Contact us

If you have any queries please email sqa@seychelles.net

Or phone 283068 or 322476 Recognizing your

Competencies

Dear Community of Stakeholders, Welcome to the first issue of SQA Newslet-ter for 2009. This quarterly publication re-places the SQA News Update. The Editorial Team trusts that it can continue to satisfy your interest in SQA matters through this quarterly newsletter. With the enactment of the ‘National Qualifi-cations Framework Regulations 2008’ and the finalization of the associated policy guidelines the SQA is now poised to enter into the most important stage of its development – that of implementation of the Qualifications Frame-work. This is a stage where the engagement and support of providers of qualifications will be essential. The SQA has also submitted its 3rd Annual Report to the Authorities. The Editorial Team takes this opportunity to thank members of the SQA Board of Authority for the last three years for their support and looks for-ward to continue the good working relationship with members of the new SQA Board of the Authority. For more information on SQA developments visit the SQA website www.sqa.sc . We value and welcome your feedback and sug-gestions. EDITORIAL TEAM

Editorial INSIDE T H I S ISSUE

FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT WORK

National Qualifications Framework Be-comes Law…………………………………..

Standards Development…………………. Quality Assurance …………………………. Evaluation of Existing Qualifica-

tions…………………………………………… Recognition of Prior Learning……………. Recognition of Foreign Qualifica-

tions…………………………………………...

2 2 3 3 4 4

REGULATING FIELDS OF PRACTICE

Hairdressing………………...

COMMUNICATION & SENSITISATION Presentation to CEO Forum The Communication Strategy The Electronic Management and Infor-

mation System

COLLABORATION, CAPACITY BUILD-ING and EXCHANGES

SQA Contribution to the Drafting and Presentation of the draft Higher Educa-tion Legal Framework

International Partnership Linkages Capacity Building……………………..

NEW FACILITIES

The Conference room………………..

4 & 5 5 & 6 6 7 7 & 8 8 9 10

S Q

A

SQA NEWSLETTER

Q S

A

Recognizing your Competencies

P A G E 1 0

En mars de l’année derniè-re, j’ai pris un cours de fran-çais appelé D E L F A 1 (Diplôme d’étu-

des en langues française). Pour moi, c’était essentiel de faire l’étude de la lan-gue française parce que depuis que j’ai quitté l’école polytechnique, où j’ai suivi quelques cours de français, je n’ai pas pratiqué ce que j’y ai appris.

Je me suis rendue compte de l’impact d’utiliser cette langue dans ma vie surtout

au travail (secrétaire privée). Par exemple, si un visiteur parlant fran-çais vient dans mon organisation (SQA) ou téléphone, je peux commu-niquer avec lui.

Avant ce cours, j’étais embarrassée de parler français parce que j’étais consciente que je pouvais commettre beaucoup de fautes. Maintenant je suis plus confiante pour m’exprimer dans cette langue.

En gros, j’ai appris plein de choses en faisant ce cours et je voudrais pour-suivre mes études. Cette année, je dois faire l’examen A2.

Le témoignage d’une employée qui a pris un cours en langue française

NEW FACILITIES

The need for a proper conference room has been felt for a long time given the many workshops that the SQA conducts. Since the establishment of the SQA we have had recourse to a very small room that we have been us-ing for Board and for technical meetings. With the downsizing of the Minis-try of Education came the opportunity for the SQA to be able to secure pre-cious space for the restoration of one of the vacant rooms to conference room standards. The renovation is currently in full swing and before the new Board meets in the middle of April the new room should be ready. For visitors to our premises the room is next to our main entrance.

Conference Room

SQA Newsletter: Issue N°1 April 2009

Evaluation of unit standards is ongoing but for now only by SQA staff as a new Core Stan-dards Committee is yet to be appointed. New unit standards for the NIHSS and MTC insti-tutions are now being devel-oped and should be completed by April this year. However, we still await some standards from last year which hopefully will be coming in for evaluation before the close of this first quarter.

S E Y C H E L L E S Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A U T H O R I T Y

FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT instruments in relation to standards setting, recognition of foreign and existing qualifica-tions, and recognition of prior learning and experience were finalised. As we enter 2009 it is only the Quality Assur-ance which has lagged behind, but here the organization is almost on course given that it is only the development of the tools and in-struments of that particular element of the NQF which is outstanding. The NQF has taken over 2 ½ years to concep-tualize mainly because of the extensive con-sultations which have taken place. It is there-fore a document founded on a great degree of national consensus. In and of itself the NQF is one complete sys-tem that regulates the development, delivery and recognition of local qualifications, the recognition of all qualifications coming from overseas, and provides for the accreditation of providers of education and training.

