Circular 12/2022: Position of SANC on articulation
27 October 2022
To: NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH
NURSING EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (NEIs)
ALL STAKEHOLDERS
SUBJECT: POSITION OF SANC ON ARTICULATION FROM LEGACY TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS SUB-FRAMEWORK (HEQSF)-ALIGNED NURSING QUALIFICATIONS
1. PURPOSE
1.1 To share information with the National Department of Health, Provincial Departments of Health, Nursing Education Institutions (NEIs) and other relevant stakeholders on the following:
1.1.1 Process followed by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) in determining the recommendations submitted to the Council on Higher Education (CHE) about articulation pathways for Nurses who trained under legacy qualifications;
1.1.2 Position of the SANC on Communiqué 1 of 2022 issued by the CHE; and
1.1.3 Position of the SANC on Communiqué 10 of 2022 issued by the CHE.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Process followed by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) in determining the recommendations submitted to the Council on Higher Education (CHE) on articulation pathways for Nurses who trained under legacy qualifications.
2.1.1 The legacy qualifications offered by the public and private Nursing colleges/schools were arbitrarily assigned on the NQF, based on the institutional type. When the new NQF Act No. 67 of 2008 was implemented, there was a need for alignment of higher educational qualifications nationally which happened between 2011 and 2015. This includes Nursing qualifications acquired through universities. However, the public and private Nursing colleges/schools were left out of this process because they were not part of Higher Education at that time. This created a challenge for the Nurses who trained under legacy qualifications in terms of articulation to the new HEQSF-aligned Nursing qualifications. The SANC expressed concern about this omission through engagement with the CHE.
2.1.2 It is on the basis that the SANC initiated a gap analysis process to identify the similarities and differences between the legacy and HEQSF-aligned Nursing qualifications. The purpose of the exercise was to determine if there were gaps in learning content and programme outcomes of these Nursing qualifications, and if there were, how the gap would be bridged. The SANC conducted a three-day workshop from 3-5 March 2020. Nursing Education and Training stakeholders were represented at the workshop, namely, Forum of University Nursing Deans of South Africa (FUNDISA); the College Principals and Academic Staff of South Africa (CPASSA) and Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA). The findings of the workshop were to assist the SANC in mapping out articulation pathways for the Nurses who underwent the legacy qualifications.
2.1.3 The proposed recommendations emanating from the workshop on articulation pathways for the Nurses who trained under the legacy qualifications were approved by the Council of the SANC and submitted to the CHE for further consideration. The copy of the recommendations is available on request from the SANC.
2.1.4 A CHE Advisory Task Team was formed to deal with the SANC recommendations about articulation pathways for the Nurses who underwent the legacy qualifications. The SANC was represented at the CHE Advisory Task Team. The task team met several times and finally the CHE Advisory Task Team recommendations were presented to the Higher Education Quality Committee. After approval, the CHE issued Communiqué 1 of 2022.
NB. It must be emphasized that Communiqué 1 of 2022 didn’t include articulation pathways for Nurses who underwent the four-year comprehensive Diploma in line with Regulations Relating to the Approval of and the Minimum Requirements for the Education Training of a Nurse (General, Psychiatric and Community) and Midwife leading to Registration (Government Notice Regulation No.425 of February 1985 as amended).
NOR
For Nurses with a Diploma in Nursing with a one-year Midwifery qualification in line with Regulations for the course for the Diploma in Midwifery for registration as a Midwife (Government Notice Regulation No.22 of February 1975 as amended).
This was because the matter was still under discussion.
3. POSITION OF THE SANC ON COMMUNIQUE 1 OF 2022 ISSUED BY THE CHE
3.1 Much as the CHE has replaced Communiqué 1 of 2022 with Communiqué 10 of 2022, for the purpose of this circular, the position of the SANC will be articulated separately for Communiqué 1 and Communiqué 10.
3.2 The SANC is agreeable with the content of Communiqué 1 of 2022 because the SANC participated in the Advisory Task Team and the content of the Communiqué was in line with the SANC recommendations.
4. POSITION OF SANC ON COMMUNIQUÉ 10 OF 2022 ISSUED BY CHE
4.1 The SANC is agreeable with the decisions 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Communiqué 10 of 2022 because it is based on the content of Communiqué 1 of 2022.
4.2 The South African Nursing Council distances itself from the CHE Communiqué 10 of 2022 on articulation pathways (i.e. decisions 5, 6 and 7) as presented for Nurses who have graduated from the four-year comprehensive Diploma course and the General Nurses with one-year Midwifery qualification.
4.3 The SANC was not part of the discussions leading to decision 5, 6 and 7 of Communiqué 10 of 2022 after noticing that the discussions were derailed from the SANC recommendations and were not in the best interest of the Nursing profession.
5. IMPLICATIONS OF DECISIONS 5, 6 AND 7 OF COMMUNIQUÉ 10 OF 2022 ISSUED BY THE CHE
5.1 The larger pool of Registered Nurses who are eligible to access the postgraduate Diploma programmes are those that are affected by decisions 5, 6 and 7 of the CHE Communiqué 10 of 2022.
5.2 There will be a narrow pool of Nurses who are eligible to access postgraduate Diploma programmes directly.
5.3 There is currently an outcry on the shortage of Nurse Specialists and Midwife Specialists in South Africa. Should the Nursing Education Institutions not be able to train adequate Nurse Specialists and Midwife Specialists, it will exacerbate the shortage of this category.
6. WAY FORWARD
6.1 The Council of SANC ordinary meeting held on 22-23 September 2022 resolved that the matter should be escalated to the Executive Authority responsible for Health in South Africa for intervention. Feedback will be provided subsequently.
For further information in respect of this Circular, you are advised to contact Ms M Mzolo, Acting Senior Manager: Provider Affairs at (012) 420 1047 or on e-mail at: mmzolo@sanc.co.za
Yours Sincerely
(Signed)
MS SJ NXUMALO
ACTING REGISTRAR AND CEO
SOUTH AFRICAN NURSING COUNCIL
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