describing the management function of an organisation.
Rationale:
Management is an essential, key function of a business. The National Certificate in Management: Level 3 is designed to meet the needs of learners who require junior management skills in all sectors of the economy. It is intended for junior managers of business units in medium to large organisations. The term business unit in this qualification implies a cost centre, section or department. It is envisaged that learners who complete this qualification will be engaged in multiple work roles in a variety of organisations and will be able to play a part, at their level, in the implementing of the vision and contributing ultimately to the success of an organisation.
Junior management positions in organizations include, but are not limited to team leaders, supervisors, first line managers and section heads. The position or term, “junior manager” is used to describe the first level of management in an organisation at which an employee has other employees reporting to him/her.
The National Certificate in Management: NQF Level 3 exposes learners to a broad set of core competencies covering a number of aspects of junior management. It is intended for learners who:
Have attained a National Certificate: Level 2 and wish to continue on a path of life-long learning in the field of management.
Were previously disadvantaged and were therefore denied access to Further Education and Training or management positions.
Wish to extend their range of skills and knowledge of management so that they progress within their chosen career path.
Are team leaders or supervisors and wish to improve their management skills.
See themselves as future managers and need to start their training at the lower end of management.
The National Certificate in Management: Level 3 allows the individual to work towards a nationally recognised qualification. It is flexible enough to accommodate both learners in formal education and learners already employed in business or industry. It aims to develop informed and skilled junior managers. The qualification at this level is generic so as to allow maximum mobility between industries. Skills, knowledge, values and attitudes reflected in the qualification are building blocks that will be developed further at NQF level 4. The intention is:
- To promote the development of knowledge and management skills that are required in all sectors.
- To release the potential of people.
- To provide opportunities for people to move up the value chain.
Learners already employed in junior management in business and industry at this level do work that requires a well-developed range of skills. The National Certificate in Generic Management: NQF Level 3 should assist junior managers to contribute to improved productivity and efficiency within the business environment. It should provide the means for current junior managers to receive recognition of prior learning and to upgrade their skills. Qualifying learners should be competent, at a basic level, in competencies relating to:
- Managing systems and processes, including planning own and group and team members` activities
- Managing resources
- Managing teams and individuals, including leading teams and participation in meetings
- Managing self.
Junior managers are generally in positions that require knowledge and expertise in a specific work function. It is therefore envisaged that learners at this level may elect to do a relevant workplace qualification in their field and include the unit standards that are classified as core in the National Certificate in Management: Level 3 as electives in another qualification. This would ensure that they have both industry and management expertise. This support the notion that junior managers are firstly experts in their field and secondly managers.
This qualification could also be useful to managers of small businesses.
NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Information Technology: End User Computing
SAQA QUAL ID – 83946
Purpose:
The purpose of the qualification is to build the knowledge and skills required by learners in End User Computing. It is intended to empower learners to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required to operate confidently in the End User Computing environment in the South African community and to respond to the challenges of the economic environment.
The qualification addresses the need in the workplace for nationally recognised qualifications, based on unit standards, which will allow learners with workplace experience in End User Computing to obtain recognition for prior learning.
The qualification provides a framework for learners to develop skills that will enable them to become competent in End User Computing. It introduces theoretical concepts of End User Computing and requires the application thereof, to develop a range of skills that will enable learners to be better-informed workers in their chosen industry. It provides a balanced learning experience that lays the foundation for access to further education, life long learning and to productive employment.
A qualifying learner will be able to:
- Competently apply the knowledge, techniques & skills of End User Computing applications in the workplace.
- Understand the impact and use Information Communication & Technology (ICT) in an organisation and society.
- Improve Communication by combining communication skills with End User Computing skills.
- Improve the application of mathematical literacy in the workplace, by better utilising applicable End User Computing Applications
The National Certificate in IT: End User Computing at NQF Level 3, is intended for learners already employed or new learners entering the workplace, requiring End User Computing skills. The unit standards of this qualification may be added to other industry qualifications to provide an End User Computing focus with comparison, choice, interpretation and the application of knowledge.
Rationale:
The National Certificate in IT: End User Computing – NQF Level 3, is designed to meet the needs of learners who require end user computing skills in all sectors of the economy, as End User Computing is an essential skill in any business today. The qualification is designed to accommodate both learners in formal education and learners already employed. It aims to develop informed and skilled learners that can apply the acquired skills in any industry and should contribute towards improved productivity and efficiency in the workplace.
The need for the qualification was highlighted by an IT sector study that was done and confirmed by ISETT SETA. The design of the qualification is unit standard based, to allow learners to qualify for a national qualification by accumulating the required credits via short learning programmes or workplace practical experience or both. It also allows learners to achieve the qualifications through recognition of prior learning, learnerships schemes or formal training.