On the 18th of December 2008 the National Quali-fications Framework Regulations was signed into law by the Minister of Education, Minister Ber-nard Shamlaye. On the 29th of December the regu-lations were gazetted. On the 1st of January the regulations took effect. In effect this means that the work that the SQA is doing in implementing the National Qualifications Framework will be underpinned by law.

The development of the National Qualifications framework has been achieved by the SQA with the assistance of the Technical Support Group, local consultants, stakeholders and the South Afri-can Qualifications Authority which has been a critical friend in the process. Together we have developed the Qualifications’ Map of the framework with its attendant level de-scriptors. The Regulations which gives effect to the SQA Act was finalised over 2007-2008. Over these two years, the policy-guidelines, tools and

P A G E 2

National Qualifications

Framework

back prior to presentation to other relevant stakeholders. The Board has given their agreement in principle to the coding system, but it has also recommended that we float the idea to our local and ex-ternal partners for their com-ments as they have gone that route before and they might have some valuable advice for us.

More standards are in the process of being developed and will be sub-mitted to the SQA for evaluation prior to final approval by the Board and being registered on the frame-work. Work to develop a coding system for qualifications and unit standards is now well in progress and a first draft of the codes to be used has also been presented to the SQA Board for their reaction and feed-

Standards development

P A G E 3 I S S U E N ° 1 A P R I L 2 0 0 9

By contrast with the development of standards, the development of the quality assurance model that the SQA would adopt has taken much longer. While much of the work is of greater complexity than that of standards de-velopment, the development work has also suffered because it has pro-ceeded in fits and starts and this has had the effect of necessitating more time to reconnect with the issues at hand every time that the authority has re-prioritized the work. However, the Authority will over this year be giving a lot more attention to this area and it is already building up to training QA officers in order to trial the process that has been developed.

the QA manual, inclusive of the self evaluation and external evaluation instruments. The anticipated pilots should parallel the accreditation proc-ess of the University of Sey-chelles – American Institute of Medicine that will take place after June of 2009. Hopefully it will also coincide with the arri-val of the consultant selected to support the SQA in reviewing its quality assurance model and in developing an internal QA system for the University when that is set up.

It is within this context that the Secretariat met the providers on the 26th of January to present the roll-out process of the model as well as to engage with their feed-back on the criteria and indica-tors. The meeting went well and the providers gave their backing to the roll-out process, and at the end of the day accepted that we need finally to go ahead with the pilot of the model developed. Accordingly, the Secretariat was tasked with finishing the work on

Quality

Assurance

The work of the SQA Committee for the evaluation of existing qualifications has slowed down due to delay in the submission by certain providers. For the evaluation process to be completed by the end of March as ex-pected, providers will need to accelerate the rate of sub-mission. We seize this opportunity to remind the pro-viders who have not submitted their template to

do so as soon as possible. At this point 59 qualifications have been evaluated out of the 62 received from 14 pro-viders (Precise results are shown in the following graph). At present the level of qualifications ranges from Certifi-cate to Advanced Diploma level, and the institution enti-tled to deliver courses from Certificate to Degree level. The providers who have submitted are public and private educational and training institutions, NGO’s and parastatal organisations offering training.

Evaluation of Existing Qualification

1

6

1 1

12

1

9

6

16

21 1

5

1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Num

ber o

f Qualifications sub

mitted

Institution

Qualifications Submitted 12th March 2009ALDEC

Red Cross

International Beauty & Wellness Academy

Ministry of National Development

NIHSS

NIE

Polytechnic

SAHTC

SIT

SPA

STA

USAIM

Fire Bridgade

NARS

P A G E 4 P A G E 5

S E Y C H E L L E S Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A U T H O R I T Y

As was announced in the November SQA Update, an SQA committee on RPL will be constituted for the pilot RPL of a small group of so-cial workers towards a Diploma in Social Work. The committee will be constituted of 1 coordinator and 2 specialists of content coming from NIHSS and the Social Workers Council. The process will start in two or three weeks and should go on for a period of two to three months.

Recognition of Prior Learning

“RPL of a

small group of

social workers

towards a Di-

ploma in So-

cial Work.”

Recognition of Foreign Qualifications is in full swing and the SQA is handling transactions directly with the applicants instead of having to deal with different Government Depart-ments and Private Sector Organizations. This has been on-going since the coming into ef-fect of the NQF Regulations in January 2009 and it is proving to be less time consuming

because outstanding issues can be dealt with directly with clients. In addition to the recog-nition of foreign qualifications, the SQA also offers other services like confirmation of achievements, authentication, attestations of qualifications and any other activities related to qualifications which it is mandated to per-form.

