CONCESSION GUIDELINE FOR COMMUNICATION, FINANCIAL LITERACY AND MATHEMATICS NQF LEVEL 3 4 STATUS: Approval Pending CUSTODIAN: ETQA Specialist Consultant (Verifications) APPROVED: ETQA Division Manager DECISION DATE: 29 May 2012 REVIEW DATE: March 2013 VERSION NUMBER ETQA/GL/Concessions/vs5/2012 AMENDMENT DATE: 29 May 2012 Concession Guideline Rev6 May 2012 Page 1 of 5
INSETA: Concession for Communication, Financial Literacy and Mathematics against a South African School Leaving Certificate/Matriculation Certificate/National Senior Certificate Competence in the language of business, English, in the Insurance and Investment Industry, is essential if learners are to demonstrate competence in the Unit Standards towards achieving Insurance and Investment Qualifications. The need for literacy and numeracy skills is indicated in Workplace Skills Plans, Sector Skills Research as well as being fundamental to NQF Qualifications. To enable learning towards achieving its qualifications INSETA will allow a concession in recognition of prior learning to learners: Who hold a South African School Leaving Certificate (Grade 12, Standard 10, National Senior Certificate) and Are already employed in the insurance and investment industry or are registered for any learning/skills programme based on Unit Standards registered on the NQF and learning towards a full qualification or completing a learnership with INSETA. N Qualifications will be evaluated on application by learner Learners working towards one of the INSETA Qualifications or Learnerships may apply for concession for Communication, Financial Literacy and/or Mathematics based on the results of their South African School Leaving/Matriculation Certificate. Concessions may only be granted against Unit Standards that form part of an INSETA Qualification, based on the results of the South African School Leaving or Matriculation Certificate with a pass. It should be noted that a full pass in Matric on Higher Grade, Standard Grade or Lower Grade is required for this concession, as indicated below: Symbol A to E. Achievement Achievement Description Marks % Level A Outstanding Achievement 80 100 B Meritorious Achievement 70 79 C Substantial Achievement 60 69 D Adequate Achievement 50 59 E Achieved 40 49 Concession Guideline Rev6 May 2012 Page 2 of 5
Achievement Level 4 7. Achievement Achievement Description Marks % Level 7 Outstanding Achievement 80 100 6 Meritorious Achievement 70 79 5 Substantial Achievement 60 69 4 Adequate Achievement 50 59 3 Achieved 40-49 Any foreign Matric or other foreign qualification will have to be evaluated by SAQA for equivalence to the South African Standard prior to INSETA accepting such qualification or application. The process of SAQA will have to be followed and adhered to. Updated INSETA Qualifications for which concession will be granted to learners who meet the minimum requirements are available on the INSETA website www.inseta.org.za and the SAQA website on www.saqa.org.za. Note that: Learners who do not meet the required conditions for concession against the fundamental unit standards, are required to be trained and assessed for competence against the Fundamental Unit Standards at the Level of the Qualification. If a learner is competent in Communication, Financial Literacy and/or Mathematics at Level 4 it is assumed that the learner is also competent at Levels 3. A learner may therefore receive credits towards the Communications, Financial literacy and/or Mathematics fundamentals at Level 3 as well as Level 4 based on the results indicated on the South African School Leaving/National Senior Certificate/Matriculation Certificate. Only certified copies of the original South African School Leaving/National Senior Certificate/Matriculation Certificate will be accepted as evidence of prior learning for the purpose of this concession. Conditions for the awarding of RPL against a South African School Leaving/National Senior Certificate/Matriculation Certificate. Mathematics (Level 3 and 4) Learners who passed Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy as a subject in Grade 12 may be granted 16 credits through concession against the Mathematical Fundamental Unit Standards at Levels 3 and 4. Note: Functional Maths, Business Maths, Commercial Arithmetic and all other variations cannot be used for credit purposes. Concession Guideline Rev6 May 2012 Page 3 of 5
Communication in the Language of Business: English (required at the level of the qualification). Learners who passed English as a first or second language as a subject in Grade 12 may be granted 20 credits through concession against the Communication Unit Standards at Levels 3 and 4. Communication in an additional South African Language (20 credits at level of the qualification). Learners who passed an additional South African Language other than the language of business (English) as a First, Second or Third Language as a subject in Grade 12 may be granted 20 credits through concession against the Communication Unit Standards required as a Second Language at Level 3. The following are recognised as South African Languages: Sepedi (North Sotho), Sesotho, Setswana, siswati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, isindebele, isixhosa, isizulu and sign language. Financial Literacy Levels 3 and 4 Learners who passed Accounting or Bookkeeping as a subject in Grade 12 may be granted 12 credits through concession against the Financial Literacy Unit Standards at Level 3 or 4. Policy for Learners embarking on learnerships or learning/skills programmes It is the responsibility of the provider and the employer to ensure that learners entering learnerships and/or learning/skills programmes are sufficiently competent in the Language of Business to enable them to complete the learnership or learning/skills programme in the allotted time. Foreign School Leaving Qualifications This concession does not apply to learners who completed their schooling outside of the Republic of South Africa. Learners with foreign school leaving qualifications are required to be assessed for competence against the compulsory Communication and Mathematical Unit Standards at the Level of the Qualification or have their certificates evaluated by SAQA for South African equivalence before concession can be considered. Process to be followed in requesting concession against a South African School Leaving/ Matriculation Certificate: - Concession Guideline Rev6 May 2012 Page 4 of 5
Providers Learners may apply to accredited INSETA Providers for concession for the Communication, Financial Literacy and Mathematical Fundamental Unit Standards. Providers may appoint (in writing) and train an INSETA registered Assessor to receive and check applications for approval for the Communications, Financial Literacy and Mathematical unit standards against the original South African School Leaving/Matriculation Certificate. Applications must not be sent to INSETA for approval but credits must be included on the NLRD Upload Forms and must form part of the Portfolio of Evidence, following a verification approval by INSETA at the verification visit. Original concession forms, Certified copies of supporting documentation and approvals are to be kept by the Provider for audit purposes. Providers are required (within the mandate given by INSETA) to access the SETA Management System (SMS) to upload the appropriate credits. The INSETA ETQA will audit the uploading of credits from time to time on-site. Learners are required to: Submit to the provider to whom they are applying for concession the following: - A completed application form A certified copy of the Matric results A certified copy of the RSA ID Document or Passport A certified copy of marriage/divorce papers where applicable The Provider s appointed Assessor is required to: Check the copies of all Certificates and supporting documents to establish validity and authenticity. Check the application form for completeness. Indicate the Unit Standards to be credited to the learner against the School Leaving/Matriculation Certificate and complete the signed declaration on the form for each individual learner. File all documents for ETQA verification and audit purposes and in line with the provider s policy and procedure for safe storage. Reviews Relevant Unit standards will be updated on the concession application form annually or when the need arises. (See Annexure A) This guideline may be reviewed on an annual basis or as and when the need for a review is necessary. The reviewed documents will be placed on the INSETA website. Concession Guideline Rev6 May 2012 Page 5 of 5