Green Paper on Public Service
Training and Education

March 1997

This Green Paper is also available as a text document

Contents

List of Abbreviations
Executive Summary

Part 1: Context and Vision
Chapter 1: Background and policy content
Chapter 2: Problem statement
Chapter 3: Vision, mission and goals
Chapter 4: Policy alternatives

Part 2: Implementation Framework
Chapter 5: Training principles, priorities and guidelines
Chapter 6: Insitutional arrangements
Chapter 7: Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms
Chapter 8: Institutional support programmes
Chapter 9: Finance
Chapter 10: The way forward

Appendix A: Notes on problem statements
Appendix B: Training principles from Chapter c of the Public Service Staff Code
Appendix C: Illustration of possible Public Service competencies
Appendix D: National Standards Bodies and learning fields
Appendix E: Education and Training Quality Assurers (ETQA)
Appendix F: Functions of sectoral learning organisations

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

1.1 The principal aim of this Green Paper on Public Service Training and Education (GPPSTE) is to establish a clear vision and policy framework to guide the introduction and implementation of new policies, procedures and legislation aimed at transforming public service training and education into a dynamic, needs-based and pro-active instrument, capable of playing an integral and strategic part in the processes of building a new public service for a new and democratic society in South Africa.

1.2 The anticipated outcome will be a new system of public service training and education that will be -

1.3 In working towards these outcomes, the GPPSTE recommends a number of important innovations and changes in the direction, management and operation of the current system of training and education which are consistent, amongst other things, with the policy environment set by the new Constitution, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the Macro-Economic Strategy for Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (WPTPS), and the human resource development strategy proposed in the Department of Labour's Green Paper on a New Skills Development Act.

1.4 This executive summary outlines briefly the core policy problems addressed by the GPPSTE, a new vision and mission proposed for PSTE, and a number of key policy options. It also provides a summary of the key recommendations of the GPPSTE with regard to -

2. Policy Problems

The core problem that this Green Paper seeks to address, comprises three related elements:

3. Vision and Mission

The new public sector education and training policy will be guided by the following vision:

The development of a dedicated, productive and people-centred public service staffed by public servants whose performance is maximised and whose potential is fully developed via the comprehensive provision of appropriate and adequate training and education at all levels.

In striving for the above vision, the policy will seek to achieve the following mission:

The creation of a coordinated framework for ensuring the provision of appropriate and adequate public service training and education that will meet the current and future needs of public servants and contribute positively to the realisation of the vision.

The values and principles that underlie the above vision and mission include -

4. Policy Options

Four policy options were considered:

  1. Centralised state provision of education and training.
  2. Decentralised state provision of education and training.
  3. Decentralised non-state provision of education and training.
  4. Centralised setting of norms and standards, together with decentralised provision by state and non-state providers in a competitive framework.

The last option was selected because it combines maximum creativity and flexibility at the delivery end, but without undermining the need to build a unified public service with a common culture and value system.

5 Training Principles, Priorities and Guidelines

5.1 A systematic and comprehensive review of existing procedures and regulations pertaining to public service training and education will be carried out, and appropriate changes made, with a view to overcoming constraints and facilitating the successful implementation of the principles, policies and interventions recommended in the GPPSTE.

5.2 Particular attention will be focussed on current systems of access and entitlement to training, prescribed courses, accreditation, and the operation of the personnel administration standard (PAS), as well as the relation of training and education to policies and procedures on job grading, remuneration, promotion, performance appraisal and recruitment and selection.

5.3 Changes in existing procedures and regulations will be accompanied, where necessary, by enabling legislation, in line with the proposed changes envisaged in the Green Paper on Policy Proposals for a New Public Service Statute.

5.4 Based on this review of public service training and education, new and revised national norms and standards will be developed by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), in accordance with the principles, priorities and guidelines outlined in Chapter 5 of this document, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders at national and provincial levels, and in negotiation, where appropriate, with the employee organisations represented in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.

5.5 More specifically, a review of prescribed courses will be undertaken with a view to promoting greater flexibility and relevance by replacing the prescription of courses with the prescription of core competencies for different grade levels. The responsibility for realising such competencies through the design and delivery of appropriate courses will be left to individual departments and provinces, in collaboration with training providers.

5.6 In order to ensure the uniformity and quality of training outcomes, steps will be taken to establish more effective structures, procedures and criteria for accreditation and quality assurance. The DPSA and the proposed Public Service Learning Organisation (PSLO) will take the lead role in this respect, in consultation with key stakeholders.

5.7 Effective forms of liaison will be established with the Departments of Education and Labour to ensure that these structures, procedures and criteria can be effectively integrated into the NQF and SAQA framework, as well as into the framework of Sectoral Learning Organisations (SLOs) and learnerships proposed in the Department of Labour's Green Paper on a Skills Development Act.

5.8 The new system of accreditation will apply to all training providers, whether in-house or external. Courses will no longer be accredited individually. Instead training providers will be assessed for accreditation under one or more broad fields of competence, linked to the NQF. They will then only be allowed to tender for public service training and education in the specific fields or areas in which they have received accreditation.

5.9 Departmental and provincial training plans will be based on a detailed assessment, analysis and prioritisation of individual and organisational needs. The analysis of organisational needs will relate in particular to such issues as the improvement in service delivery and service ethos, the creation of rationalised and cost-effective structures, institution building and management, representivity and affirmative action, and the promotion of greater internal and external accountability.

5.10 The assessment of individual needs (personal, performance-related and career-related), will be facilitated by the introduction within departments and provincial administrations of a system of personal development plans for all employees. These will be designed to identify the needs of staff, and appropriate forms of staff development, training and education through which they can be met.

5.11 Personal development planning will need to be positively related to the introduction and operation of new and improved forms of performance appraisal, promotion and career progression opportunities more generally.

5.12 Departments and provincial administrations who develop effective forms of needs assessment and strategic planning will be eligible for the award of the Capacity Development Standard (CDS), signifying excellence in the field of training and education. Awards will be presented annually by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.

5.13 Tendering systems will be reviewed and improved in ways which support the new approach to training and education outlined in this document.

6 Coordinated Institutional Arrangements

6.1 An efficient, cost-effective, consultative and well coordinated institutional framework for public service training and education will be established, centred around the following key processes:

6.2 The DPSA will facilitate the establishment of the following organisations and ensure that they become operational as soon as possible:

6.3 Constructive forms of liaison and cooperation will be fostered between the DPSA and the Departments of Labour and Education, to ensure that policies for public service training and education are effectively integrated into the new HRD strategy (proposed in the Department of Labour's recent Green Paper) and the NQF.

6.4 Clear roles and responsibilities will be allocated to the principal bodies and role-players at national and provincial levels who will play a key part in driving these processes, in particular the DPSA, the PSC, Heads of Departments and Provincial Administrations, Employee Organisations, Departmental and Provincial Training Committees, and the PSLO once it is established.

Key Institutional Processes and Role-Players

KEY INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES

KEY ROLE-PLAYERS

KEY PARTNERS

Strategic Policy

DPSA

PSLO; NAP; PSC; Portfolio Committee; Heads of Department; Unions

Operational decision-making, planning and implementation

Heads of department (national and provincial DGs and heads of other organisational components)

HR Directors; Training committees; Workplace Forums; DPSA; PSLO

Standard setting, accreditation and quality assurance

PSLO; other SLOs; registered assessors; DPSA

SAQA; National Standards Bodies

Organisation and coordination of training provision

SAMDI, provincial training bodies; external providers; Association of Accredited Providers (AATEP)

PSLO; DPSA

Monitoring and evaluation

DPSA; PSC; Heads of Department

Portfolio Committee; Training Committees; Public Sector Transformation Forum; Transformation Units

6.5 Measures will be taken to strengthen the capacities of these bodies, to ensure the effective coordination of their work, and to clarify and, if necessary, restructure their respective roles and relationships.

6.6 National departments and provincial administrations will be required to produce strategic plans for training and education. These will include priorities, objectives and targets; action plans for their implementation; the identification of the necessary financial and other resources to support such plans; and the mechanisms that will be used for internal monitoring and evaluation. Strategic plans for training and education will be linked to broader institutional plans for service delivery, human resource development and organisational development, as well as to the budget planning process.

6.7 A representative National Advisory Panel for Public Service Training and Education will be established, to build consensus around a common vision and mission for public service training and education, and to play a key advisory role in relation to the above processes, with particular respect to strategic policy formulation, quality assurance, and the organisation and coordination of training provision.

6.8 The role and functions of SAMDI will be reviewed, with a view to:

6.9 With regard to provision, the Government will encourage the development of a multiplicity of education and training providers operating as equals in a market environment. These will include internal (e.g. SAMDI) and external providers such as universities, technikons, NGOs and private training organisations.

6.10 Making use of a more varied and competitive range of training and education providers has the potential benefit of improved flexibility, quality and cost-effectiveness. The attendant risk of uneven standards will be alleviated by the introduction of improved forms of accreditation and quality assurance, within the proposed SAQA framework and managed by the PSLO once fully operational. The establishment of an Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers should also help in this respect.

6.11 In order to improve communication and information about training provision, a computerised national data-base will be established, containing details of accredited providers and their courses.

7 Monitoring and Evaluation

7.1 Improved mechanisms for the monitoring and evaluation of training and education will be introduced, both at the national level and at departmental and provincial levels, where departmental and provincial training committees will have a particularly important role to play. Specific criteria and performance indicators will be drawn up to form the basis for effective monitoring and evaluation.

7.2 At the national level, a monitoring unit will be established within the Training Policy component of the DPSA to monitor and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the implementation of the new training and education policy. This unit will liaise closely with the PSC. The unions and the PSLO, once established, will also have important roles to play in the monitoring and evaluation processes.

8 The Development of Institutional Support Programmes

8.1 A number of institutional support programmes will be established to assist in the operationalisation of the new policy framework for training and education set out in this document. Donor funding will be sought to support such initiatives. The institutional support programmes will include:

  1. A Fast Track Training and Education Programme - to support Departments at National and Provincial levels in designing and implementing appropriate fast track training and education programmes to build institutional capacity, in particular at the management level.
  2. A Regulatory Framework Programme - to identify the legal and regulatory activities that will be required to effectively implement the White Paper.
  3. An Institutional Development Programme - to support the establishment of such bodies as the PSLO, the proposed National Advisory Panel for PSTE, and the proposed Association of Training and Education Providers.
  4. A Strategic Planning and Management Support Programme - to assist national departments and provincial administrations in the establishment of effective strategic planning mechanisms and processes in the field of training and education.
  5. A Donor Support and Coordination Programme - to ensure continuing donor funding for internal and external training providers, whilst ensuring the long-term development of local capacity.
  6. An Information and Communication Programme - to assist in the setting up of a sophisticated and computerised information system and database for public service training and education.

9 Financial Provisions

9.1 The DPSA will liaise with the Departments of Finance and State Expenditure, and with donors, to ensure an adequate, sustainable and equitably distributed funding source for public service training and education.

9.2 At the departmental and provincial levels, a formula will be developed and introduced which will make it compulsory for budgets to contain a line item on training and education. In particular the formula will require Heads of Departments to ensure that an appropriate budgetary allocation is made for training and education in proportion to the number and type of staff employed.

9.3 The formula will be based on agreed norms and standards in relation to -

9.4 A more sophisticated formula will be developed as more reliable data becomes available. This will be based, amongst other things, on the number and type of staff in each department and the training needs that have been identified and prioritised.

9.5 Funds for PSTE could be allocated from a National Training Fund, as suggested in the Department of Labour's Green Paper on a Skills Development Act, although further consideration will clearly have to be given to the financial implications of this suggestion for Government as an employer.

9.6 The proposed new national institutional arrangements for PSTE (such as the PSLO and NAP) will be financed out of the budget of the DPSA in the short-term. If it is decided to convert a section of the training policy component of the DPSA to lay the groundwork for the PSLO, additional donor funds will also be sought to enhance capacity for this unit for the funding of additional short-term personnel and programmes.

9.7 The DPSA will also liaise with the Department of Education, with a view to securing changes in the current subsidy formula that will provide tertiary institutions involved in the training and education of public servants, and prospective public servants, with greater incentives than at present to develop and expand their activities in the fields of public and development management. This would serve to promote the greater involvement of tertiary institutions (and especially HDIs) in public service training and education, in line with the recommendations in this document and the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service.

9.8 A review will be carried out of the current schemes for financial assistance to employees (and prospective employees) for purposes of training and education. One of the main aims of this review will be to identify ways of ensuring greater equity in the access to training and education opportunities, particularly for lower level employees, many of whom until recently, were disadvantaged by regulations which did not provide for financial assistance to employees seeking training and education at the pre-tertiary education level.

