The New Training Landscape
Techniskills will continue to present short high impact courses which has been extremely successful in equipping the Refrigeration Mechanic over a period that has no time restraints.
The training landscape regarding Apprenticeships and Learnerships has however changed, necessitating a change at Techniskills in order to be compliant with the QTCO (Quality Council for Trades and Occupations) curriculum. Although both of these streams of training had their advantages and disadvantages, they have both been discontinued and an ‘amalgamation’ of the two has now been implemented. This applies to all trades in South Africa.
Occupational Trades Training
This training is no different to the programme followed by apprentices on Apprenticeships where the student would spend 3 months of the year at a training provider and the remaining 9 months in the field doing the practical side of things. Techniskills understands that students cannot always be released for training for a full 3 months due to operational commitments, so two alternatives are given for this training.
- The students attend classes for 3 months of each year for a 3-year period. Or,
- The students attend one week’s worth of training each month for 36 months. (3 years).
This programme comprises of 3 integrated facets:
- Knowledge Modules: Training at Techniskills.
- Practical Modules: Training at Techniskills.
- Workplace Modules: At the Workplace/ On site.
Documented proof of all training will be kept by Techniskills for QCTO auditing purposes.
Combined Learnership Programme.
Techniskills has been very successful with the NQF Level 2 and NQF Level 3 learnerships since 2014. Only 3% of all Learnership candidates who have attempted the trade test have not passed on first attempt. Constant assessment of each module throughout the learnership programme prepares the learner to be calm and confident in the final test of their training.
This success cannot be ignored and although the qualification has fallen away, Techniskills has decided to continue with the winning recipe and present a ‘combined’ learnership programme. The most crucial unit standards (modules) have been taken from the 2 NQF levels and put together to train and prepare the learner for the trade test.
This learnership runs for a year and the learner is required to attend class at Techniskills for 1 week each month for a year. There is no qualification for this training but merely preparation and upskilling of members in the Refrigeration trade.
Learnership Modules.