SAQA

All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.

SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY

REGISTERED QUALIFICATION:

Doctor of Education

SAQA QUAL ID	QUALIFICATION TITLE
105740	Doctor of Education
ORIGINATOR
Central University of Technology, Free State
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY			NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
-			HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework
QUALIFICATION TYPE	FIELD		SUBFIELD
Doctoral Degree	Field 05 - Education, Training and Development		Higher Education and Training
ABET BAND	MINIMUM CREDITS	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	QUAL CLASS
Undefined	360	Not Applicable	NQF Level 10	Regular-Provider-ELOAC
REGISTRATION STATUS		SAQA DECISION NUMBER	REGISTRATION START DATE	REGISTRATION END DATE
Reregistered		EXCO 0821/24	2021-07-01	2027-06-30
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT		LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2028-06-30		2031-06-30

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.

This qualification does not replace any other qualification and is not replaced by any other qualification.

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION

Purpose:
The purpose of this qualification is to enable learners to make a significant contribution to the knowledge and understanding in the field of study related to education. It is a postgraduate qualification aimed at creating opportunities for learners to engage with research into any aspect of education. The qualification will be conferred only on those learners who have demonstrated the capacity for sustained original research that generated well-grounded new knowledge in the Education field.
Learners must show evidence of high academic standards in the content of the thesis and the ability to undertake research independently. It is also the purpose of this qualification to produce theses that should respectably stand alongside refereed and published research in the same field and have practical application in the societal context.

Rationale:
The Doctor of Education by thesis is a postgraduate qualification in education, which aims to combine academic rigour with professional relevance. The qualification also extends the boundaries of knowledge production within the field of education. Potential learners are typically practitioners in the education sector. The qualification provides an opportunity for learners to pursue research on a variety of education-related issues at the doctoral level.

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL):
The learner should draft a written application and submit this application to the Assessment and Graduation Unit. Learners will then receive assistance provided at the academic department responsible for formulating this application. Any RPL application for recognition of academic achievements will be dealt with in terms of the standing procedures for module recognition. The learner is subject to a substantive assessment by the responsible persons at the academic departments, and a report on this assessment is provided to the Assessment and Graduation Unit.

A faculty RPL committee is constituted as a Faculty Board sub-committee to evaluate each case individually and on its own merits.

Entry Requirements:
The minimum admission requirement for this qualification is:

Master of Education, NQF Level 9.

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING?

QUALIFICATION RULES

This qualification consists of the following compulsory module at NQF Level 10 totalling 180 Credits.

Thesis, 360 Credits.

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES

1. Identify and formulate a researchable problem that will generate new knowledge.
2. Develop a research design to validly and reliably collect and analyse data relating to the identified researchable problem.
3. Select, rationalise and employ research methodologies suitable to address the researchable problem(s).
4. Design an appropriate theoretical framework within which to embed a research project.
5. Use technology to collect data and to assist with the analysis of data.
6. Respond to ethical issues involved in research.
7. Present the researchable problem, theoretical framework, the research methodologies employed, the data and its analysis, research findings, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations in a coherent text of acknowledged scholarly value 8. Organise and manage a research project.

ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The following Associated Assessment Criteria will assess the:

Ensure a research plan includes an astute formulation of topic and meaningful parameters, incorporate significant variables, operational objectives, hypotheses and research problems.

Ensure a suitable, well-motivated, and scientifically acceptable methods and procedures of research, and a research approach that is theoretically well-founded and conceptualised and a systematically organised and critically accountable research design.

Ensure a chapter division that shows appropriate range and compass of content, creativity and originality, based on well-found assumptions.

Ensure a study of literature that testifies to balance, knowledge and sound interpretation and that is relevant, topical and recent, with an adequate selection in which primary sources have precedence over secondary sources.

Ensure a summary in which the conclusions and deductions express the spirit of the study meaningfully and conclusively.

Ensure the findings and recommendations that are viable, accountable and concur with the objectives/research problem hypotheses, with inducement for improvement and refinement of practice and suitable for publication.

Recommend for further research.

Contribute to the extension/expansion of existing knowledge through independent, original and critical thinking.

Integrated Assessment includes:
A substantial and well-organised thesis which satisfies current national and international standards in the principal area of education inquiry, and in which:

The fundamental argument and its relations with current and past streams of thinking are clear,

The research approach is suitably specified, and justified,

The original research findings are appropriately presented and evaluated, and

A majority of external examiners formally assesses the implications for knowledge in and thinking about the broader area of inquiry.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY

There is the use of the Dublin Descriptors (outlining expected competencies of a Level 10 graduate) in this qualification, which facilitates the international comparability of this doctorate while ensuring that this doctoral offering would be equivalent in terms of level, complexity and graduate attributes to other such doctorates within South Africa.

ARTICULATION OPTIONS

This qualification allows possibilities for horizontal articulation.

Horizontal Articulation:

Doctor of Education in Philosophy of Education.

MODERATION OPTIONS

N/A

CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS

N/A

NOTES

N/A

LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION:

NONE

PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION:

This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.

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