The qualification at this level is foundational and generic, allowing maximum mobility between qualifications. Apart from the workplace needs the qualification will address, it is also designed as an entry-level qualification into most further education and training fields, because of the wide application of End User Computing in any environment. It will allow articulation into further qualifications in End User Computing or other IT qualifications, as well as entry into any other Further Education and Training where End User Computing is required.
NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Freight Handling
SAQA QUAL ID – 57831
Purpose:
The safe handling of freight is dependant upon the applicable people complying with the relevant procedures and applying the necessary skills to their handling. This Qualification, therefore, is aimed at providing learners in the Freight sector with:
An integrated practical and theoretical grounding in Freight Handling.
The ability to work more effectively with others.
The skills necessary to maintain and enhance the level of service and quality of service expected by customers.
An awareness and understanding of key business principles that lead to transformation, transferability, economic growth and social development in the freight handling industry.
The key areas of specialisation identified within the Freight Handling Industry are as follows:
- Warehousing and Distribution.
- Port Operations.
- Stevedoring.
- Courier Operations.
- Bulk Handling.
- Airfreight.
- Forwarding and Clearing.
Learners completing this Qualification, in whatever area of specialization selected, will be able to demonstrate the ability to consider a range of options related to their chosen field in order to make decisions and improve performance around, inter alia, freight handling administration, planning; goods handling, storage, transport planning, and basic freight handling equipment maintenance.
Rationale:
People involved in freight handling play a key role in the movement of goods since they represent the physical link that ensures that the freight is efficiently and safely handled. The required knowledge and skills can be used in many other goods handling environments or equally as well in a full warehousing environment. On-the-job experience can progressively lead to positions of more responsibility in the safe handling of goods and freight.
The majority of learners for this Qualification are likely to be either unemployed persons wishing to enter the industry, or persons currently working in the greater freight handling sector that wish to improve their skills and enhance their own career path opportunities.
The Qualification will provide learners with the opportunity to acquire the essential knowledge needed to further their studies in differing specialist areas within the transport sector of the South African economy.
This Qualification reflects workplace-based needs in the wider Freight Handling Industry, both now and for the future. Freight Handling is diverse in its nature, so a fairly wide range of competencies are required by employees. The Qualification aims to provide the foundational and initial skills required for an individual in the industry to handle freight successfully; be an effective team member and undertake those tasks required to contribute to the effective processing of freight.
NQF Level 3: National Certificate: Wholesale and Retail Operations
SAQA QUAL ID – 63409
Purpose:
This qualification will serve to link the NQF Level 2 National Certificate: Wholesale and Retail Operations qualification and the FET Certificate: Generic Management. The current gap in the learning pathway for Wholesale and Retail (W and R) practitioners will be filled by this qualification. It will serve as the second in the Wholesale and Retail Operations learning pathway and provide a basis for further learning. While the qualifying learners will experience personal growth and development, workplace succession planning will be more readily achieved.
The operational process includes; ordering stock, receiving, dispatching, stock control, cash control, sales and marketing and displaying, responsible credit promotion, perishable foods preparation, sales and display and the running of an informal small business.
This qualification will serve to provide the W and R sector with personnel that can perform the operation functions to industry standards, optimise productivity and improve service levels. The qualifying learner will undergo personal development that will contribute to social and economic development.
The learner assessed as competent against this qualification will be able to:
- Ensure a positive customer experience in a W and R business unit.
- Explain how employees can influence the objectives of a W and R business unit.
Rationale:
The scarce and critical skills list compiled by the South African Department of Labour includes many of the competencies in this qualification. The occupations associated with these competencies are listed as:
- Sellers: Sales Persons and Assistants, Representatives.
- Cashiers.
- General and Finance Administrators.
- Trade Union Officials.
- Merchandisers.
- Checkout Operators and Office Cash Clerks.
- General Clerks.
This qualification provides a planned combination of learning outcomes that will equip qualifying learners with the knowledge and applied competence in wholesale and retail operations and a basis for further learning. It provides a formal route to acquiring the operations skills and will provide recognition of experiential learning in the sector.
This is one of the fastest growing industries in SA with the emergence of the informal sector. Previous restrictions (legislation) are no longer an obstacle to industry development. It is one of the largest contributors to the GDP and there is regional strength of the sector in the SADC region.
This qualification will serve to further develop learners who have achieved the NQF Level 2: National Certificate: Wholesale and Retail Operations. It will also serve new-comers to the operations function, school leavers and the currently unemployed. It will enhance career development for learners that have previous experience in operations.
