The 2023 Annual Unfurling Post-School Education and Training (UPSET) Community of Practice (COP) Meeting and National Stakeholder Hybrid Workshop was held at Coastlands on the Ridge from 24 January 2023 to 25 January 2023.
DUT’s UPSET Leader and Programme Director, Professor Darren Lortan, welcomed all the participants, which included Dr Anisa Vahed (Principal Investigator of the NRF/UPSET Project); Prof Ashley Ross (Co-Investigator of the NRF/UPSET Project); Dr Heidi Bolton (SAQA: Senior Manager of Research); Charmaine Lebooa (SAQA: Senior Practitioner-Research Unit); Mr Ike Mokhele (CUT: Senior Director: Institutional Planning and Quality Enhancement (IPQE); Dr Najwa Norodien-Fataar (CPUT: Chair of Research in Innovation Teaching and Learning organising committee and Head of Department at Fundani Curriculum Development Unit); Professor Sylvia Ramaligela (UL: Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education); Dr Mumthaz Banoobhai (TUT: Senior Director at the TUT Directorate Higher Education Development Support (HEDS); Mr Thivhuddziwi Vele (DHET: Director: TVET Curriculum Development and Support); Dr Makhapa Makhafola (CHE: Director: HEQSF).
Prof Lortan provided a detailed overview of the rationale and purpose of the Articulation Implementation Plans (AIPs) at the COP meeting. Dr Bolton provided additional context to the AIPs conveying that: “ The AIP serves as a guide for the innovations and reporting that will take place in the context of these hubs. It integrates the learning from several national articulation initiatives in the past decade, that comprise research and development, and policy development and implementation.”
In terms of DUT’s AIP, the policy includes some of the highlighted plans to strengthen individual learner support, enhance flexible learning and teaching provision, and strengthen flexible learning pathways, to name but a few. This aligns with the objectives of the Unfurling Post-School Education and Training (UPSET) project, particularly the offering of joint Higher Certificates by Technical and Vocation Education and Training (TVET) colleges and partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
“Few of the TVET colleges and HEIs in South Africa have exploited this articulation option (none in KZN). Through the KZN hub, we intend to establish working teams that will collectively develop jointly-offered Higher Certificates, and other formal and sustainable articulation initiatives,” he said.
Prof Lortan indicated that the purpose of the workshop is to move from articulation initiatives supported through informal networks to articulation by design driven by COPs within the KZN articulation hub and other hubs that have been established in the Free State, Western Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Another objective is to increase the number of new jointly offered Higher certificates (HCs) nationally and to increase the number of existing jointly offered HCs nationally.
“To sustain existing informal articulation initiatives, these need to be formalised. This requires the development of articulation policies within HEIs and the promotion of articulation learning pathways within TVET colleges,” he added.
Western Cape Hub Leader Dr Norodien-Fataar highlighted the activities of her institution, speaking of the launch of the Western Cape Hub in November 2022. She conveyed that they contacted many TVET principals and invited them to be part of the Western Cape Hub. In terms of the way forward, Dr Norodien-Fataar said that they will work on a strategy to support and strengthen the current Higher Certificates in ICT while encouraging other Faculties to develop HCs jointly with TVETs.
Hub Leaders also gave their reflections on 2022, particularly in the context of the AIPs. Adding to the conversation was Dr Makhafola who gave feedback on the finalisation of the draft policy on Articulation from TVET Colleges into HEIs. Mr Vele updated the team on the DHET Curriculum transformation of the NATED qualifications, outlining the Rationalised programmes and alignment of PQMs with industry and societal needs.
“Either replace with new appropriately designed programmes and qualifications or phase out. The phase-out of N1-N3 programmes will continue with upscaling of Occupational Qualifications mainly in the artisan training programmes. Some subjects will be retained for articulation purposes e.g. Mathematics, Engineering Science and Engineering Drawing,” he said.
He further commented on the TVET Lecturer Capacity Building plan.
“Several initiatives and partnerships are in place to support colleges to take blended learning to scale in 2023. These include support in lecturer training, the use of e-Textbooks and multi-media. Partners include HUAWEI, CISCO, GIZ, etc. More TVET colleges have plans to enhance the Learner Management Systems to support multi-modal learning. This is an expansion as a result of momentum gained from the initiatives started during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mr Vele.
A robust question and answer session then ensued with Prof Lortan giving the closing remarks on the way forward.
Essentially, the meeting and the hybrid workshop aimed to build awareness around existing and planned Articulation Hub activities, HEI articulation policy, and to engage around challenges and enablers such as funding, student tracking, amongst other key areas.
Pictured: Attendees at the 2023 Annual UPSET COP Meeting And National Stakeholder Workshop.
Waheeda Peters
