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What is the ETDP SETA?
ETDP SETA stands for the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority. A Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) plans and funds skills development for one sector of the economy, and South Africa has 21 of them, set up under the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998. The ETDP SETA’s sector is education, training and development in all its forms. It falls under the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), and it serves people who already work in the sector as well as employed and unemployed people who want to join it.
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The ETDP SETA (also written ETDPSETA or ETDSETA) is the Education, Training and Development Practices SETA, one of the 21 SETAs. This guide covers what the ETDP SETA does and aims to achieve, how accreditation works now that the QCTO accredits providers, and its funding, learnerships, qualifications and bursaries, for job-seekers and employers alike. If you want to work in education, training and development, BOTI’s QCTO skills programmes include Assessment Practitioner and Work Based Learning and Development Practitioner, each ending in a Final Integrated Supervised Assessment.
ETDP SETA aims and functions
The ETDP SETA’s main aim is to improve, facilitate and promote education, training and development in its sector, so that more young people can learn the skills it needs and earn a living in it. Its functions include:
- raising the skill levels of learners, employees and employers in the sector
- balancing the supply of and demand for skills across its sub-sectors, guided by its Sector Skills Plan
- opening career paths in education, training and development for South Africans looking for work
- supporting skills programmes, learnerships, internships, mentorships, adult education and training, and tertiary study through grants and bursaries
- registering learnership agreements, which protects the learner
- working with the QCTO as one of its Quality Partners, so that learning in the sector meets national standards
- reporting to DHET on its income and spending and on how it carries out the Sector Skills Plan
As public bodies created by an Act of Parliament, SETAs manage public money and must account for it, including under the Public Finance Management Act. Under the June 2026 ministerial Directive on pre-2009 qualifications[1], SETAs also remain accountable for developing, replacing and implementing occupational qualifications and skills programmes.
Is the ETDP SETA changing?
All 21 SETAs hold licences that run from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2030. In the State of the Nation Address on 12 February 2026 the President announced that the SETAs will be rationalised, and in April 2026 DHET said it expected to take options to Cabinet during the 2026/27 financial year. Until a decision is announced, the ETDP SETA continues to run its grants, learnerships and bursaries.
ETDP SETA accreditation: how it works now
Searches for ETDP SETA accreditation reflect the old system. Under it, each SETA had an Education and Training Quality Assurance body (ETQA), accredited by SAQA, that accredited training providers against unit-standard (pre-2009) qualifications. The ETDP SETA’s ETQA did this for education, training and development qualifications.
Today, a provider that wants to offer an occupational qualification, part-qualification or skills programme applies directly to the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO). The QCTO accredits Skills Development Providers (SDPs) in partnership with its Quality Partners, which include the SETAs, under signed service level agreements. QCTO accreditation lasts five years from the date it is granted[2], and the QCTO can withdraw it. A provider that the ETDP SETA accredited for a legacy qualification keeps that accreditation only until the qualification’s teach-out ends; to offer the replacement occupational qualification, it needs QCTO accreditation.
The final assessment has changed too. An occupational qualification or part-qualification ends in the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA), a single national assessment at a QCTO-accredited assessment centre, after which the QCTO issues the Occupational Certificate. A skills programme ends in a Final Integrated Supervised Assessment (FISA). Before you enrol or pay, ask any provider for its accreditation letter and check that the exact programme is on its scope, with dates that cover your studies.
ETDP SETA accredited teacher training
Teaching degrees and diplomas are higher education qualifications. They sit on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (NQF Levels 5 to 10), which the Council on Higher Education quality-assures, so they are not accredited by the ETDP SETA. Check any teaching qualification on SAQA’s register before you enrol.
Training for workplace trainers, assessors and learning and development practitioners sits in the occupational system, where the QCTO accredits providers. BOTI is a QCTO-accredited Skills Development Provider for two skills programmes in this field, both at NQF Level 5 and open to new learners until 2 March 2028:
- Occupational Skills Programme: Assessment Practitioner (SP-220320), for people who will assess learners’ competence
- Occupational Skills Programme: Work Based Learning and Development Practitioner (SP-220322), for people who will support learning in the workplace
Both end in a FISA, and the QCTO issues the certificate. BOTI also offers the Occupational Certificate: Learning and Development Advisor (SAQA ID 118774, NQF Level 7[3]), a full qualification in its teach-out period: new learners must enrol by 31 December 2026. BOTI’s page on the legacy National Certificate: ODETDP (50334) is for learners already enrolled on it. If you need practical training skills rather than a qualification, BOTI’s Train the Trainer and ETDP courses cover facilitation, assessment and moderation; they are not accredited, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
ETDP SETA funding: the levy and grants
SETAs are funded by the Skills Development Levy (SDL). Employers pay 1% of payroll[4] every month through the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and each employer’s levy goes to the SETA for its sector. Of the total levy, 20% goes to the National Skills Fund and 80% to the SETA, which uses 20% for mandatory grants, 49.5% for discretionary grants and 10% for administration, while 0.5% goes to the QCTO[5].