PART 1: CONTEXT AND VISION


CHAPTER ONE:
BACKGROUND AND POLICY CONTEXT

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 The government has committed itself to transforming the public service through its White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (WPTPS, 1995). This transformation is inspired by the vision of a people-centred and people-driven public administration characterised by the principles of equity, quality, high ethical standards and professionalism. A critical element in transforming the public service is through training and education for public servants.

1.1.2 The introduction and extension of adequate and appropriate training and education programmes for public servants is seen as an essential condition for the successful implementation of the WPTPS. It is internationally accepted that the performance of public servants can be substantially improved via training and education programmes.

1.1.3 Currently, training and education for public servants is governed by provisions in the 1994 Public Service Act (as amended), Chapter L of the Public Service Staff Regulations and Chapter C of the Public Service Staff Code. These provisions need to be comprehensively reviewed if the demands of transformation are to be met. The main aim of this Green Paper on Public Service Training and Education (GPPSTE) is to provide a new national strategic policy framework on training and education for public servants which contributes positively to the goals of public service transformation. It also aims to bring public service training and education in line with international best practices, current global trends in human resource development, and the national strategic policy context.

1.1.4 This Green paper is divided into two main parts. Part 1 provides an overview of the policy context and the current challenges and constraints facing public service training and education (PSTE). It also provides a new vision and mission for PSTE. Part 2 sets out a framework through which the main policy proposals in the document can be effectively implemented. The main body of the document is accompanied by an Executive Summary which sets out the purpose of the Green Paper, together with the key recommendations.

1.2 National Strategic Policy Context

Before the advent of democracy in April 1994, public service training and education was limited to meeting a narrowly defined band of needs, with a particular emphasis on management which was predominantly white and male in composition. The new policy proposed in this Green Paper advocates a radical departure from that approach and is guided by a combination of policies, which include:

1.2.2 The new policy context that emanates from these policies points to the need for a major investment in skills development and capacity building to improve the performance, productivity, quality and cost-effectiveness of the public service. In particular it points to the need to bring public service training and education policies in line with the international trend towards competency based training and education, the emerging South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), a consideration for equity in the provision of training and education, and new approaches towards Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET).

1.3 Scope

1.3.1 The policy proposals outlined in this Green Paper focus on those public servants employed under the Public Service Act (1994). However, in line with policy proposals in the recent Green Paper on a new Public Service Statute, the principles and overall approach in this document will be deemed to be applicable to other sectors of the public sector where training and education fall under sectoral regulatory frameworks, i.e. police, defence, education, health, parastatals and local government.

1.3.2 According to the 1995 Annual Report of the Public Service Commission, there were 1 270 112 people employed in the public service as at 30 September 1995. This comprises 412 405 (32.5%) public servants employed by national government departments and bodies, and 857 707 (67.5%) employed by provincial governments. Major sectors such as health, education, police and defence have their own sector-based training and education policies, regulatory frameworks and delivery institutions.

1.3.3 The transversal training and education of the approximately 20 per cent of personnel not covered by sector-based arrangements forms the core focus of the Green Paper on Public Service Training and Education (GPPSTE). However, the GPPSTE seeks to put in place a national framework that will have implications for the structure, management and delivery modes of training and education for all public servants, including those covered by sector-based arrangements.

1.3.4 Whilst this document concentrates on the training needs and requirements of serving officials, it also recognises the importance of improving the current systems of pre-service training and education. This will be vital in ensuring that the service is able to attract and recruit high quality personnel, particularly from those sectors of society that have been historically disadvantaged.

1.4 Focus

1.4.1 This Green Paper addresses itself to the following two issues.

1.4.2 In the first place, it addresses the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the training and education programmes that are designed and delivered by institutions located within and outside the public service. These programmes should build the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by both serving and prospective public servants if they are to become efficient and effective members of the type of public service envisaged in the WPTPS. This combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes is what is referred to in more general terms as the capacity that public servants are expected to develop both prior to joining the service, and subsequently. The GPPSTE is concerned with the training and education services that both prospective and serving public servants can access.

1.4.3 In the second place, the GPPSTE addresses the training and education needs of three broadly defined categories of personnel1, namely:

These categories overlap in reality. They are therefore indicative categories for the purposes of this paper.

1.5 Training versus Education

1.5.1 This Green Paper rejects the rigid distinction between education and training that has been inherited from the past, which equated education with knowledge acquisition and training with operational skills development - a division that was in the past associated with the split between tertiary education and skills training by training institutions. It is now national policy that tertiary institutions must also take responsibility for skills training within a competency framework particularly in relation to PVET. In line with international trends, as expressed most clearly in the Green Paper on a Skills Development Act, training and education are equally weighted components of the entire learning process.

1.5.2 In line with these trends and developments, the GPPSTE will therefore be based on the assumption that training and education are equally weighted components of a holistic capacity building process that should become the foundation for all programmes that cater for the training and education needs of the public service, no matter who is responsible for delivering them.

1.6 Challenges and Opportunities for PSTE

1.6.1 Challenges

1.6.1.1 In developing a coherent, relevant and needs-based system of PSTE, capable of playing an integral and strategic part in the process of building a new public service for a new and democratic society in South Africa, a number of important challenges and constraints will need to be faced and overcome. Chapter 2 provides greater detail on such constraints.

1.6.1.2 At the general level, key challenges that will need to be addressed by the policy framework for PSTE proposed in the document include:

  1. The need to achieve a sufficient increase in productivity to realise the twin and potentially conflicting goals of fiscal restraint and improved service delivery.
  2. The need to develop a system of PSTE that is accessible to all levels of personnel (upper management, middle management and professional staff, and front-line workers), and capable of meeting their specific and distinctive needs.
  3. The need to replace the current fragmented system of PSTE with a more coherent and coordinated one, without resorting to a highly centralised and prescriptive framework that could easily stifle initiative and replace one set of inefficiencies with another.

1.6.2 Opportunities

1.6.2.1 It is equally important to recognise that there are positive opportunities, as well as challenges, that can be exploited in transforming the current system of PSTE. What is needed is a pro-active and visionary approach which recognises and addresses problems, but which also exploits opportunities and builds upon current strengths.

1.6.2.2 Amongst the strengths and achievements that can be built upon are the improvements in PSTE that have taken place in recent years. Examples include the restructuring and re-organisation of the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI), and the introduction of an improved set of principles and procedures for guiding PSTE in the form of the amended Chapter L (on Training) of the Public Service Regulations.

1.6.2.3 Significant opportunities for PSTE are also presented through the emerging National Qualifications Framework (NQF), and through the new HRD strategy outlined in the Department of Labour's Green Paper on a proposed Skills Development Act.

1.6.2.4 The HRD strategy provides the most significant framework for guiding the development of a policy framework for public sector training and education. In particular, the strategy allows for a multiplicity of providers who are required to operate within a uniform qualifications framework. This allows for the standardisation of outputs without undermining flexibility when it comes to choice of training and education providers. Furthermore, it allows for the establishment of Sectoral Learning Organisations (SLOs) that will develop qualification specifications that are directly relevant to the sector, but consistent with the NQF in general.

1.7 Main Stakeholders

The main stakeholders who are deemed to have a stake in this Green Paper and who will play a role in its formulation, adoption and eventual monitoring and evaluation during implementation are as follows:

CHAPTER 2:
PROBLEM STATEMENT

2.1 Dimensions of the Problem

2.1.1 In developing this policy document, primary and secondary research was undertaken to identify the dimensions of the current problems and the implications for the process of public sector transformation.

2.1.2 Despite recent improvements that have been introduced in the system of PSTE, the research revealed a wide range of current problems related to the quantity and quality of training and education provided to public servants.

2.1.3 This chapter summarises the magnitude of the current problems by drawing on relevant literature and legislation, discussions and interviews with various stakeholders and intensive investigations by officials from the DPSA. Further details, especially of a quantitative and statistical nature, are provided in Appendix A.

2.1.4 While care has been taken in assessing the problem and highlighting the main problem areas, considerable difficulty was encountered in securing accurate statistics that adequately illustrates the nature, scope and depth of the problem. This in itself reflects the extent of the problems related to public service training and education, especially with regard to the monitoring and evaluation of training programmes and outcomes.

2.1.5 The main focus in this chapter is on problems relating to transversal training, although the issues raised will undoubtedly have relevance for sector-specific training and education. Although research evidence suggests that significant progress has been made with respect to sector-specific training, particularly in the area of professional development (especially in the education, health, police and defence sectors), the general trend is that such sectors have not yet adopted new competency-based approaches to adult learning.

2.2 Key Problem Areas

The main problems and concerns raised during the process of research and discussions with stakeholders will be considered under the following broad headings:

2.2.1 Low Priority and Uneven Nature of Provision

Historically, PSTE has been accorded relatively low priority, particularly in the area of transversal training and especially at the lower levels. This has manifested itself in a number of related ways:

2.2.2 Financial and Human Resource Problems

2.2.2.1 National and provincial departments have failed in general to make adequate financial and human resource provision for training components within their organisational structures. External donor funds, where these have been available, have often been fragmented and poorly managed (See Note 3 of Appendix A). As a result, many training units are seriously understaffed and under-resourced, and have very limited capacity to handle and service training needs of their departments.

2.2.2.2 Annual expenditure on training as a percentage of the annual salary bill reveals the very small amounts devoted to training and education by most national departments and provincial administrations. In the majority of cases, the actual expenditure on training and education represents less than 1% of annual salary expenditure (See Figure 1 in Note 4 of Appendix A).

2.2.2.3 Training expenditure per employee, as well as the frequently insignificant sums, spent on training and education by different national departments and provincial administrations demonstrate tremendous unevenness (See Figure 2 in Note 5 of Appendix A).

2.2.2.4 Despite the low level of funds committed to PSTE, many departments and provincial administrations still fail to effectively utilise their entire training budgets (See Figure 3 in Note 6 of Appendix A). While a range of factors (lack of suitable courses, the pressure of rationalisation, transition, etc.) might help to account for this, many stakeholders are of the view that unspent funds are a reflection of the reluctance by senior management to provide decisive and visionary leadership with respect to training and education.

2.2.3 Lack of Coordination and Communication

2.2.3.1 The existing institutional regime for training and education is devoid of a commonly binding strategic focus and well coordinated institutional arrangements, resulting in confusion, duplication, and overlapping of functions, responsibilities and powers (See Figure 4 in Note 7 of Appendix A).

2.2.3.2 Poor communication, conflicting information and a lack of coordination of training and education between and among different levels of training structures and providers, complicate training delivery (See Note 8 of Appendix A).

2.2.3.3 The absence of a central and provincial database for human resource development and training related matters inhibits information sharing and interchange. Many stakeholders consulted in the preparation of this documented expressed concern that information about training opportunities is often poorly communicated to staff.

2.2.3.4 Establishing a harmonious and integrated relationship between human resource development, strategic planning, organisational realignment and budgeting is extremely difficult under the existing institutional training regime.

2.2.4 Problems with the Number and Quality of Trainers

2.2.4.1 The low and inadequate ratio of training officers to staff complements (1:3 818 for the service as a whole, rather than the PSC's approved ratio of 1:2 000), places training staff and infrastructure under considerable pressure with attendant consequences on quality and impact (See Table 1 and Table 2 in Note 9 of Appendix A).

2.2.4.2 The relatively low number of professional training staff is compounded by the absence of continuous and effective programmes of training and development for public service trainers. Present policy does not allow for the professional development of trainers and training units, thereby limiting the potential contribution of training and education to the broad transformation goals of reconstruction and development. This has cast doubt on the competence and ability of trainers to meaningfully contribute to changing the ethos and culture of the public service (See Figure 5 in Note 10 of Appendix A). As a result, the training of trainers was identified in all provinces as a key priority area (See Note 11 of Appendix A). 2.2.4.3 The current racial and gender profile of public service trainers (predominantly white and male) also has a potential to compromise the ability of training providers and institutions to play a pro-active role in changing the ethos and culture of the bureaucracy (See Note 12 of Appendix A).

2.2.5 Concerns about SAMDI

2.2.5.1 The role, image and status of the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) in the administration, design and delivery of courses/programmes are widely perceived in a far from positive light. The reason for this is part historical, (i.e. SAMDI's origin in the old regime), and partly shaped by the perception that SAMDI's previous role of monopoly training provider and course developer, served to socialise a culture and ethos that stifled initiative and creativity.