The table below shows the qualifications submitted and the countries of origin:

Recognition of Foreign Qualifications

Name of Country No. of Certificates Evaluated

Australia 5

India 1

UK 4

Total 10

establish the appropriate level of qualification for someone to be recognized as a professional in this field. The committee has met twice to discuss and agree on the terms of reference un-der which it will operate, and also discussed the proposal for the setting up of an Associa-tion to manage and uphold the cause of all hairdressers. A presentation to all hairdressers has been scheduled for the month of March to sensitize them on the work being done and to prepare them for the changes being planned, as well as to seek their input. Eventually this should lead to the development of standards

by which professionals can be assessed prior to being recognized as professionals or com-petent hairdressers. This is important work for the SQA, assisting a field of practice to regulate the profession and establish stan-dards to ensure that customers are duly pro-tected. The hairdressing profession stands to benefit from adopting a more rigorous ap-proach to make their industry credible espe-cially in the light of developments in the field of education and training.

Presentation to CEO Forum

COMMUNICATION and SENSITIZATION

Hairdressing An advisory committee was set up in December 2008 compris-ing of the SQA, Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA), the De-partment of Health and hairdressing professionals with the aim of creating a structure and to work on a document to regulate the practice of hairdressing in Seychelles, as well as to

STANDARDIZING & REGULATING FIELDS OF PRACTICE

“appropriate level of qualification for some-one to be recognized as

a professional in the field”

, I S S U E N ° 1 A P R I L 2 0 0 9

“After Vice Presi-

dent Belmont’s re-

marks, the Execu-

tive Director took

the floor to pre-

sent the content

of the National

Qualifications

Framework.”

The presentation to the Chief Executive Forum in February was the opening shot in yet another round of sensitization, this time to in-form one and all of the content of the NQF and its implications. Fol-lowing the opening remarks of Vice President Belmont, the Execu-tive Director took the floor to present the content of the National Qualifications Framework. While the presentation touched upon all the elements of the NQF regulations, he underscored the implica-tions of each of the elements for the work of particular organiza-tions in government and the public at large.

(Continued on page 6) (Continued on page 5)

(Continued from page 4)

P A G E 6

COLLABORATION, CAPACITY BUILDING & EXHANGES

While the presentation covered a wide span of NQF topics, the discussions and clarifications which fol-lowed tended to focus on the transition stage which the NQF would bring in its train prior to the onset of a new landscape of qualifications. CEOs were very interested to know as to how the SQA would handle the change of qualification levels brought about by the implementation of the NQF, more specifically by

Since November 2008 the Executive Director of the SQA has been working with Selby Dora (Special Adviser to the Minister of Education and Chair of the SQA Board), Danic Ostiguy (local consultant to the SQA and Coordinator TVET in the TFE Division), and John Hoareau, (Secondary teacher at the Independent school), on a draft higher education bill to rationalize the post-secondary landscape in Seychelles and to create the space in which the university can emerge. The work of the Legal and Organization Module Team, as the group has been called, has been commissioned by the SUF. The drafting work finished in early 2009, clearing the way for a series of consultative meetings on the draft Bill. Following two earlier consultative meetings in which the bill had been presented for members of the SUF, and representatives of state providers of education and training respectively, the pres-entations culminated in a half day meeting with a larger body of stakeholders which took place

The Communications Strategy

P A G E 7

the exercise which recognised existing qualifica-tions. As the Executive Director put it at the end of the discussions, having a National Qualifications Framework necessitates a break with the past and past practices, and there will come a period in which there will need to be realignment. It is in the navigation of this realignment that special care will have to be taken so that no one penalised. .

‘”develop-ment of a national database for the SQA”

Work on the Communications strategy of the SQA was complete by the start of the third quarter of 2008. However, a full calendar of ac-tivities for the final Board meeting of the year meant that it was only in 2009 that the strategy could be discussed at the level of the Board and approved. As with quality assurance, work on the strategy only proceeded in fits and starts, but gained momentum in the middle of the year. Essentially the strategy that has been de-veloped seeks to address two critical problems:

That general information on the NQF is not reaching learners as well as the staff of training providers, professional bodies and employers and that

Training providers, professional bodies and employers are not adequately engaging with SQA in spite of sensitization efforts

In addressing the two challenges, the SQA is plan-ning firstly to develop a range of channels for dis-seminating general information on the NQF to different target groups, employ the latest technol-ogy in disseminating information on the NQF and to develop indicators for regular monitoring of the penetration of information to target groups. As for the second prong of the strategy, the need to regularly update primary training providers, professional bodies and employers on the pro-gress and ‘success stories’ of worldwide NQFs, to assist training providers to re-position themselves with the aid of NQF standards and to stage fora for training providers, professional bodies and employers with the help of prominent academics have been seen as the main strategies by which the SQA can overcome the deficits in terms of communication. Work has already started on the implementation of the strategy.

