SABPP Research and Institutional Assurance: Mid-year report

Research

As a professional body, research is critical for keeping the body of knowledge alive, robust, and relevant. It is also important for provoking questions, debates, and deliberations on pressing issues and on the future. This includes the future world of work. The SABPP supports research through, for example, the publication of topical factsheets and the research support provided to academics and individuals completing Masters and Phd degrees. The topics of research included future role and capabilities of HR practitioners, rewards and organisational citizenship behaviour, mental health, and coaching.

The factsheets have been and continue to be a core product of the SABPP. The major themes that were extensively explored in the monthly factsheets are listed in the table below. These anticipated and spoke to emergent trends and issues in the future world of work series and on stigma and hybrid team dynamics. This required an expansive approach by the Research department within a demanding schedule and included the evolvement of the format and layout of the factsheets in alignment with the themes it explored.

February	Future world of work series: Evolving definition of employees
March	Future world of work series: Future readiness, employability, and activism
April	Future world of work series: Future human lifespan and the employee lifecycle
May	Future world of work series: Key themes and questions for HR 4.0
June	Understanding and addressing stigma during the pandemic
July	Hybrid teams: Group and related individual dynamics

Alliances

The team continues to build on the strategic alliances of the SABPP. The Disability and Inclusion Working Group was successfully launched and will provide a platform for stakeholders to collaborate on addressing disability and inclusion. A successful webinar was hosted with a presentation by the NCPD and a panel discussion on Disability Awareness and Reasonable Accommodation. This will be one of a series of planned interventions. Another successful webinar was the jointly one held by the SABPP and COMENSA, which received positive feedback from attendees comprising SABPP and COMENSA members as well as other HR practitioners. The team collaborated on a special issue of the SA Coaching newsletter, which is in press, that will showcase the themes, findings shared, and discussions in the webinar. The team contributed articles for the Road Freight Association magazine and NWU Career Guide.

University accreditation

The team’s engagement with the institutions of higher learning continued to further the mission of professionalising HR. This includes the accreditation of the departments of Human Resources and Industrial and Organisational Psychology as a HR professional body recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The many disruptions to the university calendar and changes thereto due to the pandemic has impacted the accreditation schedule. The accreditation of Cape Peninsula University of Technology was undertaken in the reporting period. The team also explored with institutions of higher learning that did not want to pursue full accreditation the endorsement of their HR qualifications or HR modules in other qualifications. This is meant to broaden the professionalisation mission and engage, for example, Business Schools in the country.

Quality Assurance of Skills Development Providers (SDPs)

Although the pandemic continued to impact on the functioning of SDPs and their delivery of learning, the SABPP team ensured the maintenance of a sound quality assurance system as a Quality Assurance Partner of the Quality Council of Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and the Final Integrated Summative Assessment (FISA).

The team remains committed to a high standard of customer service while maintaining professionalism, independence, and value for learners through the quality assurance process. The below statistics illustrates the dedication and tireless effort of the team to quality assurance. In terms of reporting, the SABPP diligently provides quarterly reports to the QCTO on its role as Quality Assurance Partner and Assessment Quality Partner for the FISA and the Occupational Trainer qualification.

Accreditation evaluations

We continue to evaluate SDPs for accreditation requirements. Two new training providers join the SABPP and twelve existing SDP’s have renewed their accreditation. SDP’s accreditation varies between Skills Programme Accreditation and Full Qualification Accreditation. We are increasing our footprint in our neighbouring countries with the approval of sites of delivery in Eswatini, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

Learner Enrolment Numbers

The table below highlight the key qualifications for the total learner enrolment of 4412..

	Qualification	No.
–	National Diploma: Human Resources Management and Practices SAQA ID 49692 (LP ID 61592)	2383
–	FET Certificate: Human Resources Management and Practices Support SAQA ID 49691 (LP ID 67463)	1022
–	Diploma: Commerce: Public Relations SAQA ID: 21068	273
–	National Diploma: Labour Relations Practices: Dispute Resolution SAQA ID 93994 (LP ID 94079)	256
–	FET Certificate: Generic Management SAQA ID 57712 (LP ID 93950)	113

External Moderation

External Moderation is conducted by the team when verification of a learner completing either a skills programme or a full qualification is required. The SABPP verifies that the SDP has conducted fair, consistent, reliable and accurate assessment and moderation practices. External Moderation is conducted continuously and on demand of our SDP’s. Twenty-eight different SDPs have undergone External Moderation thus far.

National SABPP Final Integrated Summative Assessment (FISA)

The National FISA is conducted for 5 qualification that fall within the SABPP Scope of Qualifications. This assessment is written at an approved SABPP Assessment Centre either in hard copy or electronic format, depending on the preference of the learner. Thus far, only FISAs for 3 Qualification have had participants. The total number of learners that have taken part in the FISAs in the reporting period are tabulated below.

Qualification Title	Number of Learners
National Diploma: Human Resources Management and Practices SAQA ID 49692 (LP ID 61592)	146
FET Certificate: Human Resources Management and Practices Support SAQA ID 49691 (LP ID 67463)	97
National Certificate: Generic Management SAQA ID 59201 (LP ID 66069)	32

SABPP Constituently Registered Assessors and Moderators

As a Quality Assurance Partner (QAP), the SABPP also registers constituent Assessors and Moderators for the qualifications that fall within the SABPP scope. Our statistics for the registrations are tabulated below.

		New	Renewal	Extension of Scope
–	Assessor	14	12	1
–	Moderator	11	7	2

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Provider Accreditation

Our Chartered and Master HR Professionals can register as CPD Accredited Providers.

We have evaluated and approved ten providers thus far. The programmes offered vary, but all of them are aligned to the SABPP Competency mode. We have the Wits School of Governance that has joined our list of CPD Accredited providers We are engaging a premier Business School in Gauteng who is seeking to join the list of Accredited Providers.

South African Institute for Digital Learning (SAiDL)

The SABPP launched the SAiDL as a platform to develop the community of practice in digital learning. The first step the team is undertaking is the building of the community. The team is gaining some momentum towards this through its engagement strategy. This includes a planned webinar on 16 July, the annual L&D conference themed on digital learning, a post-conference reflection session with attendees thereafter, and other webinars and events.