2.2.5.2 Many constituencies express reservations over SAMDI's ability and capacity to deliver training courses and programmes that are needs-driven, relevant, and congruent with the aims of `training for transformation'; i.e. training in areas such as affirmative action and gender awareness (See Note 13 of Appendix A).

2.2.5.3 Concern was also expressed on the lack of clarity with respect to the role, responsibilities and functions of SAMDI in relation to provincial training bodies and external training providers. Such confusion is exacerbated by the nature of South Africa's transition and the consequent absence of firm policy guidelines in this regard. This seriously hampers the provision and delivery of training, resulting in no training taking place at all in some instances, and unnecessary duplication in others. Where training does take place, it tends to be executed on an ad hoc or crisis intervention basis without clear strategic goals.

2.2.6 Barriers to Access and Entitlement

2.2.6.1 The lack of effective educational opportunities for a large portion of staff, especially front-line workers, is compounded by a number of existing discriminatory barriers. Under current procedures, for example, bursaries for formal studies are not available for courses at the pretertiary education level, thereby restricting access to effective educational opportunities at lower levels (See Note 14 of Appendix A).

2.2.6.2 Similarly, current regulations pertaining to the recruitment and appointment of people with disabilities, serve to confine many disabled workers to the status of temporary rather than permanent employees, effectively precluding such employees from participating in the full range of training and education opportunities (See Note 15 Appendix A). The temporary status of disabled employees and the limited range of training and education opportunities available, restrict disabled employees to particular occupational classes, with very little prospect for upward mobility. Such prospects are further constrained by the fact that special provision is not made for them in the various courses and programmes that they are able to access (See Note 16 of Appendix A).

2.2.7 Inflexible and Discriminatory Rules and Regulations

2.2.7.1 In many instances (including those cited in Section 2.2.6 above), regulations and procedures governing training in particular and personnel issues more generally, reinforce historical patterns of discrimination, domination, manipulation and control. By so doing, they help to augment a regimented and mechanistic bureaucracy that stifles innovation, creativity and individual initiative, thus constituting a significant obstacle in the way of implementing new policy proposals (See Note 17 of Appendix A). 2.2.7.2 Key examples of inflexible and discriminatory rules and regulations include the current systems of:

2.2.8 Prescriptive, Supply-driven and Outdated PSTE

2.2.8.1 Concern was expressed by many stakeholders that many current training courses and programmes continue to be prescriptive and supply-driven. What is really needed is a flexible, needs-based, outcomes-based and competency-based approach to PSTE. 2.2.8.2 Consultation with stakeholders revealed a number of problems with the current system of prescribed training courses. These generally refer to the fact that training policy is overly prescriptive and lacks flexibility in relation to the changing work environment, organisational development and strategic planning. Problems identified, include:

2.2.8.3 Concern was raised with the fact that the content of many training courses lacks relevance to the needs of the new public service (See Note 24 Appendix A), and that teaching and learning methodologies are often outdated and not in line with new experiential and interactive approaches to adult learning.

2.2.9 Problems with Accreditation and Quality Assurance

2.2.9.1 The current system of accreditation of training providers and their products is too ad hoc to permit the development of effective uniform standards across the public service as a whole. The absence of commonly accepted norms for evaluating training courses and programmes impact negatively on the timely and effective delivery of training. 2.2.9.2 Lack of clarity regarding accreditation has frustrated provincial governments' planning with respect to staffing, human resource development and organisational capacity building, tailored to service delivery needs and broader RDP goals. Provincial government officials are unclear about who is responsible for setting the norms and standards for training. 2.2.9.3 The ad hoc nature of the current accreditation system has contributed to the rapid increase of training courses and programmes, offered by private external providers. The quality and effectiveness of many of such courses and programmes are generally not controlled through accreditation requirements and there are no follow up impact studies. Concerns have therefore been expressed about the quality, standards and relevance of such programmes (See Note 25 of Appendix A).

2.2.10 Lack of Effective Systems for Strategic Planning and Review

2.2.10.1 Many of the above problems point to a central weakness in the current system of PSTE - the absence of effective systems of strategic planning and review, both at the departmental and provincial levels, and in terms of the strategic direction and coordination of the PSTE system as a whole. 2.2.10.2 Until recently, few departments employed a strategic approach to the planning of their training and education provision, based on a systematic analysis of individual and organisational needs. Few attempted to link plans for training and education to broader plans of institutional development and service delivery, or to the budget planning cycle. Although a number of national departments and provincial administrations are now moving in this direction, a considerable scope for improvement still exists. 2.2.10.3 An indispensable part of the move towards more effective forms of on-going planning and review of PSTE will be a significant improvement in current systems of monitoring and evaluation, many of which are ad hoc and rudimentary. The introduction of improved mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation will need to be accompanied by improved forms of data collection and retrieval.

2.3 Core Policy Problems

2.3.1 Unleashing the transformation potential of training and education in accord with the principles contained in the Constitution, the developmental objectives of current government policy and the strategic priorities of the different provinces and departments will necessitate a decisive and radical overhaul of the training and education regime inherited from the past.

2.3.2 The core problem that this Green Paper seeks to address comprises three related elements:

CHAPTER 3:
VISION, MISSION AND GOALS

3.1.1 Public service training and development will be founded on the following vision:

To contribute towards the development of a dedicated, productive and people-centred public service staffed by public servants whose performance is maximised and whose potential is fully developed via the comprehensive provision of appropriate and adequate training and education at all levels.

3.1.2 This vision is based on the belief that any organisation is only as strong as the people who work for it, and in particular on the conviction that training should and must play an integral and strategic part in the processes of building a new public service for a new and democratic society in South Africa.

3.1.3 Whilst acknowledging the danger of seeing training as the solution to all organisational problems, the Government nevertheless recognises the significant contribution that training can make, as part of a broader strategy for human resources development, to the efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, responsiveness and representivity of the public service. In particular, training and education, if properly conceived and structured, can:

  1. help to equip all public servants, whether workers or managers, with the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies to carry out their jobs effectively in pursuit of the new vision and mission for the public service;
  2. enable public servants to deal effectively and pro-actively with change and the challenges of a dynamic work and external environment;
  3. form an integral part of the process of increasing the representivity of the public service in terms of race, gender and disability;
  4. enable public servants to acquire a new development oriented professionalism and the appropriate skills and knowledge with which to implement the RDP;
  5. assist public servants in reorienting many of the values and practices which they acquired under the previous dispensation;
  6. help to address issues of diversity, while also promoting a common organisational culture to support unity at the workplace and the ethos of a single public service;
  7. be a powerful instrument for anticipating, as well as facilitating the introduction of institutional changes within the public service;
  8. assist public servants in developing a better understanding of the needs of the communities which they are serving, as well as a capacity to respond to these needs.

3.1.4 The above vision is based on the underlying values and principles expressed in the Constitution, the RDP, the WPTPS, the Department of Labour's HRD Strategy, and other policy statements. In summary, the relevant principles include the promotion of -

3.2 Mission

3.2.1 In pursuit of the above vision, the Government sees its mission as:

The creation of a coordinated framework for ensuring the provision of appropriate and adequate public service training and education that will meet the current and future needs of public servants and contribute positively to the realisation of the vision.

3.2.2 Through the creation of such a national policy framework for training, the Government will seek in particular -

3.3 Goals

3.3.1 In putting the above vision and mission into practice, the central goals will be:

3.4 Policy Indicators

3.4.1 The realisation of the above vision, mission and goals will be evaluated in terms of the following indicators on an annual basis:

Vision

Output: Whether the capacity of public servants has improved in accordance with an agreed measurement.
Impact: Whether improvements in the capacity of public servants have improved the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the public service from a citizen point of view.
Means: Annual reports of the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Learning Organisation (PSLO) that will be delivered to Parliament in the case of the former and to the Minister for Public Service and Administration in the case of the latter.

Mission

Output: Whether an efficiently and effectively coordinated framework for ensuring the provision of appropriate and adequate public service training has been established and sustained.
Impact: Whether the training and education needs of public servants have been met.
Means: Annual reports of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Public Service Commission and PSLO.

CHAPTER 4:
POLICY ALTERNATIVES

4.1 Scenarios

4.1.1 Four broad scenarios have been drawn from the international context and have been used here to identify an appropriate institutional framework for public service training and education:

4.2 Analysis of Alternatives

4.2.1 Whilst affording the opportunity for central strategic direction and coordination, the first option would undoubtedly encounter the problems associated with the prescriptive rigidities of the past (see Chapter 2). Moreover, it would be in sharp contrast to the declared intention of the Government, expressed for example in the RDP White Paper and the WPTPS, to encourage flexibility and creativity in meeting local needs through the devolution and decentralisation of managerial responsibility. The first model is also potentially very costly and is often unable either to meet specific needs or to do this in a flexible manner.

4.2.2 The second and third options would offer the benefits of decentralisation and maximum flexibility, but at the serious risk of the emergence of an uncoordinated and inefficient provision of public service training and education characterised by an uneven adherence to national norms and standards, and a potentially wasteful duplication of programmes and activities.

4.2.3 For these reasons, the Government will base its institutional arrangements for the new public service training and education policy on the fourth option above. This should ensure a balanced mix between-

PART 2: IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 5:
TRAINING PRINCIPLES, PRIORITIES AND GUIDELINES

5.1 Goal Statement

The purpose of this Chapter is to establish a clear and effective basis for the development of national norms and standards to inform and guide public service training policy, particularly in relation to such issues as training priorities, certification and accreditation, access and entitlement, and the relationship of training to policies on job grading, remuneration, probation, promotion, performance appraisal, and recruitment and selection in the public service.

5.2 Objectives

The key objectives of the Chapter are:

  1. To set out the broad principles and priorities that the Government believes should guide the new approach to PSTE.
  2. To identify a number of more specific and detailed operational guidelines for its successful implementation.
  3. To review some of the key implications of this new approach, with respect to such issues as performance appraisal, accreditation, and the relation of training to policies on recruitment, promotion, grading, and remuneration; and to make appropriate recommendations for changes in existing regulations and prescripts governing public service training and education.

5.3 Norms and Standards

5.3.1 The principles, priorities, guidelines and recommendations set out below will help to provide the basis for the development of new and revised national norms and standards for public service training and education.

5.3.2 The principle responsibility for drawing up such norms and standards, and embodying them in revised regulations for the public service, will rest with the Department of Public Service and Administration, following a process of consultation with all relevant stakeholders at the national and provincial levels and, where appropriate, following negotiation with employee organisations in the Coordinating Bargaining Council.

5.3.3 In developing such norms and standards, the Department will be mindful of the need to avoid the over-centralised and prescriptive rigidities of the past, and to give effect to the decentralised forms of managerial responsibility and accountability called for in the White Paper on Transformation of the Public Service.

5.4 Scope

5.4.1 The principles, priorities and guidelines outlined below will apply specifically and directly to transversal training and education in those parts of the public sector, both national and provincial, which are regulated by the Public Service Act of 1994 (Proclamation 103/94).

5.4.2 However, it is the Government's intention that they should also guide and inform, where appropriate, the provision of sector-specific training and education in those parts of the service covered by the Act, as well as the provision of training and education more generally in those parts of the public sector which fall outside it.

