Review of Sports Turf qualifications

FIELD AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Review of Sports Turf qualifications

National Certificate in Amenity Turf Maintenance (Level 3) [Ref: 1078]

National Certificate in Sports Turf (Introduction to Turf Care) (Level 3) [Ref: 0700]

National Certificate in Sports Turf Management (Level 4) [Ref: 0203]

The New Zealand Sports Turf Industry Training Organisation (NZ Sports Turf ITO) has completed the review of the qualifications listed above.

Date new versions published January 2009

The next qualification review is planned to take place during 2013.

Summary of the review and consultation process

The above qualifications were due for review and required updating to meet current industry requirements.

Industry experts representing the sports turf industry met in June 2008 to suggest changes to the current qualifications. A period of consultation with key representatives and the wider sports turf industry was held, and further changes were made based on feedback received.

Draft qualifications were circulated via industry experts, training employers, moderators, workplace assessors, industry training organisations, and training providers. The purpose of the survey was to confirm the changes.

The final versions were endorsed by industry expert panel members that represented sports turf employers, moderators, workplace assessors, and training providers, and the NZ Sports Turf ITO Board.

Main changes resulting from the review

Standards which had changed as a result of the NZ Sports Turf ITO standard review and other standard reviews were updated. Changes were made to the structure of the qualifications that included:

· adding or deleting standards from the compulsory section;

· moving unit standards from compulsory to elective sections to reflect current industry requirements;

· clarifying and simplifying the elective sections;

· adding a list of unit standards to qualification [Ref: 0203] to provide guidance in the selection of elective standards while maintaining flexibility and choice for candidates.

National Certificate in Amenity Turf Maintenance (Level 3) [Ref: 1078]

Review category

See Key to Qualification Review Categories at the end of report

Changes to structure and content

· Standards 1152, 1161, and 1307 have been added to the compulsory section.

· Set A and Set B have been removed from Elective 1, which is comprised of one list of standards.

· Standards 497, 6400, 6401, and 6402 have been moved from the compulsory section to Elective 1.

· Standards 19043, 19049, and 19050 have been replaced by standard 24552 in Elective 1.

· Standard 19052 has been replaced by standards 24536 and 24537 in Elective 1.

· Standard 14 has been replaced by standards 22174 and 22175 in Elective 1.

· Standards 1164 and 1299 have been added to Elective 1.

· Standards 5627, 5628, 20877, and 20878 have been removed from Elective 1.

· Requirements for Elective 1 have changed from a minimum of 29 credits with a minimum of 12 credits at level 3 or above, to a minimum of 22 credits with a minimum of 7 credits at level 3 or above.

· Elective 2 requirements have changed to a minimum of 10 credits from anywhere on the National Qualifications Framework.

This qualification contains standards that replace earlier standards. For the purposes of this qualification, people who have gained credit for the expiring standards are exempt from the requirement to gain credit for the replacement standards - see table below.

Credit for	Exempt from
14	22174, 22175
814	20556
823	21560, 21563
1666	21027
5060, 5064	21564
5059	21554
5066	21558
19043, 19049, 19050	24552
19052	24536, 24537

National Certificate in Sports Turf (Introduction to Turf Care) (Level 3) [Ref: 0700]

Review category

See Key to Qualification Review Categories at the end of report

Changes to structure and content

· Standard 1162 was replaced by standard 25111.

· Standard 497 was added to the compulsory section.

· The elective credit increased from a minimum of 10 credits with a minimum of 5 credits at level 3 or above to a minimum of 15 credits with a minimum of 10 credits at level 3 or above.

· The following domains were removed from the elective - Assessment of Learning, Temporary Traffic Management, and Chainsaw Operating. Chainsaw Operating has been replaced by the domain Non Commercial Forestry Skills

· All the business subfields were removed from the elective but the Business field has remained.

· Total qualification credits increased from 40 to 48.

This qualification contains a standard that replaced an earlier standard. For the purposes of this qualification, people who have gained credit for the expiring standard are exempt from the requirement to gain credit for the replacement standard - see table below.

Credit for	Exempt from
1162	25111, 25112

National Certificate in Sports Turf Management (Level 4) [Ref: 0203]

Review category

See Key to Qualification Review Categories at the end of report

Changes to structure and content

· Standard 19043 was replaced by standard 24552 in the compulsory section.

· Standard 14 was replaced by standards 22174 and 22175 in the compulsory section.

· Standard 1162 was replaced by standard 25112 in the compulsory section.

· Standards 1150 and 21554 were removed from the compulsory section.

· Standards 21563 and 21564 were moved from the compulsory to the elective section.

· Standards 497, 1154, 1304, 1307, 2780, 2781, 2784, 2803, 3492, 4270, 4272 and 19047 were added to the elective section.

· Total qualification credits have decreased from 230 to 223.

Credit for	Exempt from
14	22174, 22175
823	21560, 21563
1162	25111, 25112
5059	21554
5060, 5064	21564
5066	21558
19043	24552

General Transition

People currently working towards previous versions of qualifications may either complete the requirements for that version or transfer their results to the new version.

The last date for entry to training programmes for the replaced version of all three qualifications is 30 June 2009.

The last date for assessments to take place for the replaced versions of qualifications [Ref: 0700] and [Ref: 1078] is June 2011. The last date for assessments to take place for version 5 of qualification [Ref: 0203] is June 2013.

It is not intended that anyone be disadvantaged by this review, and the above arrangements have been designed for a smooth transition. However, anyone who feels they have been disadvantaged may appeal to:

New Zealand Sports Turf Industry Training Organisation

PO Box 347

Palmerston North Central

Palmerston North 4440

Telephone 06 356 8090

Fax 06 354 0081

Email turftraining@nzstito.org.nz

Key to Qualification Review Categories

Category A The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to SSB name, contact details or purpose statement
	No change is made to title, rules or components of the qualification
	No transition arrangements are required
Category B The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to title, rules or components
	The new version of the qualification recognises a similar skill set to that recognised by the previous version
	The SSB is confident that people awarded the new or previous version are comparable in terms of competence
	Transition arrangements are required if candidates must gain additional/different credits for the new version
Category C A new (replacement) qualification is published with new NQF ID	Significant changes are made to the qualification in terms of components, structure, type or level
	The SSB views people with the replacement qualification as being significantly different in terms of competence from those with the replaced qualification
	Transition arrangements are required
	Transition may be limited to phase-out dates
Category D Qualification will expire. There is no replacement qualification	Qualification is no longer required by industry
	The qualification is designated as expiring and a last date for meeting the qualification requirements is set