The Quality Assurance of Fundamental Components of Qualifications

Making sense of, and implementing a new education and training system often results in a cutting-up of the system into more manageable pieces. While it is therefore quite understandable that the Sector Education and Training Authorities’ Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (SETA ETQAs) have focused their initial energies on the core components of qualifications, namely those parts that have a direct influence and al so that emanate from practices in their respective sectors, it has resulted in fragmentation of qualifications, and in particular, in f ragmentation of the delivery, assessment and quality assurance of the fundamental components of qualifications fo r which the SETA ETQAs are accredited. Thi s paper proposes a pragmatic model to address the issue of decontextualised fundamental components of qualifications, the lack of capacity to deliver and quality assure such components and a clarification of evolving partnerships in the education and t raining arena. However, the model does not claim to be the final answer to these particular i ssues, but hopes to create a space where closer collabora tion, agreement and a common philosophy amongst the partners in education and t raining, is fostered.