Advanced Certificate in FET Life Sciences Teaching
Education, Training and Development - Schooling
Purpose and Rationale
Qualification Details
Purpose:
The qualification aims to:
- Strengthen the subject specialisation of practising teachers with a prior qualification in Life Sciences Teaching at a lower level or retrain teachers for teaching Life Sciences in the FET Phase.
- Enable teachers to develop disciplinary, pedagogical, practical, and situational learning reflexive competences in teaching Life Sciences.
- Deepen subject matter knowledge, general principles, and methodology in Life Sciences teaching.
- Foster self-reflexivity, self-understanding, and development of competences to organise learning among diverse learners.
- Address the needs of teachers who want to specialise, upgrade, or strengthen their field of study in Life Sciences teaching.
Rationale:
- The institution has a history of providing quality teacher education and training, addressing the upgrading needs of teachers.
- The qualification aligns with national strategic priorities to advance teacher qualifications.
- Extensive consultation and needs analysis highlighted the shortage of qualified FET Life Sciences teachers.
- The qualification aims to upgrade existing teachers' qualifications, provide specialist education, and widen the pool of qualified Life Sciences teachers.
- The curriculum includes additional credits to deepen content knowledge, addressing the lack of specific content knowledge among South African teachers.
- The qualification is expected to be well-received by education departments, with an initial intake of no more than 50 teachers for the first cohort.
Outcomes
- Demonstrate practical competence in selecting, designing, planning, implementing and evaluating, appropriate, and effective projects, procedures and/or programmes.
- Demonstrate ability to apply appropriate and adaptable professional skills and judgment, in a variety of contexts of practice.
- Set, and aspire to achieve, high standards in practice, and ongoing professional improvement.
- Demonstrate capacity to critically analyse relevant materials, resources and practices, in the light of a conceptual understanding of their area of special study.
- Demonstrate the ability to justify particular choices in their area of special study in the light of understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the area of special study.
Assessment Criteria
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
- Identification of areas where learning is required.
- Construction of the most suitable situation/environment for learning.
- Facilitation of learning within diverse education contexts.
- Demonstration of working with colleagues and the broader community in an independent way.
- Contribution to and action on change in the broader education context and society.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
- Application of concepts, principles, and procedures relevant to FET Life Sciences Teaching.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:
- Transformation of own subject competence into conceptual learning experiences.
- Reflection on professional practice based on an integrated knowledge base.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:
- Demonstration of teaching strategies and assessment approaches.
- Application of ICT skills to FET Life Sciences Teaching.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5:
- Demonstration of principles and practices of effective teaching and learning.
- Demonstration of acting with integrity by maintaining the highest level of professional work ethics.
Integrated Assessment:
- Applied competence demonstrated through a variety of formative assessment methods.
- Summative assessment through examinations.
- Various assessment activities constructively aligned to programme and module outcomes.
- Assessment in line with the University's Assessment Policy.
- Integration of theory and practice in teaching and learning activities.
- Holistic, integrated assessment in line with the overall purpose of the qualification.
- Opportunity for learners to demonstrate achievement holistically across exit-level outcomes.
- Module-specific assessment strategies complying with institutional rules and policies.
- Assessment through assignments, tests, examinations, or examination equivalent tasks.
- Continuous assessment activities including tests, assignments, projects, presentations, critique of lessons, group assignments, portfolios, and practical work.
- Integration of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in teaching modules.
- Practical assessment activities, assignments, and reflective journals to develop students' sense of agency as teachers.
Qualification Details
- Type
- Advanced Certificate
- NQF Level
- 06
- Min. Credits
- 120
- SAQA Source
- More Information
Education Cost Calculator
This page includes information from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) . Builtneat Pty Ltd trading as Study Start, has modified all or some of this information. SAQA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.