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: 

Advanced Certificate in Senior Phase Life Orientation Teaching 
SAQA QUAL ID QUALIFICATION TITLE
97186  Advanced Certificate in Senior Phase Life Orientation Teaching 
ORIGINATOR
University of the Free State 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
CHE - Council on Higher Education  HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework 
QUALIFICATION TYPE FIELD SUBFIELD
Advanced Certificate  Field 05 - Education, Training and Development  Schooling 
ABET BAND MINIMUM CREDITS PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL QUAL CLASS
Undefined  120  Not Applicable  NQF Level 06  Regular-Provider-ELOAC 
REGISTRATION STATUS SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
Registered-data under construction  EXCO 0324/24  2024-07-01  2027-06-30 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2028-06-30   2031-06-30  

Registered-data under construction

The qualification content is currently being updated for the qualifications with the status “Registered-data under construction” or showing “DETAILS UNDER CONSTRUCTION” to ensure compliance with SAQA’S Policy and Criteria for the registration of qualifications and part-qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) (As amended, 2022). These qualifications are re-registered until 30 June 2027 and can legitimately be offered by the institutions to which they are registered.

 

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.  

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION 
Purpose:
The purpose of the qualification is to:
  • Strengthen the subject specialisation of practising teachers with a prior qualification in Senior Phase Life Orientation Teaching at a lower level, or to retrain teachers for the teaching of Life Orientation in the Senior Phase.
  • Enable these teachers to develop disciplinary, pedagogical, practical and situational learning reflexive competences in teaching and learning in the particular subject/phase in the school.

    This will be pursued in the curriculum through specialised learning, and the application of specialised knowledge and skills to teaching and learning in the classroom. The qualification is designed to deepen the teachers' subject matter knowledge, general principles and methodology in Life Orientation teaching. As such, teachers will be enabled to develop disciplinary, pedagogical, practical and situational learning reflexive competences in teaching and learning in the Senior Phase of schooling.

    Aims such as the following will also be pursued to explore the purpose of the qualification:
  • Fostering self-reflexivity and self-understanding.
  • Development of the competences to organise learning among a diverse range of learners in diverse contexts.

    Rationale:
    The Advanced Certificate in Senior Phase Life Orientation Teaching [AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching)] addresses the requirement of the Department of Higher Education and Training to establish a teaching and learning pathway for teachers in order to advance their careers. The AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching) does not only focus on Senior Phase education in general, but also to improve teachers' knowledge and competencies in a new subject, or to strengthen their subject specialisation.

    Extensive consultation with education departments on a national level, as well as conducting a national needs analysis revealed the shortage of adequately qualified teachers for the Senior Phase Life Orientation classroom. Research undertaken by the institution to identify gaps in the knowledge base of Senior Phase Life Orientation teachers revealed a lack in professional capacity among large numbers of teachers who are currently employed to teach Senior Phase Life Orientation in the Free State Province and elsewhere. Therefore, the AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching) will not only help teachers, who are currently employed as Life Orientation teachers in the Senior Phase (SP), but those who do not have adequate skills and knowledge, to upgrade their qualification. It also offers specialist education to those teachers who need to improve their SP Life Orientation knowledge base. In addition, the qualification also aims to provide retraining to teachers who wish to change their subject specialisation, thus this widens the pool of teachers who are able to teach this subject.

    The AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching) is designed to address the subject specific needs of Life Orientation teachers in the Senior Phase. In addition to the national prescribed requirements, this curriculum includes additional credits for deepening of content knowledge which is necessary due to the evident lack in specific content knowledge among many South African teachers. It is expected that education departments will welcome the delivery of an AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching). 
    		•

    LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
    Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL):
    The Institutional rules and requirements for RPL apply where the minimum requirements are not met.

    Entry Requirements:
  • A recognised professional teaching qualification is required for entry into the Advanced Certificate in Teaching.
  • Teachers may present a professional Bachelor of Education (BEd) or an Advanced Diploma in Education (or a former PGCE or a Higher Diploma Postgraduate) for admission into the Advanced Certificate in Teaching.
  • Teachers in possession of a three-year Diploma in Education.
  • Teachers Diploma or a completed National Professional Diploma in Education (Level 5), may also be admitted to the Advanced Certificate in Teaching. 
    		•

    RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING? 
    Y 

    QUALIFICATION RULES 
    This qualification consists of compulsory modules at NQF Level 6 and optional modules at NQF Level 5 totalling 120 Credits.
    Compulsory Modules at NQF Level 6:
  • Education Studies I in the individual in Education Context, 8 Credits.
  • Teaching SP Life Orientation I (Constitutional Rights and responsibilities) , 8 Credits.
  • Teaching SP Life Orientation II (Physical Education), 16 Credits.
  • Classroom Management in Life Orientation, 8 Credits.
  • Professional Practice in the Classroom,8 Credits.
  • Teaching SP Life Orientation III (Development of the Self in Society), 16 Credits.
  • Teaching SP Life Orientation IV (Health, social and environmental responsibility), 16 Credits.
  • Teaching SP Life Orientation V (Counselling), 8 Credits.
  • Education Studies II in Managing diversity in the learning context, 8 Credits.
  • Teaching and Learning in Education Context, 8 Credits.
  • Teaching Life Orientation VI (World of Work), 16 Credits.