Mandatory grants and the WSP
An employer can claim back 20% of its levy[5] as a mandatory grant by submitting, by 30 April[5] each year, its Workplace Skills Plan (WSP), the training plan for the year, and its Annual Training Report (ATR), which reports the training done in the previous year. It must also be up to date with its levy payments. Mandatory grant money that is not claimed moves into discretionary funding by 15 August[5].
Discretionary grants
SETAs pay grants under the SETA Grant Regulations, published in Government Gazette 35940 of 3 December 2012[6]. The main target of discretionary grants is PIVOTAL programmes: Professional, Vocational, Technical and Academic Learning programmes that lead to qualifications or part-qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The ETDP SETA’s grant policy links its grants to its Sector Skills Plan and Annual Performance Plan, and it can also fund projects that do not lead to a qualification, such as research in the sector. It opens application windows for employers and announces them on its website. Discretionary grants depend on the funds available, the approval of the ETDP SETA’s board and the criteria in its policy, so they are never guaranteed.
What this means for employers
A Skills Development Facilitator (SDF) usually prepares and submits the WSP and ATR. BOTI’s Skills Development Facilitator (SDF) Training Course prepares staff for that role, and BOTI can also act as your company’s SDF and prepare and submit the WSP and ATR for you. Skills development spend also counts on the B-BBEE scorecard, but no grant or scorecard points can be promised in advance. Call BOTI on 011 882 8853 or email [email protected].
ETDP SETA learnerships
A learnership is a structured programme that combines learning with a training provider and practical work experience in a real workplace. Under the Skills Development Act, it must include a structured learning component and practical work experience, relate to an occupation, and lead to a qualification registered on the NQF. The ETDP SETA funds learnerships through its grants and registers learnership agreements, while employers in the sector host them, usually with an accredited training provider.
How to get a SETA learnership
Watch for learnership adverts from employers and training providers in education and training, and apply to whoever advertises the learnership, not to the SETA. Current employees and new entrants can both take part, but you must meet the entry requirements of the qualification and the employer’s selection criteria. A learnership usually runs like this:
- The employer’s workplace meets the requirements for hosting the learnership, and qualified assessors, in-house or contracted, are available.
- The training provider is accredited for the qualification: by the QCTO for an occupational qualification, or by the SETA for a legacy qualification still in its teach-out.
- The employer advertises the learnership, and applicants go through its recruitment process.
- The learner, the employer and the provider sign a three-party learnership agreement. An unemployed learner also signs a fixed-term employment contract with the employer.
- The learner studies with the provider and gains experience at work, supported by a mentor and regular feedback.
- Qualified assessors carry out formative and summative assessments. For an occupational qualification, the learner then sits the EISA at a QCTO-accredited assessment centre.
- A learner who succeeds receives the qualification; one who does not finish receives a statement of results for the parts achieved.
How long a learnership lasts depends on the qualification. When it ends, the employer may offer the learner a job or another learnership, but a learnership is not a promise of a permanent job.
ETDP SETA qualifications
Qualifications historically linked to the ETDP SETA covered fields such as adult learning, early childhood development, community and youth development, library and information services, school governance and administration, and occupationally directed education, training and development practices (ODETDP). Most were legacy (pre-2009) qualifications built from unit standards.
Legacy qualifications reached their registration end date on 30 June 2023, and extensions since then have been granted qualification by qualification. The final Directive, gazetted on 17 June 2026, allowed extensions of 6 to 24 months[1] for selected pre-2009 qualifications listed by SAQA. SAQA’s June 2026 list marks the ODETDP qualifications (50331, 50333 and 50334) as not extended[7]. Every qualification already awarded remains valid and recorded on the National Learners’ Records Database (NLRD).
