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Skills Development

ASDSA hits ground running in 2012

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:57

Janelle Gravett

By appointing a new chief executive officer and relocating its national office, launching a strategic repositioning campaign, establishing an international partnership and participating in a groundbreaking initiative to coalesce top professional bodies in skills development, the Association for Skills Development in South Africa (ASDSA) has rung in the changes for 2012.

The (unpaid) role of CEO has been taken on by long-standing Association member Janelle Gravett. She takes over from founding chief executive Gill Connellan, who will retain her position as chairperson. The national office moves from Cape Town to Johannesburg, where Ms Gravett is based.

Because the role is a voluntary one, Ms Gravett will continue with her daily professional activities. This means her most pressing priority will be to build a professional and dedicated regional infrastructure.

Her appointment comes at a time, she admits, “when business and the public’s confidence in the government’s education and skills development programmes are at an all-time low.

“Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the Association’s professional remit will be to convince its members that the companies they represent must continue to participate in State-led skills development initiatives. At the same time, these members will also have to go back to their employers and convince them they have to spend a lot more on skills development than that which they have traditionally accessed through Seta funding.”

One way the ASDSA can do this, says Gravett, is to boost its members’ professional standing in the eyes of their employers.

This drive to professionalise skills development practice is at the heart of the Association’s repositioning initiative, says ASDSA chairperson Gill Connellan. “The Association and the environment within which it operates have come a long way since the original Skills Development Act legislated a beast called a ‘skills development facilitator’ into existence in 2001.

“At that time, ‘skills development facilitator (SDF)’ was more an administrative designation than a profession; you had people fulfilling the function by compiling workplace skills plans and annual training reports in addition to their daily human resources, finance or other business roles.

“Anybody could be an SDF,” adds Ms Connellan. “There were no qualification or competence criteria.”

The Association was established in 2003 as the Association for Skills Development Facilitation in South Africa (ASDFSA) in order to improve government and business’ professional regard for those who played the SDF role. Its primary means for this was adherence to a code of conduct and standards of good practice as a condition of membership.

This was unenforceable, as Setas (sector education and training authorities) themselves had little idea of the role and responsibilities of SDFs outside those prescribed by law. Nor was there uniformity in their requirements for submitting skills plans and reports.

The second National Skills Development Strategy (2005 – 2010), says Ms Connellan, “envisaged SDFs being trained as ‘sector specialists’. In other words, they had to have some idea of the external issues and challenges confronting their businesses.

“For many people, this was the first inkling that there was a strategic aspect to skills development facilitation. It was also the first step towards professionalising skills development practice.”

Dropping the word “Facilitation” from the Association’s name reflects a fundamental change in the operating environment of the ASDSA’s core membership, she says.

“After several years, the Association came to be widely regarded as the established voice for skills development practitioners and it began to attract practitioners such as human resources and organisational development specialists, assessors, moderators, training providers and business consultants. It was felt that a name change would encourage more of them to join.

“At the same time, the third phase of the National Skills Development pretty much ends the legislated and regulated existence of the SDF. The Setas still see skills development facilitators as being important but the ASDSA is not so sure that the Department of Higher Education and Training shares that view,” says Ms Connellan.“This presents the Association the opportunity to broaden its focus and base ... hence the repositioning.

“Not every profession owes its genesis and continuation to legislation: often they survive and flourish because they fulfil a need and this, the ASDSA believes, is the case with the skills development occupations.”

Ms Connellan is adamant that, by changing its name to omit “Facilitation”, the ASDSA is “not trying to be all things to all people nor is it trying to lure them away from other professional bodies”.

Instead, the ASDSA recently announced it was joining an informal coalition with the SA Board for People Practices (SABPP) and Chartered Institute for the Management of Assessment Practices (CIMAP) in a bid to overcome practical shortcomings in the national skills development system. Other professional bodies have been invited to take part in the initiative.

“The coalition exists because there are overlaps in the various memberships and synergies between the organisations’ strategic objectives. Its purpose is to exploit align these so they speak with one voice on skills development and related matters,” says Connellan.

Each body will retain its unique identity and focus.

“The Association understands that its members come from many different occupations and walks of life; very few are ‘pure’ SDFs. One of the most important things they have in common – whether they operate in the private or public sectors, within enterprises or as external consultants – is the continued existence of their employers.

“For them to contribute significantly to an enterprise’s survival and growth, they need to know how it works. They need a working knowledge of other line functions and how these contribute to the overall performance of the business.”

She adds: “Skills development is a thread that weaves throughout the entire organisation, not for its own sake but in assisting the enterprise to perform at optimum capacity. This is sometimes a rather alien concept for some of our members – especially those who come from education or training provider backgrounds.

“The ASDSA has therefore sought ways whereby members within each specialist skills development field can obtain this knowledge.”

Ms Connellan adds that there is a growing need for professional development to be benchmarked against international standards of practice. “When the Association first recognised the need to reposition itself as a business-oriented organisation that created technical expertise in specific skills development fields, it began casting around for reputable international partners. It was felt that, by identifying and exploiting world-class career- and continuing professional development opportunities, it could help members become more credible and marketable.”

Three years ago, the ASDSA was introduced to John Moore of Exponential Training and Assessment, a United Kingdom-based training and development company that delivers internationally accredited training programmes for managers, coaches and business advisors.

“We began talking, initially not about offering our members business qualifications through Exponential, but rather about linking the Association with international organisations to determine how South African practitioners compare with their peers abroad.

“Exponential works hand-in-hand with Britain’s internationally respected Chartered Management and Consulting Institutes, which dovetails perfectly with the Association’s requirements.”

The Association’s agreement with Exponential, says Ms Connellan, entails “the ASDSA taking the frameworks of the business qualifications offered by these institutes and providing contextual local content. Exponential will be the assessment and awarding partner”.