Progress on Skills development to construct energy efficient buildings

After the PSC meeting of 20 January 2011, contact was again made with QCTO for guidance regarding the process to be followed in reviewing existing qualifications.

We met our contact, Mandlenkosi Ndukula on 1 February 2011. Not much direction could be extracted from this meeting.

A meeting was set up with Helene and Su for 9 February 2011 to discuss the problem that currently exists within Education and Training, in that a vacuum has been created with the decommissioning of some functions of SAQA and the inauguration of QCTO which has not yet set up policies and guidelines to ensure the smooth running of the new education and training regime.

Helene and Su had a follow up meeting with QCTO.

Stakeholder Consultation

To ensure that the project did not grind to a halt whilst awaiting QCTO developments, the stakeholder consultation process was initiated.

On 22 June 2011, a workshop of national stakeholders was held at our offices in Westville. A very rewarding engagement with 16 representatives of: DHET, NHBRC, CIDB, NRCS, CETA and industry was enjoyed.

INDLELA

This was followed up with a meeting of representatives of the Institute for the National Development of Learnerships, Employment Skills and Labour Assessments (INDELA) on 7 July 2011. A wealth of knowledge regarding the construction trades lies within the boundaries of this institution and they are most enthused to be part of the process of adding an energy efficient component to the construction trades. To this end, a workshopping of the SANS documents with them will take place in the next few weeks.

CSIR/AAAMSA

AAAMSA has been very progressive with regards to their vision of energy efficiency compliance and to this end much research with regards to the insulation of buildings is already ongoing. A visit to their research lab on 8 July was a truly rewarding experience. This was concluded with a commitment from AAAMSA to make available the treasure of learning material and the outcome of relevant research. (image: AAAMSA hot box)

QCTO

On 12 July QCTO hosted an information session on the steps to becoming a Quality Development Partner with the QCTO. It was encouraging to see that steps are being taken to make QCTO functional. It was, however disconcerting to learn that no progress has been made on the policy and guidelines regarding the review of existing qualifications. They have, however, assured that this will be addressed at their upcoming Exco meeting of 20 July 2011.

Victor Smith