5.5 Learning Principles

5.5.1 The formulation, implementation and evaluation of programmes of public service training and education will be carried out in accordance with the following broad principles:

  1. Access and entitlement - all public servants will be entitled to on-going and meaningful opportunities for training and education, on recruitment and throughout their working lives (This broad principle will also be extended to cover potential recruits to the public service through the development and improvement of the current bursary schemes).
  2. Needs analysis - programmes of training and education will be based on a detailed assessment of the needs of individual organisations and employees, and will be designed in particular to secure an optimal fit between these two sets of needs.
  3. A competency-based approach to learning outcomes - the new approach to public service training and education will focus on outcomes rather than inputs, with particular reference to the competencies required at different levels to build individual and organisational capacity.
  4. Integration between policy-formulation, strategic planning and transformation - far from being marginalised, as in the past, training and education will be systematically and integrally linked to the broader processes of policy formulation, strategic planning and transformation, at national, departmental and provincial levels, particularly in relation to service delivery, institution-building and management, human resources development, and representivity and affirmative action.
  5. Adequate resourcing - will be vital for the success of the training and education system, and will be ensured in particular by integrating plans and priorities for training and education as a central element in the budget planning process, at national, departmental and provincial levels. A percentage of departmental personnel budgets could for example be considered.
  6. Flexibility and decentralisation - to ensure that programmes of training and education are designed flexibly to meet the individual and changing needs of particular departments and provinces, responsibility will be decentralised as much as possible, within agreed national norms and standards.
  7. Career pathing - programmes of training and education will be targeted in particular at facilitating career paths for all staff that promote progression (vertical and lateral) and productivity, and for this reason such programmes will need to be positively related to policies on recruitment, promotion, grading, remuneration and performance appraisal.
  8. Life-long learning - public service training and education will be linked to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in ways which promote life-long learning and the development of portable skills and competencies. PSTE will also be linked to the Department of Labour's HRD strategy, particularly through the development of appropriate learnerships for the service.
  9. Learning organisations - training, education and development will be promoted in ways which enable public service institutions to become learning organisations, capable of continuous development and adaptation through the creative integration of learning with work at all levels.
  10. Quality and cost-effectiveness - will be promoted through the effective utilisation of available resources; the avoidance of unnecessary duplication; the establishment of effective structures and mechanisms for the coordination of training and education at national and provincial levels; the introduction of improved forms of standard setting and accreditation; and the targeting of training and education at activities that add value by developing skills, knowledge and attitudes that can be readily transferred to the job.
  11. Equity and empowerment - training and education will be linked to broader plans and programmes for promoting employment and occupational equity, and will be targeted in particular at the empowerment of historically disadvantaged groups.
  12. Consultation and participation - to ensure broad commitment and support at all levels within the public service, plans and programmes for training and education will be formulated, implemented and evaluated with the full participation and involvement of the public service unions and all other relevant stakeholders.
  13. Information and communication - information about training and education opportunities will be collected and collated, and effectively disseminated at all levels throughout the public service.
  14. Effective design and delivery - to enhance the relevance, quality and cost-effectiveness of training and education, programmes will be designed and delivered in accordance with the twelve training principles set out in Chapter C of the Public Service Staff Code (see Appendix B).
  15. Monitoring and evaluation - in order to ensure that plans and programmes of training and education are carried out throughout the public service in accordance with the above principles, effective mechanisms for on-going monitoring and evaluation will be put into place.
  16. Elevating the status of training and trainers - to ensure that training, education and human resources development more generally play an increasingly strategic and integral part in building a new public service in South Africa, the position, role and status of trainers as human resource specialists will need to be significantly redefined and enhanced.

5.5.2 The above principles are taken to be applicable to education as well as training activities.

5.6 Priorities

5.6.1 In line with the trend towards greater flexibility and decentralisation in the public service, the setting of priorities for training and education will be the responsibility in the main of individual departments and provincial administrations. This is to ensure that programmes of training and education are tailored effectively to meet local needs and circumstances.

5.6.2 Departmental and provincial training priorities will need to be set, however, in accordance with the principles outlined above. They will also need to conform to the broad national training priorities laid down for the short to medium term in the WPTPS, as follows:

5.7 Operational Guidelines

5.7.1 Introduction

5.7.1.1 In order to realise the above principles and priorities at the operational level, policies and programmes of public service training and education will need in particular to be implemented in ways which are -

5.7.2 Needs Assessment

5.7.2.1 If programmes on training and education are to succeed in building the motivation, capacity and performance of the workforce, it is increasingly recognised, both at home and abroad, that they must be based in the first place on an objective and systematic assessment of the expressed rather than perceived needs of individual staff.

5.7.2.2 Such needs may be personal, performance-related or career-related, and will include, amongst other things -

5.7.2.3 Whilst departments and provinces will devote a large proportion of their staff development resources to assisting staff in identifying and meeting their individual needs, the process will clearly need to be situated within the broader context of the institutional needs and priorities that have to be met, particularly in relation to -

5.7.3 Personal Development Plans

5.7.3.1 In order to ensure a needs-based approach to the training and education, personal development plans will be drawn up for all members of staff. These will be designed to identify the needs of staff and measures to achieve them, within the context of the individual's overall career progression, as well as within the context of the organisational objectives and priorities of the department or province concerned.

5.7.3.2 The introduction of a personal development plan system in all departments and provincial administrations will help to ensure that the principle of access and entitlement of all staff to meaningful training and education opportunities becomes a practical reality.

5.7.3.3 Personal development plans will seek to identify in particular -

5.7.3.4 Personal development plans will be drawn up in a negotiated way between the line manager/supervisor and the individual staff member. They will be regularly reviewed, and will be formally appraised and updated on an annual basis.

5.7.3.5 To carry out their work effectively supervisors will require training and on-going advice and support, in particular from the organisation's human resources specialists, who will also be responsible, together with departmental and provincial training committees, for monitoring and evaluating the general operation and effectiveness of the personal development plan system.

5.7.4 Adding Value through Positive Learning Outcomes

5.7.4.1 A major shift in the process through which public service training and education programmes are designed and delivered is clearly required. In the past such programmes were essentially supply-driven and input-based. They reflected the views of the various training providers (internal or external) about what should be learned and the ways in which it should be learned. Public servants either volunteered or were required to sign-up for what were essentially pre-determined programmes.

5.7.4.2 In the future, training providers will now be required to move towards a demand-driven and outcomes-based approach to their work. Such an approach will be designed to promote access to competence and accreditation by recognising that there are many different routes to obtaining knowledge and skills, and that the choice of best route for an individual will depend on a variety of circumstances, including the experience and learning that have occurred to date.

5.7.4.3 A key assumption of this approach is that learning will be more effective when individuals are enabled to use learning styles and contexts that most closely match their needs.

5.7.4.4 The move towards an outcomes-based approach to public service training and education will place the service firmly in line with current developments within the NQF.

5.7.5 A Competency-Based Approach to Training and Education

5.7.5.1 Learning outcomes will often be expressed in fairly broad and general terms (for example, greater effectiveness in one's work, or enhanced opportunities and prospects for career progression). In order to apply such outcomes in terms of specific programmes of staff development, training and education, it will be important to express them in terms of measurable competencies.

5.7.5.2 A competency-based approach to training and education will therefore be an integral part of the move towards a broader needs-based and outcomes-based approach to public service training and education.

5.7.5.3 Competence can be defined as the application of skills, knowledge and attitudes to tasks or combination of tasks to standards under operational conditions. As such competence does not refer to the unique characteristics of an individual worker, but rather serves as a measure against which individuals may be judged for the purposes of formal or informal evaluation and accreditation.

5.7.5.4 All public service institutions will be required toconduct job evaluations or re-evaluations of all posts, with the purpose of ensuring that they are expressed in terms of the essential competencies required for effective job performance in the context of the new vision and mission laid down for the public service in the WPTPS. This will involve both sector-specific competencies and core transversal competencies.

5.7.5.5 In the case of core transversal competencies, the definition of competence will encompass a broad range of skills, knowledge and attitudes, including -

5.7.5.6 The introduction of a competency-based approach will assist the development of an outcomes-led model of training and education in a number of important ways. These will include forming an effective and measurable basis -

5.7.5.7 The introduction of a competency-based approach will also form the basis for improvements in the current systems of performance appraisal, recruitment and selection, and promotion. Evidence from the stakeholders consulted in the drawing up of this document, demonstrated concern, for example, that the current systems of recruitment and promotion placed too much emphasis on the possession of formal qualifications and experience (which may not always be a reliable indicator of actual competency), and too little on prior learning and experience obtained through less formal means. There is no doubt that this acts to the detriment of historically disadvantaged groups, whether applying for jobs or for promotion.

5.7.6 Strategic Planning at Departmental and Provincial Levels

5.7.6.1 Historically human resources issues in the South African public service have been regarded as administrative or technical matters rather than the strategic management concerns that can, if properly managed, make a major contribution to the achievement of socio-economic goals.

5.7.6.2 This situation will clearly have to change if training and education are to make the kind of dynamic contribution to enhancing the individual and organisational capacity of public service institutions envisaged in this Green Paper.

5.7.6.3 At the level of individual departments and provincial administrations, a number of related elements will be involved in this process:

5.7.7 Capacity Development Standard

5.7.7.1 To encourage departments and provincial administrations to move increasingly towards this kind of strategic approach to training and education, it is proposed that a Capacity Development Standard (CDS) will be introduced, and that annual awards will be made to those institutions who meet its requirements.

5.7.7.2 The CDS will be defined in a document that will be distributed to all heads of departments and provincial administrations. This will contain a detailed set of criteria dealing with the following generic issues:

5.7.7.3 Responsibility for drawing up the detailed criteria for the CDS will lie with the DPSA, in consultation with other key stakeholders. Once all relevant bodies have approved the CDS, an annual review of all departments will be undertaken with a view to identifying those who qualify for the award. An appropriate decision-making process will be developed in cooperation with the PSC by the DPSA to apply this approach.

5.7.7.4 The end result will be a Ministerial event whereby the Minister for the Public Service and Administration will make the annual awards of CDS status. This will give political acknowledgement and backing to the achievement of a specific notion of excellence in the field of public service training and education.

5.7.7.5 The competitive approach to this sort of institutional development is seen as a positive way of building awareness of the need for effective training and education strategies, and their value and importance.

5.7.8 Prescribed Competencies rather than Courses

5.7.8.1 More specifically, a key strategic intervention at the national level concerns the issue of prescribed courses. In the present system, prescribed training and education courses are those that are deemed essential throughout the public service for appointed to or employment in a particular post grade. Such courses must conform to the curricula and/or other prescripts pertaining to the relevant courses set in the Training Course Standards (TCS) which form part of the Public Service Staff Code.

5.7.8.2 With respect to transversal training, responsibility for prescribing such courses was formerly the business of the PSC, but now rests with the DPSA. The DPSA is also responsible for registering training institutions that wish to conduct prescribed training courses.

5.7.8.3 Consultation with stakeholders has revealed a number of problems with the current system of prescribed training courses. These include the lack of flexibility in tailoring training and education to local needs and circumstances; the frequent lack of congruity between training courses and the actual competencies required to perform effectively at the particular level concerned; the lack of recognition for suitable competencies acquired through prior learning or experience; and the lack of cost-effectiveness when the relevant competencies could be acquired through alternative and less expensive forms of staff development experience.

5.7.8.4 It is therefore proposed that the public service will move from a system of prescribed courses to a system of prescribed core competencies at different grade levels, linked wherever possible to the NQF.

5.7.8.5 Responsibility for defining such competencies will rest with the DPSA, in consultation with national departments, provincial administrations, and employee organisations. It is also envisaged that the proposed Public Service Learning Organisation (PSLO), once established, will have a key role to play in this respect (see Chapter 6 for more detail).

5.7.8.6 The move towards the prescription of competencies rather than courses is in line with the overall thrust of this Green Paper, which seeks wherever possible, to promote flexibility and decentralisation in the provision of training and education inputs, within the context of broad and uniform outcomes and standards determined nationally.

5.7.8.7 Departments and provinces will be able to exercise greater flexibility and creativity in designing training and education programmes that meet the required competencies in ways which suit their specific circumstances and most closely match their particular learning needs. They will also be able to decide whether particular competencies can be better met through training and education courses, or through other forms of staff development activities. Possibilities for the recognition of prior learning will also be enhanced.

5.7.8.8 The move to a system of prescribed competencies rather than courses will also assist national departments and provincial administrations in introducing learnerships, as recommended in the Department of Labour's HRD strategy document.

5.7.8.9 Examples of competencies that might usefully inform the development of training and education programmes at different levels within the public service are provided in Appendix C. These are for illustrative use only. The actual competencies that are designed and introduced by the DPSA and the PSLO, in consultation with other key stakeholders, will obviously be much more detailed and specific.

5.7.9 Accreditation and Quality Assurance

5.7.9.1 Given that the new direction in public service training and education will be towards the achievement of consistent and standardised quality outcomes through a multiplicity of providers, a premium will be placed on quality assurance and the accreditation of training providers and their products.

5.7.9.2 Systems of quality assurance and accreditation will be designed to ensure the following:

  1. That all training providers, whether internal (SAMDI, Provincial Training Bodies, In-Service Training Departments) or external (Universities and Technikons, NGOs, Private Training Bodies) are assessed according to the same criteria.
  2. That existing providers are not granted any special privileges.
  3. That the mechanisms of assessment, registration and accreditation are not so cumbersome and complicated as to discourage new or small providers (such as NGOs) from entering the public service training market.

5.7.9.3 In addition, systems of accreditation and quality assurance will need to strike a balance between -

  1. the blanket accreditation of providers (conferring automatic accreditation on all their courses); and
  2. the accreditation of specific courses (which would be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially as such courses would need to be regularly revised to ensure continuing relevance).

5.7.9.4 In line with the proposals in the NQF, the approach will therefore be to accredit providers in defined fields or sub-fields of learning (such as Management Training or ABET, for example). If providers wish to enter into new fields, they will be required to seek additional accreditation.

