As per the SAQA policy on the assessment of unit standards, CATHSSETA requires assessors and moderators to show evidence of expertise for the unit standards and/or skills programmes that they intend to assess.
Assessors and moderators fall into the large group of individuals in South Africa known as Education and Training Development Practitioners (ETDPs). This term refers to all the people that play different roles in education and training, such as teachers, trainers, facilitators, tutors and lecturers.
A person who works full-time as an ETDP should ideally have a full ETD qualification such as an occupationally-directed ETD qualification (e.g. Diploma in Occupationally-directed Practice at Level 5 on the NQF or a certificate in occupationally-directed practice at Level 4 on the NQF). It may also be possible for the ETDP to have an equivalent qualification.
In addition to such a qualification, full-time ETDP should also be qualified in their own field/subject of expertise and be familiar with the work across the sector. The combination of this and ETD expertise should place such individuals in a position to develop other people in the field in question.
However, not all ETD practitioners are full-time. ETD work is often carried out by individuals who have different jobs as their primary focus, such as being a manager or a supervisor. Nonetheless, such individuals may be in prime positions to conduct certain ETD activities, such as mentoring learners in the workplace or even assessing them.
CATHSSETA recognises various types of assessors within its provider base:
- Institutional Assessors: Internal or External
- Independent Assessors: Contract or Licensed
| Part | Function |
|---|---|
| Institutional Assessors | Assessors within an accredited provider organization |
| Internal Assessor | Assessor in the employ of an organizational employer provider, who conducts assessments primarily for that employer as part of organizational performance management. Generally it is understood that this assessors’ core function is not assessment. |
| External Assessor | Assessors in the employ of private and public providers, where their core function are most likely ETD practices in general, and assessment is conducted for external learners on a cost basis. |
| Independent Assessors | Assessors not attached to one accredited provider, who contracts their services for a defined scope to several accredited providers |
| Contract Assessors | ETD practitioners not attached to any specific provider, and who contracts their services as subject matter experts to accredited providers for a fee. |
| Licensed Assessors | Assessors operating under a defined licensing agreement and/or MAP (Model of Approved Provision) |
Moderator Types
CATHSSETA distinguishes between the following moderator types:
| Internal Moderator | Moderator that conducts moderation within the Provider accreditation. This moderator may be contracted or permanently in the employ of the provider. |
| External Moderator | This is a moderator employed by CATHSSETA to conduct external moderation in the cases where the provider has not conducted moderation or when there are doubts in the provider moderation practices. |