There is request for stakeholder input, please be aware or be involved in this process regarding QCTO first aid programs SP230801, 230802, 230803. This is about the current versions of the QCTO basic, intermediate, and advanced curricula, and how they will be affected by the commentary made by HPCSA (and other stakeholders) that are resulting in a review of those curricula. Well done to HWSETA for being dilligent in establishing these programs in general, but this particular issue needs to be handled with great care and consideration to SDPs who invest time and money gaining accreditation for first aid.
CONTEXT: Articles on this website are generally for training providers who train short courses (skills programs and unit standards), who train OHS related topics, and who are private companies.
DATES: Dates matter, please see the date of each article you read. Dates matter because these are often developing situations.
Please download the letter by HWSETA ETQA manager Baakedi here to read it.
Big or small changes? If the changes to the curricula are significant enough, the skills program ID’s will change, and everyone who is accredited or applying for SP230801, 230802, 230803 will need to re-apply for it as if it is a new program
Easy transition or not? HWSETA and QCTO have expressed that if this happens the transition will be made easy for providers. I advise training providers to treat this statement with utmost caution. There is every indication this will be admin heavy on SDPs more than any other party. This is because A. Parties at QCTO and HWSETA have directly stated a re-application cannot be avoided if changes are to titles, or are significant. And B. Because no such process exists (yet) where a SDP program accreditation can be ‘substituted’.
Learning from history? I would also warn against accepting that the transition will be easy, given how the unit standard to skills program transition is going. I believe HWSETA have the best of intentions here, but the nature of govt process historically has been a bit inconsiderate to private SDPs in general.
Teach out? HWSETA and QCTO have stated there will be a ‘teach out period’, but have stated there is every likelihood the programs original lifespan of 5 years (of which they have only completed 1 year so far) will be shortened significantly.
What is important about titles and skills program IDs? A central issue here is that if the program titles change, the skills program ID’s must change, and that wil cause re-application to be necessary. QCTO have stated this directly.
Why is this happening – HPCSA? The request to change the titles come from HPCSA and originate from an endeavour of theirs to ring fence words like “emergency” which appear in their own programs (discontinued or not).
Why is this happening – HWSETA?
I am not privy to exactly how this came about, but can tell you it is the mandate of HWSETA to communicate with organs of state, and with professional bodies when establishing programs that fall under their ambit. HPCSA in meetings about these first aid programs explicitly asked “why were we not aware of this?” I cannot say for sure if they were contacted or not, just that they said they did not know about it.
I have worked on other programs (like QCTO Spiro) and can tell you the author of the letter attached to this article, Baakedi, HWSETA ETQA Manager, blocked the QCTO Spiro program because she said “SANC would not allow it”. When we got hold of SANC ourselves though, they had not been contacted by Baakedi and said they had no interest in quality assuring spiro because it was a short program. As a result, it was established as a QCTO program via HWSETA as we intended. We lost years to this though! And SANC had never heard of it, let alone were ‘blocking’ it. I am not trying to be inflammatory, this is a historical fact that holds significance in this situation because it is about communication between HWSETA and a prof body (HPCSA in this case).
Yes, but should content not be updated? Yes, it should. I update my learning material regularly, I’m a believer in keeping up with best practices. Stakeholders should be aware though, that the central issue here is the change of the titles and program ID’s that have the knock on effect that will burden SDPs. The content changes are not the issue, or were not the issue that would lead to everyone needing to re-apply. The letter also states that the core of the programs remain the same, which further points to this.
Given all this, if you are a QCTO first aid training provider training SP230801, 230802, 230803 please get involved and have your say.
See other articles about this below that further elaborate on this:
Please also see various other articles on this website about this, for example, these articles (NB: Article dates matter because this is a developing situation)
