The Sector Education and Training Authority, SETA, is a South African establishment accountable for promoting training and skills development within a particular industry sector. This establishment is a program of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS), and several SETAs were established for several industry sectors according to the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998.

The Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority, ETDPSETA, is an important connection in the different South African SETAs established in 1998 when the Skills Development Act first declared SETAs began working in 2000. Therefore, the stated vision of the ETDP SETA has been to facilitate and promote the growth and advancement of the skills profile of the education, training, and development sector to benefit employers and employees and a full range of workers as well. Conclusively, this SETA, ETDSETA, is also an important link for the economy of South Africa because it will effect a better knowledgeable and educated workforce with relevant work experience and ethics.

While each Education and Training Authority (recognized more easily as a SETA) has a closely specified sector to concentrate on, the ETDP SETA concentrates on a much more extensive education and training base. So, the challenges faced by this specific SETA have been immense.

The ETDP will continue to concentrate on education, training, and development in all its forms, from the easiest short course to college courses that last for many years. Sub-sectors currently related to labor unions, non-Governmental organizations (NGOs), community development, and political parties will stop participating as one of ETDP. These sub-sectors will be treated as part of a brand-new Social Security and Development SETA. In line with the Skills Development Act, ETDP SETA is charged with developing the educational and training workforce skills employed or unemployed. The ETDP SETA aids learning through Skills Programmes, Learnerships, tertiary studies or in-service training, Adult Education and Training, by earmarking and awarding grants and bursaries. It also makes provision for internships, apprentices, and mentorships.

The ETDP has pledged to values that should be engaged in by all the SETAs in South Africa. These values include honesty and integrity, fair conduct and transparency, the capability to meet deadlines, courtesy and sympathy, striving for unrelenting improvement expertise for good, healthy co-operative governance, and the will and capability to promote equity for all its stakeholders.

As part of the 21 SETA’s in South Africa, ETDP SETA is under the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). This department’s main goal is to expand the post-school system in South Africa by making it fully inclusive. A post-school system that is well structured and delivers basic training and education for graduates will strengthen the economy of South Africa and facilitate overall development. As a body focusing on the education and training sector, ETDP SETA organizes and executes various innovative skills development initiatives for education and training employees and unemployed citizens. ETDP SETA ensures that the learners are trained and educated according to the education and training sector’s needs.

Functions of ETDP SETA

According to the South African Government’s action plan, the ETDP SETA is mandated to draft a plan that will empower its learners, employees, and employers to develop the education and training sector’s skills and benefit from them. Their aim is to facilitate an increased number of young adults who can learn new skills and earn a living within the education and training sector.

Overall, the ETDP SETA’s principal function is to improve, facilitate, and promote education, training, and development. Their other functions have been to:

• Ensure that the skill levels of learners, employees, employers, and workers are steadily raised and improved.

• Ensure that there is a healthy balance between supply and demand in the labor market across all its sub-sectors.

• Ensure that several flexible programs provide all workers and employees involved in education and training, required skills relevant to the sector.

• Ensure that a broad range of different career paths is available and accessible to South Africans seeking employment in the education, training, and development sectors.

• Improve the overall quality of education and training provided in colleges, technical schools, and Universities. They also ensure that the courses offered in these centers of learning are relevant in the global community.

• help to improve and to facilitate learnership agreements and register these agreements for the learners’ security

• Make sure that they (ETDP SETA) obtain accreditation from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) so as to guarantee that all learning is appropriate and conforms to the expected standards in South Africa.

• Acquire and then accurately pay the levies due to skills development in the education, training, and development sectors.

• Partner with the National Skills Authority with respect to the Government’s policy on national skills development.

• Partner with the National Skills Authority regarding the Government’s sector skills plan and national skills development strategy.