Work has gained momentum on the development of a national da-tabase for the SQA. The two con-sultants chosen for this task met with the SQA secretariat to dis-cuss the overall work plan of the database, familiarize themselves with the various areas of activities going on at the SQA and also agree on a timetable of meetings with each respective staff. Follow-ing this initial meeting, the con-sultants met with individual staff to delve more deeply into the

The Electronic Management Information System

Evaluation of Existing Qualifications

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Quality Assurance Learners’ records and

their achievement

With this information system, the efficiency and effectiveness of the Seychelles Qualifications Author-ity’s internal processes will be in-creased and, more importantly, the SQA will be able to have ac-cess to up to date information which will enable the authority to report accurately on most aspects of the education and training sys-tem of Seychelles and be a na-tional source of information for human resource development.

The analysis, design and develop-ment processes of the information system are expected to last for 12 months. It will be deployed early in 2010.

various activities and to agree how and where the information will be best fitted in the data-base, and also how the information will feed into and link with each other. The electronic management information system will manage and report accurately on the following aspects of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), i.e. all the processes involving:

Qualifications, unit standards and its supporting units such as pro-viders and NQF levels

Evaluation of foreign qualifica-tions

Collaboration, Capacity Building & Exchanges

SQA Contribution in the Drafting and Presentation of the Draft Higher Education Legal Framework

(Continued on page 8)

(Continued from page 5)

P A G E 8 P A G E 9

I S S U E N ° 1 A P R I L 2 0 0 9

Capacity Building

The SQA has linked up with Cyberwave Computing 2000 for the training of its staff on Power Point and this is sched-uled to cover some 30hrs over consecu-tive Saturdays. As the SQA depends to a great extent on power point presenta-tions to engage its constituencies, this should definitely help in elevating the standard of the work that is undertaken. To render our staff also more conver-sant with professional methods to pre-serve our documents PDF training is next on the list. The creation of the Ad-ministration and Finance Manager post since the start of the year has brought the need for the SQA to support the post holder by having her follow modules in the Diploma in Human Resource Man-agement at the Seychelles Institute of Management. Two members of the SQA staff and an officer of the Ministry of Education will soon start an online course conducted by UNESCO from 30th

of March to the end of June 2009 on External Quality Assurance for Higher Education in Small States. The course is sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) with the purpose of ca-pacitating as many Quality Assurance Officers as possible. This is very fitting for the Seychelles especially now that the existence of Higher Education in the country is becoming a reality.

S E Y C H E L L E S Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A U T H O R I T Y

The re-entry of Seychelles into SADC has brought in its train a number of implica-tions for the SQA and the development and implementation of the NQF. The principal one is that of alignment to the SADC Regional Qualifications Frame-work (RQF) when this is developed. The second is SQA’s membership of the Tech-nical Committee on Certification and Ac-creditation to which the Authority aspires especially in view that it will be this par-ticular committee that will guide the de-velopment of the SADC RQF. As the year was ending the SQA was already en-gaged in SADC RQF development and was having to respond to questionnaires on the education and training system in the country in a bid to update the SADC

International Partnerships and Linkages

Secretariat on the latest country infor-mation. The SADC is at present engaged in an initial project of establishing the equivalence of qualifications across the region. The SQA has also been involved in the work that is being done at the level of the Commonwealth to enable the quali-fications obtained by teachers of various Commonwealth countries to become portable across the Commonwealth. To that effect it has taken part in a survey and supplied information on local teacher qualifications to the South Afri-can Qualifications Authority which is un-dertaking the project on behalf of the Commonwealth.

at the ICCS on the 5th of February. In addition to the local consultations, the SUF and the Legal and Organization Module Group also elicited feedback from other inter-ested parties, mainly overseas. The team liaised, for example, with the higher educa-tion councils in Mauritius and South Africa as well as their National Qualifications Authorities to this end. Following the consultations, the team met to consider the feedback and to make final changes to the Bill. While the presentations were useful in enlightening the audience on the new land-scape coming into view and its implications for education and training in the country, from an SQA perspective they also served to create a greater awareness of the work of the SQA and the National Qualifications Framework. For instance, with institu-tions operating within a framework determined to a great extent by the levels of the NQF, the effect of the NQF on the system will becomes more apparent and readily appreciated by one and all.

(Continued from page 7)