South Africa: Applied Competence as the Guiding Framework for Environmental and Sustainability Education

Abstract

Following the demise of apartheid rule in South Africa in 1994, the new government adopted the South African Qualifications Act (RSA, 1995a) which established the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The SAQA was tasked with the responsibility for developing and implementing a national qualifications framework (NQF) based on principles of quality, equity and redress. A primary objective of the NQF was to establish a portable and responsive model for lifelong learning and one which could recognize prior learning according to an outcomes-based education and training framework. In addition to this mandate and amongst other responsibilities, SAQA has had a responsibility to design and develop qualifications that respond to the environmental rights and sustainable development clauses of the Constitution and associated national policies. Through this, environment and sustainability education was placed on the national education and training agenda (see Lotz-Sisitka and Olvitt in this volume). The 1995 White Paper on Education and Training, which announced the establishment of SAQA and the NQF, also indicated in its guiding principles that