5.7.9.5 In determining the appropriate number and nature of such fields, it will be important to ensure that these are consistent with the 12 broad fields identified in the NQF, for which SAQA has been given legal authority to establish National Standards Bodies (see Appendix D).

5.7.9.6 It is envisaged that greater coordination and quality control will be forthcoming once the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the proposed Sectoral Learning Organisations (SLOs) become fully operational. In the Department of Labour's Green Paper on an Integrated HRD Strategy it is anticipated that SLOs (including the Public Service SLO or PSLO) will seek accreditation from SAQA to act as Education and Training Quality Assurers (ETQAs) under the NQF. As such they will be able to -

  1. accredit training providers directly;
  2. award secondary accreditation, under which some training providers will be allowed to conduct their own assessment, subject only to external moderation;
  3. train and register workplace/provider/independent assessors to approve units or courses on their behalf, or to carry out external moderation, in a particular field of expertise on a contract basis.

Other functions of ETQAs are outlined in Appendix E.

5.7.9.7 Although ETQAs will be able to contract out aspects of their work, they will nevertheless be solely accountable to SAQA for the quality of this work. It will therefore be important that the PSLO (once it acquires ETQA status) sets up effective systems and procedures for monitoring and evaluating the work of those subcontractors that it chooses to use in the processes of assessment and accreditation.

5.7.9.8 In ensuring consistency of quality through effective accreditation of external training providers, the PSLO and other SLOs will seek to achieve equity by playing a broad enabling role rather than a narrow monitoring one. This will take the form, for example, of support and advice to existing or aspiring training providers in the tertiary, NGO or private sectors who demonstrate commitment and potential but currently lack the capacity to qualify fully for accreditation. Historically disadvantaged providers will be targeted in particular. Provisional accreditation may be granted to such providers for a specific time period (one or two years maximum), during which time they will be provided with advice and support to enable them to qualify for full accreditation.

5.7.9.9 By playing such an enabling role, SLOs will seek to ensure that small, newly formed or historically under-privileged providers are not placed at a permanent disadvantage in relation to those providers that are larger, longer-established and historically privileged (such as the White universities and technikons, for example).

5.7.9.10 It is likely to take some time before a PSLO becomes fully operational. In the meantime, it will clearly be important to establish more effective structures, procedures and criteria for accreditation and quality assurance, if only on an interim basis. The lead role in designing and implementing such systems will be undertaken by the DPSA, in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

5.8 Tendering

5.8.1 The increasing reliance envisaged in this document on external training providers will obviously place growing pressure on tender processes and procedures, which have historically been slow, cumbersome and over-centralised.

5.8.2 At the same time, the development of a more competitive market amongst public service training providers, designed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of training, will place a premium on the objective, equitable and accurate assessment of competing bids for training and education contracts.

5.8.3 In line with the current trend towards the decentralisation of managerial responsibility within the public service, much of the tendering will in future occur at the departmental level. It will therefore be essential to develop appropriate capacity within departmental HR structures to assess competing bids and to interact pro-actively with providers to maximise the effectiveness of out-sourced training programmes.

5.8.4 Departmental tendering processes will need to ensure in particular that -

5.8.5 The introduction of a more systematic framework for accreditation will imply that tenders will only be invited in the future from accredited providers (whether fully or provisionally accredited).

5.8.6 To ensure that organisations with provisional accreditation are not disadvantaged in the tendering process, general advice on tendering will be provided by the PSLO as part of its envisaged capacity building programme for historically disadvantaged organisations.

5.9 Review of Existing Procedures and Regulations

5.9.1 As demonstrated in Chapter 2 (sections 2.2.6 & 2.2.7), considerable stakeholder concern has been raised about the fact that the implementation of the new policy proposals contained in this Chapter, and indeed in the rest of the GPPSTE, may be seriously constrained by a number of existing public service regulations and procedures pertaining to such issues as access and entitlement, performance appraisal, recruitment and selection, promotion, the operation of the personnel administration standard (PAS), and the prescription and accreditation of training and education programmes. 5.9.2 A systematic and comprehensive review of such procedures

and regulations will therefore be carried out, and appropriate changes made, with a view to facilitating the successful implementation of the new training and education policies and interventions recommended in this document.

5.9.3 The DPSA will be primarily responsible for this task, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and in negotiation, where appropriate, with employee organisations represented in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.

5.9.4 These processes will be part of a broader review of public service legislation, regulations and procedures, the principal dimensions of which are outlined in the Green Paper on Policy Proposals for a New Public Service Statute, published by the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration in December 1996.

5.9.5 The Green Paper referred to in 5.9.4 above explores in particular the development of enabling legislation to establish appropriate mechanisms and structures for -

  1. the creation of new and broad policies on the employment, deployment and development of human resources which will set the parameters for managers to operate within the different sectors of the public service.
  2. the development within such parameters of a decentralised management system, in which the responsibility and capacity to make decisions is devolved to the most appropriate levels of management.

5.9.6 As part of these processes, the Green Paper stresses that a fundamental revision will be required of the current legislative framework regulating the public service, including the Public Service Regulations, Staff Code and PAS.

CHAPTER 6:
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

6.1 Goal Statement

The purpose of this Chapter is to outline a framework for the establishment of efficient, effective, consultative and well coordinated institutional arrangements for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public sector training and education policy, and to ensure in particular that such arrangements are strategically linked to the broader processes of human resources development, institution building and transformation in public sector organisations.

6.2 Objectives

Key objectives of this institutional framework will be the following:

  1. To ensure at the institutional level that training is directly linked to broader processes of policy-making, institution building and transformation in public sector organisations.
  2. To ensure in particular that the public service training strategy is integrated into a broader and effective strategy for human resources development.
  3. To facilitate effective forms of management and leadership, essential for driving the new policy forward.
  4. To facilitate stakeholder participation and involvement in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public service training.
  5. To ensure effective coordination and liaison between government departments and agencies at national and provincial levels.
  6. To promote flexibility and decentralisation in the operation of such structures and processes, within agreed national norms and standards.
  7. To allocate clear roles and responsibilities for the key structures, agencies and role-players at national and provincial levels.
  8. To promote accountability and transparency in the organisation of training.
  9. To avoid unnecessary duplication and to promote cost-effectiveness in training provision.

6.3 Institutional Processes

Institutional arrangements will need to be capable of facilitating the following key processes in relation to the development and implementation of an effective public service training and education policy:

6.4 Existing Structures and Agencies

6.4.1 As Section 1.7 in this document shows, a wide variety of existing structures and agencies, both political and administrative, will be involved in the institutional processes outlined in Section 6.3.

6.4.2 Measures will be taken to strengthen the capacity of these agencies, to ensure the effective coordination of their work, and to clarify and, if necessary, restructure their respective roles and relationships. At the same time the work of these agencies will reflect the fact that there will be differences, as well as similarities between individual government departments, and between national and provincial tiers of government

6.5 New Structures and Agencies

6.5.1 Introduction

6.5.1.1 Given the number and diversity of the existing institutions and agencies that are expected to play a part in the design, delivery and evaluation of public service training and development, the Government is reluctant to risk re-inventing the wheel by setting up a range of new and potentially duplicating structures.

6.5.1.2 It is nevertheless proposed that three new bodies be established or alternatively created by converting existing bodies. These are a Public Service Learning Organisation (PSLO); a National Advisory Panel for public service training and education (NAP); and an Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers (AATEP).

6.5.2 Public Service Learning Organisation (PSLO)

6.5.2.1 In the Department of Labour's Green Paper on A New Integrated Human Resources Development Strategy for South Africa, it is proposed that approximately 20 Sectoral Learning Organisations (SLOs) will be established to play an important enabling and coordinating role with respect to professional and vocational education and training (PVET) throughout the respective economic sectors.

6.5.2.2 SLOs will be registered by and will be responsible to a new National Human Resources Development Council, which will replace the existing National Training Board.

6.5.2.3 SLOs will have a range of important functions, particularly in relation to standard setting, accreditation and quality assurance, where they will be able to seek accreditation from SAQA to act as Education and Training Quality Assurers under the NQF. A summary of these functions is provided in Section 6.7, with a more detailed outline in Appendix F.

6.5.2.4 It is proposed that a specific Public Service Learning Organisation be established to carry out such functions with particular respect to transversal training within the public service. Responsibility for sector-specific training within the public service will rest with other relevant SLOs, on which appropriate government departments will have the right to representation.

6.5.2.5 The PSLO will have a management board drawn from a wide range of stakeholders. Given the importance of gaining credibility within the service, it is proposed, however, that the majority of board members will be drawn in equal numbers from employer and employee representatives, as well as representatives of broader stakeholder interests.

6.5.2.6 As the PSLO will have an increasingly important role to play in the accreditation of training providers, representatives from such providers will not be entitled to membership of the board (to avoid possible conflicts of interest).

6.5.2.7 In the interests of cost-effectiveness, it is proposed that the day-to-day administrative work of the PSLO be carried out by staff of the DPSA, under directions from the management board. Another option that might be considered is the conversion of SAMDI into the administrative arm of the PSLO, although this would obviously have major implications for SAMDI's current role as a training provider.

6.5.2.8 The PSLO will be accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament through the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.

6.5.2.9 In the longer-term consideration will be given to expanding the PSLO from a public service learning organisation to a public sector learning organisation (including parastatals and local government).

6.5.3 National Advisory Panel (NAP)

6.5.3.1 In the WPTPS it is proposed that consideration be given to the establishment of a broad-based National Advisory Council to oversee the review of public service training provision and to assist in the development of a national training strategy.

6.5.3.2 As a number of important functions contemplated for such a body will now be assumed by the proposed PSLO, the establishment of a fully-fledged Advisory Council would now seem to involve an unnecessary duplication of activities and resources.

6.5.3.3 Because a key group of stakeholders (namely providers) will be excluded from membership of the PSLO, there is nevertheless a need for a smaller, but representative body to provide an inclusive and legitimate forum for the achievement of informed debate, consensus-building and strategic direction with regard to public service training and education.

6.5.3.4 It is therefore proposed that a small National Advisory Panel be established to assist the Minister for the Public Service and Administration and the DPSA in strategic policy formulation, coordination and promotion.

6.5.3.5 The NAP will meet twice a year (more regularly if required), and will be comprised of representatives, inter alia, from the DPSA, the PSC, national departments and provincial administrations, the Departments of Education and Labour, public service unions, external and internal education and training providers, and relevant private sector and civil society organisations. The DPSA will provide the necessary administrative support and back-up for the operation of the Panel.

6.5.4 Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers (AATEP)

In order to promote more effective planning and coordination of the work of SAMDI, provincial training bodies, and external providers, the Government will encourage the establishment of an association of accredited training and education providers to facilitate peer review, mutual support and the development of the teaching and learning profession.

6.6 Key Role-players

6.6.1 All the existing and new structures outlined above will have a significant part to play in public service education and training. In relation to the institutional processes outlined in Section 6.3, however, the key role players will be as follows:

6.6.2 Strategic policy formulation, coordination and communication

The main responsibility will lie with the Department for Public Service and Administration (DPSA). Advice and guidance will be sought, inter alia, from the National Advisory Panel, the PSLO, the PSC, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on the Public Service and Administration, heads of national departments and provincial administrations, and the public service unions. Close liaison will be maintained with other key departments (such as Education and Labour) and with NEDLAC. Liaison between the DPSA and the Gender Commission and Human Rights Commissions will also be important in helping to ensure that training policy is appropriately informed by human rights and equity issues, and particularly those pertaining to women and people with disabilities.

6.6.3 Operational planning, implementation and coordination

The main responsibility will lie with the heads of departments at national and provincial levels, with advice and/or direct support (if the functions are delegated) from HR directors, departmental and provincial training committees, workplace forums (where established), and supported by DPSA and PSLO support programmes where required.

6.6.4 Standard setting, accreditation, and quality assurance

Once established, the PSLO will play the key role (particularly with respect to transversal training and education), in association with registered assessors, and with administrative support from the DPSA. Other SLOs will have a key role to play with respect to sector-specific training. Close liaison will be developed with SAQA and National Standards Bodies.

6.6.5 Organisation and coordination of training provision

Individual training providers (SAMDI, provincial training bodies, and external providers) will develop and organise their own programmes, but in an increasingly coordinated way (particularly through active participation in the proposed Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers). Advice and support in capacity building will be provided by the PSLO and the DPSA.