• help advance and facilitate learnership agreements as well as register them for learner security

• communicate directly with the Government’s Director-General of Labour concerning income and expenditure, including the implementation of the sector skills plan

• partner with the Department of Labour’s employment services, including all educational bodies that are governed by laws that correlate to education in South Africa aimed at enhancing employment openings for these particular learners

• select staff who can meet these obligations

• execute any other obligations that the Skills Development Act and the Skills Development Levies Act demands

The ETDP is also liable to communicate, when necessary, with other relevant sectors and the Departments of Education and Labour, the National Skills Authority (NSA), and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

NQFs, which have been an indispensable element of the South African tertiary education system for almost 25 years, are overseen and performed by SAQA, the South African Qualifications Authority. This overarching higher education system has been mandated to enroll in quality-assured national qualifications and part-time qualifications. The framework’s main goals are to expedite high-quality education and training and add positively to the learner’s overall development.

SETAs are established by the parliament’s Act and, consequently, execute their duties in the public’s interest. As legal bodies, they manage public funds. Therefore, they are obliged to report to the Director of the Department of Higher Education and Training on the precise and precise use of these funds. The Public Finance Management Act also plays a role in SETAs administration, as they demand that public bodies act responsibly and economically.

ETDP SETA Accreditation

Providers of education, training, and development must apply for accreditation with an Education and Training Quality Assurance (ETQA) body under the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The training providers of education and training that provide full qualifications must register with the Department of Education. Education and training providers can only be accredited if they offer training programs based on the standards according to the primary focus of the ETDP SETA.

To be accredited, the training provider must offer full qualifications or part qualifications that fall under the scope of the ETQA body of the ETDP SETA. There are many accreditation requirements: The training provider’s programs must be according to unit standards and qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). And learners must have access to standard learning support services. There must be adequately qualified training facilitators and assessors in the training centers. The curriculum must be designed to meet the high standards and qualifications in content and learning materials. Also, the methods of assessment must be accurate and reliable.

The ETDP SETA is formally accredited as an ETQA by SAQA according to the terms of the SAQA Act. The main objective of accreditation is to ensure that education, training, and development institutions maintain high standards and provide learners with relevant skills. The ETQA ensures consistent revising and improvement of training programs and education, and this is done through accreditation. Beyond accreditation of the ETDP SETA, the ETQA also supervises and audits education, training, and development providers’ skills. The ETQA also registers moderators and assessors that facilitate assessing the students. They organize capacity-building initiatives for the providers to provide formal training according to the aims and objectives of the ETDP SETA, NQF, and the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS).

This accreditation certifies the training providers as being qualified to fulfill certain functions according to the quality assurance system set up by SAQA in 1995. SAQA accredits ETQAs, and these ETQAs accredit the qualified training providers. By so doing, this system ensures the overall quality of training programs and education that are provided for post-school learners. This system also instills confidence in the trainees’ minds because accredited providers have complied with the accreditation process’s relevant bodies’ requirements. Learners can be rest assured that they would be properly trained and earn the much-needed skills and training recognized in the country and the world. Furthermore, only accredited training providers can provide education and training that guarantees nationally registered qualifications. Therefore, this system equips training providers with an important tool that can be used to market high standard services, which are consistently in demand by those working in the local government sector and those who are unemployed.

ETDP SETA Funding

Certain regulations govern the distribution of the SETA levy income obtained from employers’ tax in different sectors in the form of mandatory and discretionary grants. These regulations also stipulate the ways by which grants are to be allocated. The ETDP SETA was established according to the Skills Development Act, and under this, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) oversees this funding process.

The ETDP SETA has a policy that spells out how the body disburses grants to support the execution of the Sector Skills Plan (SSP), Annual Performance Plan (APP), and the objectives’ implementation. The Sector Skills Plan was designed based on extensive research and interactions with stakeholders in the ETDP sector. Therefore, it aims to expand employment opportunities for those working in the education, training, and development sector. The plan is also aimed at ensuring the local government sector’s development meet its demands and adapt to the changing economy.

The grant policy guarantees that the skills levy is targeted to meet the skills demanded by employers and employees’ training needs. This policy also informs the board’s stakeholders and members how grants can enable wide participation by interested candidates. The ETDP SETA is responsible for monitoring the use of funds and assessing the extent to which the grant policy’s objectives are achieved. The body will also use certain standards to measure grants’ impact on learners (students), educational staff, institutions’ management, and the education, training, and development sector as a whole.

