1. Introduction
1.1 Circular 0037/2009 referred to the revised unit standards for a new interim General Education and Training Certificate (GETC) qualification. This new qualification for ABET Level 4 was officially announced in December 2009 in Government Gazette No 32793.
1.2 The national Department of Higher Education has provided examination guidelines for learning areas in which examinations will be conducted as from October-November 2010. These guidelines will be provided to all centres during the first term of 2010.
1.3 Guidelines for new learning areas, such as Wholesale and Retail, Information Communication Technology and Early Childhood Development will be made available to public adult learning centres once they have been received from the national Department of Higher Education.

2. GETC-ABET Qualification
2.1 The GETC-ABET qualification is comprised of fundamental, core and elective components in its rules of combination.
2.2 Learners must offer a minimum of 5 learning areas.
2.3 The two fundamental learning areas and one core learning area are compulsory.
2.4 Learners must choose 2 or more learning areas from the elective component.
2.5 The following requirements must be fulfilled to be awarded the GETC-ABET Level 4 qualification:

RULES OF COMBINATION FOR THE GETC-ABET QUALIFICATION: 120 CREDITS
FUNDAMENTALS COMPONENT: COMPULSORY 39 OR 37 CREDITS

1. Een amptelike taal: 23 krediete
2.1 Wiskundige Geletterdheid (WG) 16 krediete OF
2.2 Wiskunde en Wiskundige Wetenskappe (WWW): 14 krediete

Leerders kan nie WG sowel as WWW aanbied nie.
CORE COMPONENT: COMPULSORY 32 CREDITS
Life Orientation: 32 credits
ELECTIVES COMPONENT: OPTIONAL 49 OR 51 CREDITS
Academic Learning Areas:
  1. Human and Social Sciences: 23 credits
  2. Natural Sciences: 15 credits
  3. Economic and Management Sciences: 21 credits
  4. Arts and Culture: 17 credits
  5. Technology: 11 Credits
  6. One additional official language (excluding the language chosen as a Fundamental): 23 credits

Vocational Learning Areas:

  1. Applied Agriculture and Agricultural Technology: 20 credits
  2. Ancillary Health Care: 45 credits
  3. Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises: 17 credits
  4. Travel and Tourism: 38 credits
  5. Information Communication Technology: 23 credits
  6. Early Childhood Development: 26 credits
  7. Wholesale and Retail: 27 credits
OPTION 1
( 5 learning areas)		 OPTION 2
( 6 learning areas)		 OPTION 3
( 7 or more learning areas)
TWO Fundamentals
ONE Core and
TWO Electives		 TWO Fundamentals
ONE Core and
THREE Electives		 TWO Fundamentals
ONE Core and
FOUR Electives

3. Examination guidelines 2010 - 2012
3.1 The examinations for the new interim qualification will be set by the national Department of Higher Education and will be written for the first time in October-November 2010.
3.2 The new learning area guidelines must be used for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 academic years. The new guidelines have been developed primarily for the examiners and moderators of the ABET Level 4 examinations, but will also serve as important reference material for teachers and centre managers.
3.3 The learning area guidelines contain unit standards, core knowledge areas, taxonomies for developing questions, guidance on site-based assessment (including exemplars of SBA), guidance on the final examination (including an exemplar question paper), guidance on marking and principles of assessment.

4. District curriculum advisers and centre managers are kindly requested to share the contents of this minute with all teachers.


SIGNED: BK SCHREUDER
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2010-03-16

Government Gazette No 32793  (size: 110 KB)