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SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY

REGISTERED UNIT STANDARD THAT HAS PASSED THE END DATE:

Describe Christian foundations in the early centuries

SAQA US ID	UNIT STANDARD TITLE
116725	Describe Christian foundations in the early centuries
ORIGINATOR
SGB Christian Theology and Ministry
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY
-
FIELD			SUBFIELD
Field 07 - Human and Social Studies			Religious and Ethical Foundations of Society
ABET BAND	UNIT STANDARD TYPE	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	CREDITS
Undefined	Regular	Level 4	NQF Level 04	10
REGISTRATION STATUS		REGISTRATION START DATE	REGISTRATION END DATE	SAQA DECISION NUMBER
Passed the End Date - Status was "Reregistered"		2007-08-07	2010-08-07	SAQA 0160/05
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT		LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2011-08-07		2014-08-07

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 unit standard does not replace any other unit standard and is not replaced by any other unit standard.

PURPOSE OF THE UNIT STANDARD

This Unit Standard will be useful to learners who wish to gain insight into the birth and development of early Christianity.

People credited with this Unit Standard are able to:

Describe the main Christian movements and developments associated with the early church.

Locate those movements and developments in their historical, geographical, and cul-tural context.

Describe patterns of worship and Christian practice and their continuing impact.

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

Learners are assumed to be competent in Communication and Mathematical Literacy at NQF Level 3.

UNIT STANDARD RANGE

N/A

Specific Outcomes and Assessment Criteria:

SPECIFIC OUTCOME 1

Describe the main Christian movements and developments asso-ciated with the early church.

OUTCOME RANGE

Both Eastern and Western Churches, Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian expressions of Christianity.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1

Key features of Christianity in the period are identified with reference to distinctive char-acteristics.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE

Expansion, persecution, monasticism, state Christianity, doctrinal debates.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2

The impact of each of the outlined features is described from the experience of Chris-tians.

SPECIFIC OUTCOME 2

Locate the main Christian movements and developments in their historical, geographical, and cultural context.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1

The movements and developments are set in a basic timeline of world history.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2

The same features are defined geographically and culturally.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 3

The impact of the wider society on Christian life is explained in context.

SPECIFIC OUTCOME 3

Describe patterns of worship and Christian practice and their con-tinuing impact.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1

The origins and key features of worship are described with reference to time and place.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE

Include at least Eucharist and baptism.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2

The origins of Christian ministry are described wit reference to the early church.

ASSESSMENT CRITERION 3

The relationship between the early patterns and practice and the learner's own Christian context is explained with reference to contemporary patterns.

UNIT STANDARD ACCREDITATION AND MODERATION OPTIONS

Providers of learning towards this Unit Standard will need to meet the accreditation requirements of the appropriate ETQA.

Moderation Option:

The moderation requirements of the appropriate ETQA must be met in order to award credit to learn-ers for this Unit Standard.

UNIT STANDARD ESSENTIAL EMBEDDED KNOWLEDGE

The following essential embedded knowledge will be assessed through assessment of the specific outcomes in terms of the stipulated assessment criteria. Candidates are unlikely to achieve all the specific outcomes, to the standards described in the assessment criteria, without knowledge of the listed embedded knowledge. This means that for the most part, the possession or lack of the knowledge can be directly inferred from the quality of the candidate's performance. Where direct assessment of knowledge is required, assessment criteria have been included in the body of the Unit Standard.

An overview of Christianity in the first five centuries.

UNIT STANDARD DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME

This Unit Standard promotes, in particular, the following critical cross-field outcomes:

Participate as a reliable citizen locally, nationally and internationally: The evaluation of early Christianity demands a reasoned Christian response which interrogates the present in the light of the mistakes and achievements of the past.

UNIT STANDARD LINKAGES

N/A

Critical Cross-field Outcomes (CCFO):

UNIT STANDARD CCFO IDENTIFYING

Identify and solve problems: A proper understanding of early church history enables a transformational approach to current Christian life and practice in Southern Africa.

UNIT STANDARD CCFO COLLECTING

Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information. This is done through the appropriate selection, sorting and evaluating of basic historical information, as well as through learning to identify the connections between historical events and processes.

UNIT STANDARD CCFO DEMONSTRATING

Understand the world as a set of inter-related parts of a system: Historical study enables the learner to locate individual and local events, experiences and understandings in a global setting, challenging parochial, tribal and fragmented world-views.

UNIT STANDARD CCFO CONTRIBUTING

Contribute to the full development of oneself: Through assessing Christianity in its origi-nal modes, the learner's sense of rootedness in history is built up, and the learner is able to minister with a clearer understanding of the continuing impact of the past on models of Christianity in the 21st century.

UNIT STANDARD ASSESSOR CRITERIA

Assessors should keep the following general principles in mind when designing and con-ducting assessments against this Unit Standard:

Focus the assessment activities on gathering evidence in terms of the main outcome expressed in the title to ensure assessment is integrated rather than fragmented. Re-member we want to declare the person competent in terms of the title. Where assess-ment at title level is unmanageable, then focus assessment around each specific out-come, or groups of specific outcomes.

Make sure evidence is gathered across the entire range, wherever it applies. Assess-ment activities should be as close to the real performance as possible, and where simulations or role-plays are used, there should be supporting evidence to show the candidate is able to perform in the real situation.

Do not focus the assessment activities on each assessment criterion. Rather make sure the assessment activities focus on outcomes and are sufficient to enable evi-dence to be gathered around all the assessment criteria.

The assessment criteria provide the specifications against which assessment judge-ments should be made. In most cases, knowledge can be inferred from the quality of the performances, but in other cases, knowledge and understanding will have to be tested through questioning techniques. Where this is required, there will be assess-ment criteria to specify the standard required.

The task of the assessor is to gather sufficient evidence, of the prescribed type and quality, as specified in this Unit Standard, that the candidate can achieve the outcomes again and again and again. This means assessors will have to judge how many repeat performances are required before they believe the performance is reproducible.

All assessments should be conducted in line with the following well documented prin-ciples of assessment: appropriateness, fairness, manageability, integration into work or learning, validity, direct, authentic, sufficient, systematic, open and consistent.

UNIT STANDARD NOTES

Definition of Terms:

Terms have been clarified as far as possible through the use of range statements.

QUALIFICATIONS UTILISING THIS UNIT STANDARD:

	ID	QUALIFICATION TITLE	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	STATUS	END DATE	PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QA FUNCTIONARY
Elective	49057	Further Education and Training Certificate: Theology and Ministry	Level 4	NQF Level 04	Passed the End Date - Status was "Reregistered"	2023-06-30	HW SETA

PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS UNIT STANDARD:

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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