According to the National Qualifications Framework, such training interventions are deemed to culminate in qualifications or part-time qualifications as stipulated in the Grant Regulations. ETDP SETA makes these funds accessible during a time in which it accepts applications from employers. This period’s opening is made public on the ETDP SETA website and national radio stations and newspapers.

ETDP SETA also disburses grants for discretionary funding to non-PIVOTAL programs. These programs do not lead to recognized formal qualifications but are also aimed at developing its sub-sectors, which involves research projects that may be undertaken by ETDP SETA and related organizations.

Ten percent of discretionary funding is used for specific projects that cater to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college capacity training as well as public service training.

Discretionary Grants can also be allocated based on the discretion of ETDP SETA. This will also largely depend upon the availability of allocated funds, approval from the ETDP SETA Accounting Authority (the board), and compliance with defined criteria stated in the ETDP SETA Discretionary Grants Policy and Guidelines.

The ETDP SETA pays mandatory Grants if an educational institution or training center meets the grants’ requirements, and the employers have paid their levies. ETDP SETA pays out mandatory grants every quarter.

How to get a SETA Learnership?

A learnership, one of SETA’s opportunities, is an orderly learning process that is undertaken for the purpose of acquiring academic knowledge and practical skills in the workplace. These well-structured learning processes are time-based as opposed to outcome-based and acknowledge the requirement for formal learning. The timeframe for learnerships varies, but the average learnership is usually 18 months. To achieve an artisan equivalent qualification, the learner needs to finish at least four different learnerships. This suggests that the first four qualifications of the NQF levels must be attained.

Learners should meet certain criteria before starting a SETA learnership, and these include:

• Learners could be new entrants or current employees. 
• Learners must satisfy the entry criteria for the specific learnership they want to enroll in.
• Learners must meet the selection requirements structured by the organization taking on the learner.

There are also particular processes requiring other learners, employers, and training providers, to follow, and these include:

1. Employers are endorsed in their work-place and are expected to satisfy the pre-registration requirements.
2. Training providers are accredited to provide particular learnership by the ETQA.
3. Qualified assessors are available. They may be contracted, assessors, or in-house assessors.
4. Companies advertise learnership opportunities through the media.
5. Learners apply and are picked by the company’s recruitment process.
6. A three-party learnership agreement is signed among the learner, employer, and provider.
7. A short-term employment contract is signed between the learner and the employer, where the learner is unemployed.
8. The learning program and process is reviewed and consented to with the training provider.
9. Employers sponsor the learnership by grants obtained from SETA.
10. Employers and training providers deliver the required learning and experience, working closely together to accomplish the training process.
11. Learners are rendered support via mentoring and feedback.
12. Learners are assessed via formative and summative assessments by qualified assessors. 
13. The ETDP SETA quality assuror is invited to head the assessment. The provider must undertake internal supervision.
14. A national qualification is awarded to the learner following the successful conclusion of the learnership.
15. Learners receive a statement of their results for unit standards completed if learnership is not concluded.

As soon as the learnership process is completed, the employer can either sign the learner for a new learnership, engage the learner or let go of the learner for future hiring by another organization if he/she was unemployed.

In compliance with the Skills Development Act, a learnership should include the following components:

• An organized learning component.
• A practical work experience.
• It must be occupation-related.
• After finishing successfully, it must lead to a qualification.

ETDP SETA Qualifications

ETDP SETA Accredited Training Provider ensures that their programs:

1. Meet all the quality standards as established by the ETDP SETA.
2. Enable companies to be qualified for discretionary funding for learning interventions.
3. Offer learners a high-quality training certificate that will help them perform well in their job.
4. Guarantee that all the administration related to the qualification is sorted.

The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is responsible for registering and publication of high standard national qualifications. The comprehensive system was established to ensure quality and professional qualifications that are nationally and internationally recognized. SAQA is responsible for managing the NQF, and each SAQA unit standard has a corresponding NQF credit and level. The qualifications, NQF level, and minimum credits of the ETDP SETA are listed below.