6.6.6 Monitoring and evaluation

Overall responsibility will lie with the DPSA and the PSC (for monitoring the effectiveness of broad training and development processes) and with national and provincial heads of departments (for monitoring the effectiveness of training programmes and outcomes). Key roles will also be played by the Portfolio Committee and departmental and provincial training committees. The Public Sector Transformation Forum and departmental and provincial transformation units (envisaged in the WPTPS) will also, once established, play key oversight roles, particularly in regard to the relationship of training and education to broader transformation goals.

6.6.7 Details of these key role-players and their main partners are summarised in tabular form in the following table.

Key Institutional Processes and Role-Players

KEY INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES

KEY ROLE- PLAYERS

KEY PARTNERS

Strategic Policy

DPSA

PSLO; NAP; PSC; Portfolio Committee; Heads of Department; Unions

Operational decision-making, planning and implementation

Heads of department (national and provincial DGs and heads of other organisational components)

HR Directors; Training Committees; Workplace Forums; DPSA; PSLO

Standard setting accreditation and quality assurance

PSLO; other SLOs; registered assessors;DPSA

SAQA; National Standards Bodies

Organisation and coordination of training provision

SAMDI, provincial training bodies; external providers; Association of Accredited Providers(AATEP)

PSLO; DPSA

Monitoring and evaluation

DPSA; PSC; Heads of Department

Portfolio Committee; Training Committees; Public Sector Transformation Forum;
Transformation Units

6.7 Roles and Responsibilities

6.7.1 The key roles and responsibilities of some of the principal role-players are summarised in tabular form in the table below. In practice, of course, such roles and responsibilities will be much more detailed than this.

6.7.2 The actual operation of such roles and relationships will not necessarily be unproblematic. In fact, given the wide range and diverse nature of the organisations involved, there could well be confusion and disputes about overlapping responsibilities, and unnecessary duplication of resources and effort. This might be the case, for example, with respect to the operation of trainingcommittees, workplace forums and transformation units, all of which are vehicles for employee representation in the institutional processes relating to public service training and education.

6.7.3 It will therefore be necessary to ensure that detailed roles and responsibilities are clearly defined (in consultation with all relevant stakeholders), effectively communicated, and subject to a regular process of on-going monitoring and review.

6.7.4 The on-going process of review will be particularly pertinent, for example, to SAMDI and its relationship to provincial training bodies and external providers. In the past SAMDI's predecessor, the PSTI, had a near monopoly over in-service management training for the public service. The need to challenge this monopoly by encouraging wider participation in the provision of public service education and training was emphasised in the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service, and has since been enshrined in the revised Chapter L of the Public Service Regulations (December 1995).

6.7.5 The rationale is that if SAMDI competes with other providers, this will serve to promote the improvement and quality of its courses. Since the end of 1994, the composition, structure and role of SAMDI has been under review, and an extensive process of restructuring is currently underway to enhance the relevance, quality and effectiveness of its programmes, and to pave the way for its successful operation in a more competitive environment.

6.7.6 SAMDI, however, still remains the most important statutory body in the provision of public service training as part of the transition to a more competitive training environment. It is envisaged that SAMDI will ultimately become a self-supporting public service institution or a parastatal.

6.7.7 To ensure self-sufficiency in the longer term, SAMDI will inevitably have to charge departments for services rendered. However, in order to reach self-sufficiency, and to compete equally with other competent, non-public sector training providers, SAMDI will have to either operate on a trade account or become a full parastatal (Treasury has to issue the authority to a public institution to charge for services). This notion would have to be phased in over a course of time while SAMDI's capacity is being built.

6.7.8 Meanwhile, time will have to be allowed for departments intending to draw upon the services of SAMDI to budget for such training. This will lead to a gradual decrease of SAMDI's state subsidy until it has sufficient capacity to be completely self-supporting.

6.7.9 The proclamation of SAMDI as a Schedule 2 organisation, is seen as the first phase in positioning itself to take its own professional decisions regarding future operations. Although SAMDI will be independent, it will still be accountable to the Minister of Public Service and Administration.

6.7.10 As part of its accountability to Parliament, through the Minister of Public Service and Administration, the Minister will set out a framework clarifying SAMDI's mandate. The mandate comprises SAMDI's main objectives, resources/tools and the authority to achieve them, and provision for monitoring and publication of plans, targets and results to support its accountability.

6.7.11 The focus of SAMDI will need to be redefined within the content of the above framework. It is envisaged that SAMDI will focus its efforts on core competency areas identified by the PSLO. Some of these priorities include the following transversal areas:

6.7.12 The role of SAMDI should ensure that it supports strategic government policy initiatives, e.g. capacity building for departments and provinces in respect of decentralisation and delegation of administrative powers.

6.8 Summary of Roles and Responsibilities of Major Role-players

ROLE-PLAYER(S)

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1: DPSA
(Department of Public Service
and Administration
  • To take overall responsibility for the effective formulation, implementation and monitoring and review of the new approach to PSTE;
  • To translate the broad policy framework in the GPPSTE into specific and achievable policy objectives, norms and standards, performance measures and time-frames;
  • To ensure that these processes are based on effective consultation and liaison with all major stakeholders;
  • To ensure that PSTE policy is strategically linked to key transformation goals and processes;
  • To ensure that PSTE policy is effectively coordinated at both national and provincial levels;
  • To develop an effective communications strategy for promoting the new approach to PSTE;
  • To develop an appropriate financial resource strategy to support the new approach to PSTE.
2: Heads of Departments
  • To take overall responsibility for operational decision-making, planning and implementation with respect to PSTE;
  • To ensure that a departmental training and education strategy is formulated in consultation with stakeholders and implemented in partnership with providers
  • To ensure that such strategic plans are based on a detailed needs assessment (of both individual and organisational needs), and skills audit;
  • To ensure that strategic plans for PSTE are effectively integrated into broader plans for HR and organisational development, as well as into the budgetary process;
  • To ensure that the plans are strategically linked to the achievement of key transformation goals;
  • To ensure effective opportunities for meaningful participation by staff and unions in the design, implementation and monitoring of training strategy.
3: Employee Organisations
(Particularly those represented on thePublic
Service Coordinating Bargaining Council)
  • To play a key co-determining role in all PSTE processes (strategic policy formualtion, operational planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation);
  • To ensure in particular that employee interests are actively safeguarded and pursued in the formulation and implementation of the new approach to PSTE;
  • To negotiate collective agreements on matters of mutual interest with respect to PSTE.
4: PSC
(Public Service Commission)		 Under the New Constitution, responsibilities will include:
  • To conduct applied research on PSTE. To monitor, inspect and evaluate the implementation of PSTE policy.
  • To provide advice on policy.
  • To generate public debate, through its reports to Parliament and provincial legislatures, on the effectiveness of public service training.
5: PSLO
(Public Service Learning Organisation)
  • To take the lead role in standard setting, accreditation and quality assurance with respect to PSTE (particularly in respect of transversal training and education);
  • To promote a strategic approach to human resources development within the public service;
  • To market and promote the value of training and education throughout the public service;
  • To design and recommend appropriate learnerships for the service;
  • To cooperate with the national effort to promote capacity building, skills development and effective forms of labour market intelligence;
  • To promote effective partnerships between public and private interests with respect to PSTE;
  • To play in role in ensuring appropriate financial provision for PSTE.
6: National Advisory Panel
(For Public Service Training and Education)
  • To provide policy advice to the Minister and DPSA;
  • To promote broad-based ownership of the training strategy;
  • To build consensus around the vision, mission and priorities of the new training strategy;
  • To secure agreement on national norms and standards;
  • To help to ensure effective coordination and communication;
  • To assist in promoting the new training strategy amongst a wide range of stakeholders.
7: Portfolio Committee
(On Public Service and Administration)
  • To ensure that the policy proposals in the GPPSTE are representative of the views of a wide range of stakeholders, within and outside the public service;
  • To request, receive and evaluate progress reports, with a view to playing a pro-active watchdog role;
  • To generate research and analysis to inform the on-going policy and review processes;
  • To develop and steer the process of legislative change necessary to give full effect to the GPPSTE.
8: Training Committees
(Departmental and Provincial)
  • To ensure that training strategies at the operational level are designed, delivered and monitored in a consultative, participative, transparent and equitable way;
  • To communicate information about training policy and programmes to all staff at all levels;
  • To help to align training policy with the expressed needs of employees.
9: Training Providers
(Internal providers such as SAMDI and provincial Training Bodies, plus tertiary institutions, NGO's and private sector bodies)
  • To provide relevant and high quality education and training courses;
  • To provide advice on capacity building and training matters generally to departments and provinces;
  • To carry out research and publications;
  • To make inputs into the formulation and implementation of education and training policy;
  • To promote collaboration between provincial training bodies and external training providers;
  • To liaise with donors.
10: AATEP
(Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers)
  • To ensure the effective planning and coordination of the work of internal providers, provincial training bodies and external providers;
  • To make inputs into the policy process;
  • To share and disseminate ideas and information, especially about new approaches to PSTE;
  • To promote uniformity and consistency in standards and quality;
  • To engage in mutual capacity-building and innovative partnerships;
  • To engage in joint fund-raising.
11: Public Sector Transformation Forum
  • To play a pivotal consultative and advisory role with respect to transformation issues generally and PSTE in particular;
  • To provide an inclusive forum for participation by all key stakeholders, including civil society organisations;
  • To assist in promoting transformation issues with respect to the public service in general and PSTE in particular.
12: Transformation Units
  • To ensure that issues relating to transformation generally and PSTE in particular are actively pursued at departmental and provincial levels;
  • To ensure an effective employee input into these processes.


6.9 Summary of Roles and Processes

Roles and Processes of Principal Role-players (model to be added)

CHAPTER 7:
MONITORING AND EVALUATION MECHANISMS

7.1 Goal Statement

To ensure that the implementation of the GPPSTE is effectively monitored and evaluated in accordance with realistic and relevant performance measures, targets and time-frames.

7.2 Objectives

7.3 Implementation

7.3.1 Rationale

7.3.1.1 The success of the PSTE policy outlined in this document will depend to a large extent on the introduction and implementation of clear and successful monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure that the aims, objectives and goals of the policy are effectively realised.

7.3.1.2 Whilst a number of previous documents dealing with public service transformation more generally or PSTE more specifically, have stressed the importance of monitoring and evaluation, they have sometimes fallen short in specifying the detailed performance measures and the actual monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that need to be put in place.

7.3.1.3 The WPTPS, for example, outlines strategies and institutional arrangements for monitoring and evaluation, but falls short of specifying mechanisms for ensuring compliance. Chapter L of the Public Service Regulations (on Training), places emphasis on the need for effective evaluation but under plays the importance of monitoring. Chapter C of the Public Service Staff Code (also on Training) makes little mention at all of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

7.3.2 Performance Measurements

7.3.2.1 To be able to monitor policy processes, performance and outcomes, a set of key performance indicators will need to be put in place. These will be informed by the vision, goals and objectives of the PSTE policy, and will be used to guide the monitoring and evaluation processes and ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, adequacy and appropriateness of the training and education policy.

7.3.2.2 The use of effective performance indicators and measures will assist in improving internal and external accountability, as well as enabling policy and decision-makers at national, departmental and provincial levels to introduce and implement more effective processes of on-going strategic planning and review.

7.3.2.3 Performance measures will need to take into account the performance targets and expectations agreed upon by all relevant stakeholders involved in PSTE.

7.3.2.4 Although the use of performance indicators and targets can form an indispensable part of an effective system of planning and review, the Government recognises that monitoring data (both quantitative and qualitative) should be interpreted sensitively, rather than being used in an over-simplistic way as conclusive proof of success or failure. Such data should instead be used to try and obtain a realistic view of progress that has been made and to highlight those areas where scope exists for further improvement or investigation.

7.3.3 Monitoring Policy Performance

7.3.3.1 A range of different mechanisms will be used for monitoring policy performance. The employment of a particular mechanism will be determined, amongst other things, by the nature of the policy, the institutional arrangements and the intended outcomes of the policy.

7.3.3.2 At the national strategic level a monitoring unit will be established within the Training Directorate of the DPSA. In consultation with the PSC and the PSLO this will monitor progress at departmental and provincial levels. The information tracked by the unit will include:

7.3.3.3 At departmental and provincial levels detailed monitoring mechanisms will also be put into place to measure such things as the quality and cost-effectiveness of training programmes, levels of satisfaction amongst training course participants, the relevance of training and education programmes to actual work situations, the impact of such programmes on productivity and performance, and the levels of congruity between training and education programmes and the achievement of individual and organisational needs.