    Optional Modules at NQF Level 5:
  • Subject content module in Constitutional Rights and responsibilities, Physical Education and Development of the Self, 8 Credits.
  • Introduction to ICT (Take either in Semester 1 Or in Semester 2), 6 Credits.
  • ICT in the Life Orientation Classroom I, 3 Credits.
  • Subject content module in Health, social and environmental responsibility and Counselling, 8 Credits.
  • Introduction to ICT (Take either in Semester 1 Or in Semester 2), 6 Credits.
  • Introduction to ICT (Take either in Semester 1 Or in Semester 2), 6 Credits. 
    		•

    EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES 
    1. Apply knowledge of the concepts, skills and values for life skills and health promotion to create a learning environment that accommodates a diversity of learner.
    2. Display skills of administrators of life skills education and health promotion.
    3. Display characteristics of a Learning Mediator.
    4. Interpret and design learning programmes and materials. 

    ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 
    Associated Assessment Criteria For Exit Level Outcome 1:
  • Learning and teaching resources are interpreted, adapted and designed; approaches and teaching styles that can be justified theoretically are used.
  • A range of methodologies appropriate to learners and contexts, in life skills and health promotion, in the phase in which they will work are selected, justified and employed.
  • The challenge of improving the quality of life skills education and health promotion, which results from a changing educational dispensation is met.
  • Their critical thinking is developed in order to enhance pedagogical knowledge, as well as their subject matter knowledge in life skills education and health promotion.

    Associated Assessment Criteria For Exit Level Outcome 2:
  • INSET in life skills and health promotion for other teachers is organised, managed and administered.
  • The various modes of assessment in this area are understood and the assessment is integrated into their teaching.
  • Records of assessment results are kept for, inter alia, diagnostic and course improvement purposes.
  • The basic management functions of planning, organising, direction and control are displayed for effective administrative duties in the classroom in general and for the management of sport in particular.
  • As a sport administrator to keep abreast of recent changes and innovations in the world of Human Movement Studies, in a scientifically justified manner is displayed.

    Associated Assessment Criteria For Exit Level Outcome 3:
  • Mediation of a variety of sports activities to the learner is demonstrated.
  • A well-founded knowledge of the learning content is displayed; limitations to the learning potential of learners are understood and strategies and resources are used to overcome such limitations.

    Associated Assessment Criteria For Exit Level Outcome 4:
  • Integrated, relevant, learner-centered physical education programmes and/or sport related programmes are designed, presented, facilitated and critically evaluated.
  • Cognisance of the challenges of the South African educational situation in general and of sport in particular is considered.
  • Sport development programmes for cricket, track and field, and perceptual motor learning programmes are used.

    Integrated Assessment:
    Applied competence will be demonstrated through a variety of formative assessment methods. Summative assessment will be examinations. Various assessment activities that are constructively aligned to the qualification and module outcomes; and teaching and learning activities will seek to integrate theory and practice. Assessment will be in line with the University's Assessment Policy assessment.

    Assessment is seen as central to the teaching and learning process, providing both formative and summative assessment opportunities as well as requiring an element of holistic, integrated assessment in line with the overall purpose of the qualification. Integrated assessment gives an opportunity to the students to demonstrate their achievement holistically across the exit-level outcomes of the programme.

    Each module has a specific assessment strategy that complies with the institutional rules and policies regarding assessment and examination. The teachers' competence in the modules will be assessed through assignments and tests as well as examinations, or examination equivalent tasks. The type of assessment will however depend on the nature of the module and/or the lecturers involved in the module. Continuous assessment activities in the AdvCert (SP Life Orientation Teaching) will include tests, assignments, projects, lesson presentations, posters, presentations; critique of lessons; group assignments, portfolios and practical work.

    WIL is integrated in the teaching modules and includes opportunities for learning from practice and learning in practice. It is expected that the students will be able to carry out activities in their classrooms and reflect critically on their own practice. Practical assessment activities, assignments and a reflective journal forms part of all the modules with the aim to develop the students' sense of agency as teachers. 
    		•

    INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY 
    No direct comparison with international qualifications can be made. This subject has been specifically introduced into the South African education system after democracy. Life Orientation as a subject was implemented as part of the Outcomes Based Education. It is an inter-disciplinary subject that is embedded in disciplines of Social Science, Arts, and the Humanities. The intention behind the subject is promotion of the holistic development of, e.g. interpersonal skills, values, health, environment and religious education.

    Elsewhere in the world, there are specialists who offer guidance and counselling to learners and these individuals hold a qualification at Masters Level, which may not be an equivalent comparison to this qualification, and there is no subject similar to Life Orientation being offered, thus there is no teacher qualifications available to be compared with. 

    ARTICULATION OPTIONS 
    The Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications stipulates that there is no direct progression to the Advanced Diploma in Education from the AdvCert. However, teachers who hold a three-year Diploma in Education, a Teachers' Diploma or completed National Professional Diploma in Education (Level 5) can, as an interim measure (for a period to be determined by the Minister of Higher Education and Training in consultation with the CHE), gain access to an Advanced Diploma in Education. Graduates of the AdvCert who hold a Degree can proceed to the Advanced Diploma, Honours or Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) qualifications in a cognate area. Graduates may also present a completed Advanced Certificate for admission with credit accumulation and transfer into a cognate Bachelor of Education Degree. 

    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.
     
    1. University of the Free State 


    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.