Please note: This article has been adapted to explain the QCTO requirement for trainers (assessors / facilitators). The SETA system is still active at time of this article’s last update (October 2023), so this article is accurate in describing the SETA requirement as well.

REQUIREMENT SUMMARISED

(Each point is elaborated on below)

1. Your ETDP statement of results that is certified recently (less than 2 months ago)
2. Your certificates of education that are relevant and related to the specific QCTO curriculum (or SETA unit standards) you want to apply for, all certified recently (less than 2 months ago)
3. A copy of your ID that is recently certified recently (less than 2 months ago)
4. Your CV that is up to date

EXPANDED

To elaborate:

1. ETDP STATEMENT OF RESULTS

You will first need to be able to prove you are a qualified trainer. To do this, you need to provide a ETDP statement of results.

Receiving a facilitator, assessor, or moderator certificate from a training organisation does not guarantee that you are a facilitator, assessor, or moderator as recognised by a SETA or by other organisations or bodies. The training organisation has to process your portfolio of evidence with the SETA (ETDP SETA) and register you on the national records learner database (NLRD). If done correctly they will be able to download your statement of results from the ETDP SETA indicium and provide it to you. ETDP SETA states that training organisations are to do this for learners as part of the training process. Afterall, their certificate is almost worthless without the statement of results. If your training organisation refuses to provide this statement of results after your training (it may take a few days to get it) it is likely they are not accredited, not competent, or have not passed their last verification. If this is the case and the training organisation refuses to provide it, you may need to seek refund. In short, after acheiving the facilitator, assessor, or modertor unit standards, the training organisation must provide you with a document with ETDP SETA’s logo on it, titled “Statement of results”, which lists the unit standards you acheived with that SETA (such as facilitator, assessor, or moderator unit standards).

Also note that in most cases you need to be an assessor first, before you can apply to be a moderator.

2. CERTIFICATES OF EDUCATION

Training is an industry that has been around for some time. There are a plethora of courses available. This section will help you determine if you will be approved as a facilitator, assessor, or moderator for a specific unit standard or qualification with the certificates of education you have.

1. Attendence vs Comptence: If you received a certificate that says you “attended” a course, the certificate cannot be used in this context. Only certificates that state they are certificates of competence or acheivement can be considered. Elearning courses are only accepted if the elearning system is approved by the SETA, or if it meets the other relevant requirements below. By default elearning certificates are certificates of attendence.
2. Expired vs current: Any certificate that has an expiry date on it that has lapsed cannot be used. A certificate that omits (does not state) any expiry date will probably still be valid unless there are other circumstances that affect its validity. If the certificate has an expiry date that is in the future the certificate should still be valid, although a good rule of thumb is that the certificate will need at least 3 months remaining validity on it.
3. NQF certificates (ones with SAQA / SETA qualification or unit standard numbers on them): If the certificate is on the NQF (National Qualifications Network) system and is accredited by any SETA or the QCTO it is likely to be usable. As per new regulation though, it must be accompanied by a statement of results (sometimes called a statement of achievements) that is issued from the SETA. This is very similar to the facilitator / assessor / moderator certificates described above. Whichever SETA the training organisation is accredited with will need to provide a statement of results (or acheivements) for all the courses you have done with them and with that SETA. Without it the certificate you received might not be valid. More on that at the link below this list.
4. Non NQF certificates (ones without SAQA / SETA qualification or unit standard numbers on them). These can be tricky because there is such a wide variety of them, and they might need some motivation with the SETA. As a rule of thumb, they will need to meet the requirement of all other points in this list except point 3 and maybe point 6 depending on the certificate. Lime Green will need to evaluate these, and may ask for more information about them (such as what the curriculum contained, if it was aligned to a NQF qualification in the past etc).
5. Relevant and related: The certificate of education presented needs to be relevant or related to the qualification or unit standard you intend to facilitate / assess / moderate. For example, if you want to facilitate / assess / moderate first aid, you will need to produce a certificate that is relevant or related to first aid. Relevance works upwards, so a lesser qualification cannot be presented to achieve approval for a higher qualification. For example, you cannot produce a first aid level 1 certificate (US119567) to gain approval to facilitate / assess / moderate first aid level 3 (US376480). You can however use a higher certificate to acheive approval for a lower level of relevant or related training. The certifiate needs to be equal to or higher to achieve approval.
6. Backed by a body: Some certificates will need to be backed by a body. These are typically non-NQF certificates that are recognised as being of high enough status to be accepted by NQF bodies (i.e. SETA’s or the QCTO), even though they are not on the NQF system. For example, A Basic Ambulance Assistant (BAA) certificate is relevant and related to fist aid, but not on the NQF system, so in order for it to be accepted it will need to be backed by HPCSA (Health Professionals Council of South Africa) membership that is current. Or, for nursing and healthcare qualifications the applicant will usually need to be backed by SANC (South African Nursing Council) and provide a SANC receipt to indicate they are current and up to date as qualified nurses. The body that backs the certificate will need to be recognised though. For example HPCSA and SANC are recognised by SETA’s and the QCTO as backing bodies. In OHS training SAIOSH certificates (alone) are not accepted as a backing body that brings a NQF certificate into validity with an non-NQF system like HPCSA and SANC do. There are too many of these to go through here, but the principle has been explained and other certificates will need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Note that the points mentioned here work in conjunction where applicable. For more see this article.

All certificates of education and supporting memberships with backing bodies etc need to be recently certified.

3. COPY OF YOUR ID

As part of the application process the applicant will need to provide a recently certified copy of their ID. This should be a copy that is only certified once (recertifying it indicates that it is a copy of a copy). The certification stamp will need to be less than 3 months old (preferably less than 2 months to allow for processing on the SETA’s side).

4. UPDATED CV

As part of the application process the applicant will need to provide their CV (this document does not need to be certified). The CV should have the following information:

1. Basic information such as ID number, full address and post code, phone number, email address, and marital status.
2. Last (high) school attended (this is required for the SETA’s stats-sa system)
3. Details of your work experience noting dates and places worked at.
4. Details of education (although this is mostly verified through certificates which are the primary evidence of education).
5. Other info such as the number of years of experience you have and your current occupation. Disability status should also be disclosed.