7.3.4 Evaluating Policy Performance

7.3.4.1 A range of evaluation mechanisms will be developed and implemented to complement the monitoring process. These will be designed to suit the particular circumstances of different departments and provinces. Such mechanisms will be directly related to the aims, objectives and anticipated outcomes of PSTE policy.

7.3.4.2 An important requirement of evaluation processes (and indeed of monitoring processes) will be the need to ensure effective stakeholder involvement. This includes involvement in the establishment of evaluation targets and criteria, as well as in the design and implementation of evaluation mechanisms.

7.3.4.3 With respect to evaluation criteria, it is proposed that the following broad criteria should form the basis for the evaluation of PSTE policy at national, departmental and provincial levels:

  1. Effectiveness: Were the results envisaged in the vision, mission and goals achieved?
  2. Efficiency: Were human, financial, institutional and technical resources used in the most efficient and cost-effective ways?
  3. Adequacy: To what extent were core policy problems resolved by PSTE strategies?
  4. Equity: To what extent have PSTE policies and strategies served to eliminate existing disparities, to promote greater representivity, and to ensure greater equity in employment and service delivery?
  5. Responsiveness: How responsive has the implementation of PSTE policies and strategies been to the actual needs and preferences of the stakeholders, in particular public servants?
  6. Appropriateness: Have PSTE policies and strategies been appropriate to meeting the requirements of the overall policy context set by the RDP, GEAR, the proposed HRD strategy, and other government policies?

7.4 Institutional Roles

Responsibility for monitoring will take place at the following levels:

CHAPTER 8:
INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT PROGRAMMES

8.1 Goal Statement

To ensure that departments at national and provincial level design and implement programmes in ways that are cost-effective, accessible, equitable, flexible, needs-based, and capable of addressing the current and future needs of the public service, its diverse clients and the people who work for it.

8.2 Objective

To set up a range of programmes in the DPSA to support the implementation of the policy proposals in the GPPSTE in ways which make maximum use of existing capacity.

8.3 Implementation of the GPPSTE Policy Proposals

8.3.1 It is proposed that the DPSA, particularly through its Chief Directorate for Training Policy, establish the following institutional support programmes to facilitate the effective implementation of the policy recommendations contained in the GPPSTE.

8.3.2 Programme 1: Fast Track Training and Education

Objective:

To ensure that departments at national and provincial level design and implement appropriate fast track training and education programmes to build institutional capacity, in particular at the management level.

Outcomes:

  1. The PSLO, in collaboration with training and education providers, will establish a framework for facilitating and supporting the implementation of fast track programmes.
  2. The initiation and implementation of fast track management development programmes at departmental and provincial levels.

8.3.3 Programme 2: Strategic Planning and Management Support for Departments

Objective:

To provide heads of departments and HRD managers with the necessary support to develop strategic plans and management capacity for managing the design and implementation of departmental training and education strategies.

Outcomes:

  1. The development and publication of a booklet that provides a step-by-step framework for developing departmental strategic plans for PSTE.
  2. An ongoing series of workshops and discussions aimed at assisting departments to develop their departmental training and education strategies.

Objective:

To design and implement a new regulatory framework to further the vision, mission and goals of this Green Paper.

Outcomes:

  1. An audit and review of existing legislation, regulations and procedures that require elimination, modification or retention.
  2. Design of a new regulatory framework at all levels, in consultation with all key stakeholders.
  3. Approval for and implementation of the new regulatory framework.

8.3.5 Programme 4: Institutional Development and Transitional Arrangements

Objective:

To manage the establishment of the institutions required to realise the vision, mission and goals of this Green Paper, and to set up transitional arrangements during the interim.

Outcomes:

  1. Establishment of the PSLO, the National Advisory Panel and the Association of Accredited Training and Education Providers.
  2. Clarification of roles of the DPSA, MPSA, PSC, and Heads of Departments.
  3. Establishment of transitional arrangements to handle policy development and implementation, accreditation, and consultation.

8.3.6 Programme 5: Donor Support and Coordination

Objective: To mobilise donor support and coordinate donor activities to ensure alignment with the overall vision, mission and goals of this Green Paper

Outcomes:

  1. Coordination of donor (especially European Union) support programmes for SAMDI and other initiatives (such as the Joint Universities Programme Public Management Education Trust).
  2. Mobilisation of additional funds to support public service training and education.
  3. Monitoring and evaluation of donor activities in this area of activity.

8.3.7 Programme 6: Information and Communication Programme

Objective:

To ensure that information about the development and implementation of the GPPSTE is constantly disseminated to stakeholders.

Outcomes:

  1. A web-site.
  2. A newsletter for distribution to all HRD contact points in all departments.
  3. The establishment of databases on departmental training and education strategies.

CHAPTER 9:
FINANCE

9.1 Goal Statement

To secure adequate financial provision for the implementation of the new training policy, and to ensure that training budgets are not the first thing to be sacrificed in times of financial stringency.

9.2 Objectives

9.3 The Current Situation

9.3.1 At present it is extremely difficult to isolate the amounts related to training and education in the budgets of individual departments. For example, internal courses and programmes provided by SAMDI are not charged for, and the associated costs such as travel and subsistence tend to be incorporated into a host of other transactions.

9.3.2 At the same time, it will only be possible to accurately estimate the costs of training and education once the departmental training and education plans recommended elsewhere in this document have been put into place (based on a detailed assessment of organisational and individual needs).

9.4 Implementation

9.4.1 In the light of the above comments, any proposals for securing financial provision for specified objectives must be tentative.

9.4.2 Nevertheless, it is proposed that a formula will be developed by the DPSA, in collaboration with the Department of Finance, for implementation at departmental and provincial levels. This will be based on agreed norms and standards in relation to -

9.4.3 A more sophisticated formula will be developed as more reliable data becomes available. This will be based, amongst other things, on the number and type of staff in each department and the training needs that have been identified and prioritised. Once the annual training and education budget is approved, it will be up to heads of department to implement the agreed training and education strategy.

9.4.4 Funds for PSTE could be allocated from a National Training Fund, as suggested in the Department of Labour's Green Paper on a Skills Development Act, although further consideration will clearly have to be given to the financial implications of this suggestion for Government as an employer.

9.4.5 The proposed new national institutional arrangements for PSTE (such as the PSLO and NAP) will be financed out of the budget of the DPSA in the short-term. If it is decided to convert a section of the training policy component of the DPSA to lay the groundwork for the PSLO, additional donor funds will also be sought to enhance capacity for this unit for the funding of additional short-term personnel and programmes.

9.4.6 As part of the institutional support programmes outlined in Chapter 8 of this document, the DPSA will also help to facilitate the coordination of donor support for public sector training and education.

9.4.7 A Joint Committee comprising representatives from the DPSA and the Department of Education will investigate the funding base of the various Departments and Schools of Public Administration and Management at tertiary institutions responsible for the delivery of degrees and diplomas at undergraduate and post-graduate level. The purpose of this investigation will be to recommend changes to the subsidy formula that will provide tertiary institutions with incentives to promote training and education in the field of public service management, leadership and work.

CHAPTER 10:
THE WAY FORWARD

10.1 Recommendations

In order to ensure that the recommendations contained in this Green Paper (and summarised in the Executive Summary) are considered, amended where necessary and endorsed by all key stakeholders, and then effectively implemented, it is proposed that the following stages be followed.

10.2 Stage 1: Consideration, Amendment and Endorsement

The GPPSTE will be considered, amended where necessary and endorsed by:

  1. Heads of department, public service unions and other key stakeholders.
  2. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on the Public Service and Administration.
  3. Cabinet.

10.3 Stage 2: Design and Development of an Implementation Plan

Subject to the outcomes of Stage 1 above, relevant sections) of the DPSA will be commissioned to develop a detailed implementation plan that provides specific proposals with regard to the following-

10.4 Stage 3: Approval and Introduction of the Implementation Plan

APPENDIX A:

NOTES ON PROBLEM STATEMENTS

NOTE 1: Training divisions in the various departments and provinces are often not known to public servants and have failed to market themselves aggressively. The low profile of training divisions in departments and provinces bears testimony to the status that education and training was (and still is) accorded in the public service. This relatively low status enjoyed by training components and trainers is due to a number of factors. A major reason singled out by the Auditor-General's 1992/93 assessment of the public service's overall training infrastructure, centres around the small amount of time that training officers devote to training (approximately 27%). The time devoted to training is way below the internationally accepted norm of 50%. In other instances, the low profile of the training divisions is a direct result of budgetary constraints as is the case in the police sector. Training divisions are constantly looking at ways to run much needed programmes on a shoe string, and foreign donor assistance is increasingly relied upon to develop personnel. Poor knowledge concerning the availability of training opportunities and the location of providers could potentially place taxing burdens on limited training budgets and frustrate the preference of some departments, for example Health, for training courses and programmes to be delivered within the trainee's work environment, thereby ensuring direct and immediate application.

NOTE 2: Provincial government representatives pointed out that measures to ensure that supervisors and managers fulfil their training obligations were unsatisfactory. Training is alleged to be low on the priority lists of senior managers and supervisors. This point is being elaborated on further in paragraph 2.2.2.4.

NOTE 3: In the case of Police, increasing reliance on foreign donor assistance is problematic, as training programmes are forced to accommodate foreign trainers with inadequate knowledge of local needs and theories which are not applicable to the South African context.

NOTE 4: Figure 1

NOTE 5: Figure 2

NOTE 6: Figure 3

(figures to be added)

Recent data assembled by the Chief Directorate: Training Policy of the DPSA confirms this finding as illustrated. With the exception of the Departments of Health and Housing (whose training budgets - as reflected in the assembled data - are very small in comparison with the other departments and provincial administrations), most departments and provincial administrations failed to effectively utilise their entire training budget for the financial year 1996/1997

NOTE 7: As illustrated in the graph below, training needs of various occupational categories are met by a variety of providers spanning the public/private and national/international spectrum. Training courses for senior managers, for example, are provided by domestic and international private sector institutions, departmental training units and state training institutions. Training courses targeting trainers, middle management and supervisors also display equally diverse institutional profiles.

Figure 4 (to be added)

(Source: Chief Directorate Training Policy - DPSA, November 1996. The figures reflected in the graph does not encompass the entire public service)

Key to Graph: 

1   International Public                                     
2   International Private                                    
3   Universities and Technikons                              
4   Public Sector Institutes (Research Institute)            
5   Private Sector Companies                                 
6   State Training Institutes (SAMDI/ State Language         
    Institute/ Central Computer Services)                    
7   In-house Training (Departmental Training Units)          
8   Government Departments (Conferences and Workshops on     
    Policy, mainly)                                          
9   Boards/Associations/ Societies/ Committees

NOTE 8: In the health sector, poor coordination between the provinces and the national office with regard to training courses and programmes, places inordinate pressures on limited budgets and results in considerable duplication, as a number of training initiatives courses and programmes address similar issues.

NOTE 9:
Table 1
Trainers in the Former Eleven Public Services - 1993

Public Service in the RSA

Total Number of Employees 746 400
Number of Trainer Posts 203
(including the number of
posts of the Training
Institute) [47]
Ratio of Trainer/Employees 1:3676
Public Services of the Four TBVC States
Total Number of Employees 220 700
Number of Trainee Posts 54
Ratio of Trainer/Employees 1:4087
Public Services of the Six Former
Self Governing Territories
Total Number of Employees 220 400
Number of Trainee Posts 54
Ratio of Trainer/Employees 1:4 081
Totals for Eleven Public Services
Total Number of Employees 1 187 500
Total Number of Trainer Posts 311
Ratio of Trainer/Employees 1:3 818

(Source: Vil-Nkomo, S. 1995. Human resource development and the Reconstruction and Development Programme in public administration in Human Resource Development in the RDP, Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 47-64).

Table 2
Statistical Overview of Training
Courses/Seminars Presented by SAMDI (since 1995) and the PSTI (1985-1994)

Type of Training Number of Trainees
Management Training 74 209
Personnel Management Training 687
Finance Training 4 365
Provisioning Administration Training 7 934
Training of Trainers/ Training Management 5 777
Regional Training 3 636
General Skills Training 11 541
Total 108 149

(Source: South African Management Development Institute, 1996)

NOTE 10: The relatively small number of mainly higher level public servants that were trained by SAMDI over 11 years, represents only 9,1% of the total number of employees in the public service. Although this figure does not reflect trainees trained by accredited departmental trainers in management training, it does not include the front line workers involved in in-house line function training by departmental and provincial training components. Whichever way one looks at the situation, with a trainer to employee ratio of 1:3 818 (Table 1) and an inadequate number of trainers courses conducted by SAMDI (Figure 5), the Government will have to launch a special effort to confront the immense backlogs. It appears, however, that departmental and provincial training components are already beginning to tackle the crucial demands in the area of training and education.