Learning Subfield	Title of Learnership or Qualification	NQF Level	Minimum Credits
Adult Learning	National Certificate: ABET Practice	4	120
Adult Learning	National Certificate: Environmental Education, Training and Development Practice	4	121
Adult Learning	National Certificate: Inclusive Education	5	140
Adult Learning	National Certificate: Occupationally Directed Education Training and Development Practices	5	120
Adult Learning	National Certificate: Youth Development	5	155
Adult Learning	National First Degree: ABET Practice	6	360
Adult Learning	Adult Basic Education and Training: Early Childhood Development	1	120
Adult Learning	National Certificate: Community Development	3	120
Adult Learning	Further Education and Training Certificate: Life Skills	4	125
Adult Learning	National Diploma: Braille Practice	5	240
Adult Learning	National Diploma: Occupationally Directed Education, Training and Development Practices	5	240
Communication Studies	Further Education and Training Certificate: Archives and Records Management	4	141
Early Childhood Development	National Diploma: Early Childhood Development	5	240
Early Childhood Development	Further Education and Training Certificate: Early Childhood Development	4	140
Generic Management	National Certificate: Generic Management: NQF Support Link	5	162
Generic Management	Further Education and Training Certificate: School Governing Bodies	4	150
Information Studies	National Certificate: Library and Information Services	5	123
Information Studies	Further Education and Training Certificate: Library Practice	4	132
Office Administration	Further Education and Training Certificate: School Business Administration	4	132
People/Human Centred Development	National Certificate: Community Development: Gender Studies	5	147
People/Human Centred Development	National Certificate: Community Development: Youth Development	5	147
People/Human Centred Development	National Certificate: Community Development: Youth Development	5	147
Schooling	Certificate: Education	5	120
Schooling	Advanced Certificate: Education (School Management and Leadership)	6	120
Schooling	National Professional Diploma: Education	6	360
Schooling	Professional Diploma: Education	6	360

ETDP SETA Bursary

ETDP SETA monitors and evaluates students at different levels of studies to award eligible students with bursaries generated from grants. The ETDP SETA funds cover students’ tuition fees, accommodation textbooks, feeding, and similar costs. Many institutions have bursary capacity that assists students in paying their fees. For students to benefit from this bursary, they must not necessarily be academically sound but need to pass a “means test.” This test involves the level of family income and a bit of academic knowledge. Students may be awarded a bursary in addition to a scholarship if they can provide proof of financial need.

It is customary for the school bursar to request that students fill an application form, giving details on their financial situation, supported by evidence in documents, including assets to obtain such a bursary. The school will review the application according to its bursary policy. Most times, the award will remain in effect until the student sits for the next public examination. Many schools reassess bursaries every year to ensure quality that the grounds upon which the student received the bursary remain. 

The ETDP Bursary was established to assist students within the Education, Training, and Development sector to further their tertiary studies. Every year, bursaries are awarded to students seeking undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications in these sectors. The bursary can be valued as high as R100 000 for students and is mainly used for tuition and textbooks. Every year, bursaries are given to a student within the Education, Training, and Development sector, according to set requirements.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants need to satisfy the following minimum entry criteria before applying (it should be noted that failure to meet all the requirements will result in your application not being considered):

· South African citizen

· Studying full time or part-time towards any qualification in Education, Training, and Development sector (Certificate/Degree/Diploma)

· Studying part-time or full-time at a College/ University/ University of Technology

· Not being funded by other Government sources

· Unemployed

· Learners who have been previously funded must reapply for a continuing bursary

Bursaries are awarded for the following programmes:

· NPDE and PGCE

· Masters in Commerce

· B.Communication

· B.Ed Mathematics and Science

· Public Finance

· BSc Applied Mathematics

· Human Resources Management

· Certificate in Education

· ACE in Leadership and Management

· B.Ed Foundation Phase

· Computer Studies

How to apply for the bursary

Download and duly fill the ETDP SETA Bursary Application Form pdf. 

Submit plain and clear copies of the following supporting documentation along with your completed application form. The submission of these documents is mandatory and important– if any items are missing, the application would not be considered.

· Certified copy of ID document 

· Continuation bursary applications: a certified copy of mid-year results

· Tax Clearance Certificate

· New bursary applications: a certified copy of the most recent exam results 

· Tax Compliance Status Verification PIN

Completed applications should be submitted online via email to [email protected]