Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC)

Further education and training (FET) consists of all education and training from NQF levels two to four, or the equivalent of grades 10 to 12 in the school system and National Technical Certificate one to three in technical colleges. Learners enter FET after completion of the compulsory phase of education at grade nine, via ABET route, or through workplace qualifications.

The primary purpose of the Further Education and Training Certificate is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and values that will enable meaningful participation in and offer benefits for society as well as providing a basis for continuing learning in higher education and training, and enable learners to be productive and responsible in the workplace.

The different pathways learners may take to achieve the FETC are general pathway, the general vocational pathway, and the pathway that involves occupational or work related learning also known as the ‘trade, occupational. The level descriptors on the NQF are the main determiner of the design a learning programme.

The learning outcomes provide the focus of the learning, which should be pathway sensitive and contextualised into an academic, occupational or vocational area or subject. All units of learning should be acknowledged and recorded. Learners should be able to use this information to know their progress towards an exit qualification. Learners opting to enroll at FET colleges have a particular wide range of learning experiences and current learning needs.

The most important aspect of the introduction of outcomes-based education in colleges is that it enables learners to gain for individual elements of learning, through for example, the completion of an appropriately designed skills programme, unit standard or short course that meets the standards of NQF. This model awards an opportunity to learners to accumulate credits at levels 2 – 4. If they satisfy certain criteria, including a specified amount of credits at level 4, they will achieve the FETC. Some learners will, of course, be following programmes that lead to qualifications at level 2 or level 3. Critical systems, such as the quality assurance of assessment, the recognition of prior learning and national records of learners’ achievements on the National Learner Records Database (NLRD) has been developed by SAQA to ensure consistency of the practice across the sector. For example, following SAQA’s guidelines on using the NLRD will ensure that learners’ achievements are recorded, recognized nationally and can be used to help them progress to work and further and higher.

Wherever the FET certificate is awarded, qualifications leading to it will have to include the following as a minimum:

• Each FETC will constitute a minimum of 120 credits with a minimum of 72 credits being obtained at or above level 4 and in the case of certificates 120 credits, a maximum of 48 credits being obtained at level 3. In keeping with section 8 (2) of the NSB regulations, a qualification consisting of less than 120 credits may be considered if it meets the requirements in regulation 8 (1) and complies with the objectives of the NQF contained in section 2 of the Act.

• The 20 compulsory credits in Language and Communication must be obtained in one of eleven official languages provided provided for by the SA Constitution of 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) at level 4. All holders of an FETC will have achieved the same outcomes as indicated by 20 compulsory credits but these may be achieved in any one of the eleven official languages

• The 16 credits in Mathematics must be obtained at level 4. The Mathematics outcomes as indicated by 16 credits my be obtained in different contexts.

See FETC policy document.

Print friendly version