Figure 5: (to be added)

NOTE 11: Urgent intervention is needed to update the knowledge of trainers on the nature of the transformation process and to upgrade their teaching skills. Provincial government officials viewed this as critical if training officers are to instill confidence and secure the necessary credibility with management. These concerns were repeated at the sectoral level.

Notwithstanding the significant capacity, catering for professional development in the Education, Defence and Safety and Security Departments, representatives from each of these sectors registered concerns about the competence and ability of trainers. In the education sector, staff development for teacher educators is largely informal and incorrectly focusses on 'qualifications'. The continuum of pre- and in-service training adopted by the department is not implemented.

In the police sector, the institutional capacity to research, analyse, develop and deliver training courses and programmes, is inadequate. Trainers in the Police Service are poorly trained in facilitation skills and materials development.

In the defence sector, the loss of experienced instructors in industry related skills has created shortages thus placing a premium on certain training courses and programmes. This problem has been aggravated by the loss of experience through early retirements.

There is a dire need to place students on certain courses, at universities, technikons and colleges, on a full time basis with salary retention. Part-time study schemes will also need to be re-evaluated to make provision for trainers to attend residential phases as part of the training course and not as leave.

NOTE 12: This problem is particularly acute in the education sector where male teacher educators predominate, although gender composition varies. There also appears to be a mismatch between staff and students at teacher education institutions. The background of predominantly White staff is very different from that of the predominantly African student body in distance education.

NOTE 13: The Department of Safety and Security, for example, expressed reservations about the quality of training courses and programmes delivered by SAMDI, which do not match the quality of training provided by the private sector and some tertiary institutions (particularly at management level)

NOTE 14: Current procedures governing bursary allocations and other financial assistance schemes tend to provide life-long opportunities only to professional classes/ management, thus failing to build human resource capacity in scarce occupational classes and adult basic education (ABET) (See DPSA Discussion Paper: A Conceptual Framework for Affirmative Action in the Public Service, 1997).

NOTE 15: Refer to the DPSA Draft Discussion Paper: A Vision for a New Employment Policy for a New Public Service, 1997 for a more in depth discussion of this problem.

NOTE 16: The opportunities for public sector employees with disabilities to utilise their experience, talents and capabilities to contribute to national and international development (as outlined in the Integrated National Disability Strategy of the Government of National Unity, Government Gazette No 17038, March 1996) are frustrated by the discriminatory and inequitable regulations governing recruitment, appointment, selection and promotion.

NOTE 17: This view is eloquently expressed in the Green Paper: Policy Proposals for a New Public Service Statute (Government Gazette No 17669, 20 December 1996, pp 44 & 47):

"The public service legislative framework is neither in keeping with the reforms that have already been implemented, nor is it an appropriate vehicle for transformation owing to their complexity and, in many instances, inconsistencies."

NOTE 18: The responsibility of public sector managers is to ensure that employees comply with the complex set of rules and regulations rather than concentrating on the quality of output and service delivery. The legislative framework does not contain provisions that allow for effective monitoring of performance or assessing merit, and the basis is not created for the development of appropriate human resource programmes (Refer to the Green Paper: Policy Proposals for a New Public Service Statute, Government Gazette No 17669, 20 December 1996 for a discussion of this problem).

The problems confronted in applying the overly formalistic rules and tedious regulations place considerable pressure on line managers and supervisors. Not surprisingly, most stakeholders at provincial level emphasised the need for the installation of a flexible and output oriented performance appraisal system.

NOTE 19: Management training in some sectors tend to reproduce this pattern. In the Department of Education, for example, private sector training providers target their courses at those already in management positions rather than potential managers. In the health sector, staff currently being sent on intensive, and expensive, management courses, may eventually not become members of district management teams. The relationship between recruitment and selection, on the one hand, and training and education, on the other, needs to be re-evaluated as there appears to be very poor connection between affirmative action, training and education, and overall organisational development (This is a view expressed by the Secretariat of the Department of Safety and Security).

NOTE 20: Training is too heavily orientated towards 'knowledge' rather than skills. The distorted relationship between appointment, promotion and training policies allows individuals with relatively low productivity to be promoted above people who are more committed to departmental objectives (and are therefore less inclined to make maximum use of education benefits). In the long term, this leads to weak performance of government departments, poor service delivery and low staff morale.

NOTE 21: Inflexible educational and experience requirements outlined in the PAS, do not give recognition to the inequalities of South Africa's past educational system nor do they take into account past racial barriers to employment opportunities (DPSA Draft Discussion Paper: A Vision for a New Employment Policy for a New Public Service, 1997:22).

NOTE 22: This view is endorsed by the Departments of Safety and Security, Health and Education.

NOTE 23: According to the Department of Safety and Security, prescribed training courses have been over utilised and uncritically applied to human resource planning and organisational development.

NOTE 24: In the health sector, for example, training programmes and courses presently delivered are modelled on outdated approaches to health care and management, in spite of the broad policy shift to a preventative, district based health care regime. In the education sector, teacher education curricula do not embody the core values of life-long learning, and the general quality of education is poor. In the police sector, the move towards preventative and civilian/ community rooted policing, with its emphasis on conflict management, forums, communication and counselling, has not witnessed a corresponding revamping of the majority of training courses and programmes. The content of the majority of courses in basic, in-service, specialised and management training is perceived by many in this sector as outdated.

NOTE 25: This was a concern that was voiced by various stakeholders at provincial and national level. The Department of Education was particularly concerned about the quality, relevance and standard of management training course/ programmes provided by the private sector.

APPENDIX B

TRAINING PRINCIPLES FROM CHAPTER C OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE STAFF CODE

All Public Service Training and Education must be based upon:

APPENDIX C

ILLUSTRATION OF POSSIBLE PUBLIC SERVICE COMPETENCIES

Characteristics

Frontline
Worker

Supervisor

Middle
Manager

Director

Chief
Director

Deputy Director
General
Basic literacy,numeracy
and communication

Required

Required

Assumed

Assumed

Assumed

Assumed
Judgement, Integrity,
Self-Confidence
Flexibility
Perseverance
Creativity

Required

Required

Required

Required

Required

Required
Leadership

Team Work

Team Work
and motivating

Providing challenge

Employee development

Organisational influence

Creating vision and values
Thinking Skills

Empowered to innovate where necessary

Operational problem solving

Problem formualtion and anticipation

Integration

Strategic perspective

Extracting meaning
Organisational Awareness

Being part of the culture and purpose

Same, plus knows how to use the system

Same, plus Develops linkages

Organisational know-how

Building support

Political acumen
Interpersonal Relations

Supportive

Same, plus sensitivity

Same, plus handling group situations

Managing sensitive interpersonal situations

Diplomacy

Interpersonal versatility
Communication

Required

Instructing

Briefing

High impact communication

Strategic communication

Instilling commitment
Action Management

Best results come from teamwork

Coordination

Planning

High impact communication

Strategic communication

Instilling commitment
Knowledge

Required

Required

Required

Required

Required

Required

APPENDIX D

NATIONAL STANDARDS BODIES AND LEARNING FIELDS

The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) has been given legal authority to register national standards and qualifications. This it will do by means of establishing National Standards Bodies in each of the following twelve learning fields:

There will be one National Standards Body in each field, and it will establish guidelines for the recognition of subordinate Standards Generating Bodies.

APPENDIX E

EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUALITY ASSURERS (ETQA)

The following guide to the establishment and functions of ETQAs has been formulated by SAQA:

1 Establishment

ETQAs could be established on the basis of:

2 Principles and Criteria2PrinciplesandCriteria

The accreditation of an ETQA will depend on:

3 Functions

ETQAs must -

4 Powers and Responsibilities

An ETQA may, with the approval of SAQA, delegate selected functions to a provider or other body, but may not delegate its accountability to SAQA.

APPENDIX F

FUNCTIONS OF SECTORAL LEARNING ORGANISATION

Sectoral Learning Organisation (SLO) is the proposed name to be given to institutions which combine the functions of industry training boards, education and training quality assurers and those additional functions required to implement the Skills Development Strategy (including effecting a new partnership between the public and private sectors).

It is recommended that the following be the minimum function to be performed by SLOs:

1 General Functions

1 To promote a strategic approach to human resource development within the sector.
2 To market the value of education and training within and for the sector.
3 To liaise with the Employment Services to promote information about and access to the sector.
4 To cooperate with the National Council for Skills Development (see next section) in the achievement of its functions.

2 Learnership Functions2

1 To identify areas in which skills are needed or in which (self) employment expansion is possible.
2 To contribute recommendation to the relevant SAQA standard setting agency for the design of learnerships in strategic areas (in collaboration with other Sectoral Learning Organisations where relevant)
3 To support the development of relevant learning materials and delivery systems.
4 To identify and structure workplaces where learners can acquire work experience within learnership contracts (and actively contribute to the expansion of the number of workplaces or working environment willing to accept such learners).
5 To register learnership contracts entered into between enterprise/s, providers of learning and learners.

3 Quality Assurance Functions3

1 To promote quality amongst constituent providers.
2 To accredit providers in terms of quality management.
3 To facilitate or ensure moderation across constituent providers (i.e. the registered constituency of the ETQA)
4 To cooperate with relevant National Standards Bodies for the purpose of moderation across ETQAs.
5 To registers constituent assessors
6 To evaluate assessment
7 To certificate learners
8 To maintain an acceptable database
9 To submit reports to SAQA
10 To recommend unit stands to Standards Generating Bodies and qualifications to national Standards Bodies as appropriate
11 To monitor provision, and
12 To undertake quality system audits

4 Strategic Functions

1 To cooperate with or initiate studies to determine growth and employment opportunities related to the sector. 2 To assist enterprises in the industry with training needs assessments and the development of training plans.
3 To register skills development assessors who are capable of evaluating plans which facilitate access to subsidies of various kinds.
4 To promote learning in small and micro enterprises associated with the sector and to network with agencies, such as Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency, capable of assisting such enterprises with support measures such as credit, technology transfer, etc.
5 To devise skills development measures which assist restructuring companies and workers facing down-sizing, retrenchment or redundancy to either retain employment with new skills or facilitate transfer to new employment. Sectoral Learning Organisations may cooperate in this area as new skills needs may not be within the competence of a single Sectoral Learning Organisation.
6 To cooperate with national efforts to develop labour market information systems which support strategic decision-making.
7 Assist in structuring work experience for individuals in learnerships.

5 Promotion of Partnership between Public and Private Interests within the Sector

1 To facilitate the involvement of the relevant government departments (as major economic investors and employers) in the activities of the Sectoral Learning Organisation and thereby address the skills needs for social delivery and of the most vulnerable segments of the sector.
2 To promote training for SMEs to enable them to qualify for public contracts.

6 Financial Functions

To manage such financial arrangements as are legislatively prescribed, published in any relevant regulation or which are deemed necessary for the effective performance of the above functions.

List Of Abbreviations

AATEP: Association of Accredited Training Providers
ABET: Adult Basic Education and Training
AG: Auditor General
CDS: Capacity Development Standard
DG: Director General
DPSA: Department of Public Service and Administration
ETQA: Education and Training Quality Assurer
EU: European Union
GEAR: Growth Economic and Redistribution Macro-economic Strategy
GPPSTE: Green Paper on Public Service Training and Education
HDI: Historically Disadvantaged Institution
HR: Human Resources
HRD: Human Resources Development
JUPMET: Joint Universities Public Management Educational Trust
MPSA: Ministry for the Public Service and Administration
NAP: National Advisory Panel
NEDLAC: National Economic and Development Labour Council
NGO: Non-governmental Organisation
NQF: National Qualifications Framework
PAS: Personnel Administration Standard
PERSAL: Personnel Salary System
PSC: Public Service Commission
PSLO: Public Service Learning Organisation
PSTE: Public Service Training and Education
PSTI: Public Service Training Institute
PVET: Professional and Vocational Education and Training
RDP: Reconstruction and Development Programme
SAMDI: SA Management Development Institute
SANDF: SA National Defence Force
SAPS: SA Police Services
SAQA: SA Qualifications Authority
SLO: Sectoral Learning Organisation
SME: Small and Medium Enterprises
TCS: Training Course Standard
WPTPS: White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service

Footnotes:

1.The figures and salary brackets are those referred to in the 1995 Annual Report of the Public Service Commission which have, of course, since changed due to salary increases and rationalisation.
2.These functions are an expansion of the current ITB functions in relation to the apprenticeship system.
3.These functions are the same as those for ETQ as specified by SAQA.