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Standards and qualifications

Current developments on electronic security unit standards and establishing an industry qualification.

An Electronics Security Task Team Committee has been working over the last few months to review and develop unit standards for training in the electronic security area. This is occurring under the direction of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), and the Security SGB.

Initial unit standards developed in the area a few years ago reflected mainly an alarm installation focus. The revision and development of unit standards for Electronic Security now covers the major disciplines of access control, CCTV, alarms, intercoms, gate automation, and electric fencing.

Unit standards are not a training curriculum nor are they job descriptions - they are designed to identify competencies that can be addressed through the developing of training curriculum and assessment processes. These unit standards under development lead to a suitable qualification (Further Education and Training Certificate - FETC) for an electronic security technician as well as being relevant to sales personnel in electronic security. As part of the initiative, unit standards for CCTV monitoring are also being addressed.

The task team is composed of voluntary members drawn from ESDA, SAIDSA, private security companies, and specialists and is led by Neil Gillespie.

The members of the task teams are dedicated, work extremely well as a team, and have been highly professional in terms of developing content and committing their time to the process.

The backup and support by SAQA is also most professional and I am impressed by the level and commitment shown by SAQA personnel to the development process. It shows a real commitment to the objectives of developing a comprehensive and inclusive qualifications framework for South Africa.

The SAQA vision sees the development of a world class National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for South Africa. The mission translates into ensuring the development and implementation of an NQF, which contributes to the full personal development of each learner and to the social and economic development of the nation at large. The objectives of SAQA are to:

Create an integrated national framework for learning achievements.

Facilitate access to, mobility and progression within education, training and career paths.

Enhance the quality of education and training.

Accelerate the redress of past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities, and thereby:

Contribute to the full personal development of each learner and the social and economic development of the nation at large.

As I indicated, the involvement of SAQA, together with voluntary support from the people in professional associations and in industry, is showing the practical follow through to support this mission.

South Africa, with its initial commitment in 1996, is one of the earlier adopters of a unit standard-based system along with the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Currently, many countries have followed in this direction representing most of the continents worldwide and there is already movement to look at recognition of qualifications from other countries or ‘blocs’ such as the EU.

The Electronic Security unit standards fall into three categories in line with the standard requirements for a qualification. These categories are as follows:

Fundamentals: Fundamentals include a focus on communication, language, mathematics, and basic principles of electronic security.

Core: Unit standards that need to be done as part of getting a good grounding for the qualification and including establishing requirements for a system installation, installing, configuration, fault finding and handover of an installation.

Electives: Specialised unit standards covering the content of the disciplines within electronic security. Learners can cover either a particular discipline of choice (eg alarms), or can complete a number of electives in the specialised areas to get a more multidisciplinary expertise base. The proposed unit standards for the different disciplines cover aspects such as principles and installation.

The electronic security unit standards in preparation will go through a demanding process of development and review before finalisation, including occasion for public comment and a need for acceptance by both the Security SGB as well as various levels of SAQA. Interested participants in the industry will get full opportunity to comment. There has also been a strong emphasis on looking at international comparability during the development of the draft unit standards to ensure that the standards demanded of South Africans are consistent with those expected worldwide.

Dr Craig Donald is a human factors specialist in security and CCTV. He is a director of Leaderware, which provides instruments for the selection of CCTV operators, X-ray screeners and other security personnel in major operations around the world. He also runs CCTV Surveillance Skills and Body Language, and Advanced Surveillance Body Language courses for CCTV operators, supervisors and managers internationally, and consults on CCTV management. He can be contacted on +27 (0)11 787 7811 or [email protected]

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