The replacements sit on the QCTO’s Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework, which covers NQF Levels 1 to 8 and has three kinds of programme:
- an occupational qualification of 120 credits or more, which ends in the EISA and a QCTO Occupational Certificate
- a part-qualification of fewer than 120 credits, which also ends in an EISA and an Occupational Certificate
- a skills programme of 8 to 60 credits, which the QCTO records on its database and which ends in a FISA
Before you enrol on any qualification, check its record on SAQA’s register for the last date for enrolment and the last date for achievement, and ask whether an occupational qualification has replaced it.
ETDP SETA bursary
The ETDP SETA awards bursaries from its grant funding to help students study towards qualifications that the education, training and development sector needs. Past bursary calls have been for undergraduate and postgraduate study, full time or part time, at a college, university or university of technology, and the bursary has mainly covered tuition and textbooks.
Who is the bursary for?
Each call sets its own criteria. Past calls asked for South African citizenship, study towards a certificate, diploma or degree in the sector and no funding from other government sources, and they were aimed at students who were not employed. Previous recipients had to reapply to continue. Fields have included teaching and other education qualifications.
How to find the current ETDP SETA bursary call
Bursary windows, criteria, fields of study, closing dates and the way to apply change from year to year, so this guide does not list amounts, forms, addresses or deadlines. Read the current bursary call on the ETDP SETA’s official website and apply only through the channel that call gives. Applications usually need certified copies of your ID and of your latest academic results. A bursary is not guaranteed: awards depend on the funds available.
SETA bursaries in general
Every SETA can fund bursaries for its own sector through its discretionary grants. For a different field, find the SETA for the sector you want to work in, read its current call on its website and apply only through the channel it names.
Frequently asked questions
What does ETDP SETA stand for?
ETDP SETA stands for the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority. It is one of South Africa’s 21 SETAs, established under the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998, and it falls under the Department of Higher Education and Training. Its sector is education, training and development in all its forms, and the current SETA licences run from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2030.
What are the aims of the ETDP SETA?
The ETDP SETA’s main aim is to improve, facilitate and promote education, training and development in its sector. That includes raising the skill levels of learners, employees and employers, balancing skills supply and demand in the labour market, opening career paths in education and training, and supporting learning through skills programmes, learnerships, internships, bursaries and grants for employed and unemployed people.
Is teacher training accredited by the ETDP SETA?
It depends on the qualification. Teaching degrees and diplomas from universities and other higher education institutions sit on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework, which the Council on Higher Education quality-assures. Occupational qualifications and skills programmes for trainers, assessors and other practitioners are quality-assured by the QCTO, with SETAs such as the ETDP SETA acting as its Quality Partners. Check any qualification on SAQA’s register before you enrol.
Does the ETDP SETA still accredit training providers?
Only for legacy work. A provider that a SETA accredited for a legacy (pre-2009) qualification keeps that accreditation until the qualification’s teach-out ends. To offer occupational qualifications, part-qualifications or skills programmes, providers apply directly to the QCTO, which accredits them for five years[2], working with its Quality Partners, including SETAs. BOTI, for example, is a QCTO-accredited Skills Development Provider.
Who can apply for an ETDP SETA bursary?
ETDP SETA bursaries are for students studying, full time or part time, towards a certificate, diploma or degree that the education, training and development sector needs, at a college, university or university of technology. Criteria such as citizenship, employment status and other funding are set in each year’s bursary call, and previous recipients have had to reapply to continue. Read the current call on the ETDP SETA’s website before you apply.
BOTI is a QCTO-accredited Skills Development Provider for the Occupational Skills Programme: Assessment Practitioner (SP-220320, NQF Level 5). It ends in a Final Integrated Supervised Assessment, the QCTO issues the certificate, and new learners can enrol until 2 March 2028. Training runs in-house at your premises, at BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or online.
Sources
- Directive on the implementation of transitional arrangements for pre-2009 qualifications (Government Gazette 54858) – Minister of Higher Education and Training, 17 June 2026.
- For skills development providers – Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), 2026.
- SAQA qualification record 118774: Occupational Certificate: Learning and Development Advisor – South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), 2026.
- Skills Development Levy – South African Revenue Service (SARS), 2026.
- Mandatory Grants – Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA), 2026.
- Grants Policy 2025/26 – merSETA, 2024.
- Pre-2009 Extended Qualifications – South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), June 2026.
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