How to Become a Facilitator in South Africa
What is a facilitator in South Africa?
For students to get from point A to point B in their training journey, they need professional facilitators. A facilitator is a subject matter expert that helps with the development of students by ensuring they retain information and apply their new skills correctly. Facilitators often work with students working towards completing a BBBEE learnership. Learnerships are accredited work-based learning programmes that have theoretical and practical learning elements. These aim to give previously disadvantaged individuals access to education and entry into the workplace.
Therefore, facilitators play a crucial role in the successful implementation of Skills Development strategies. They are responsible for making sure students are completing all their outcome-based assessments on time and at a high enough level to become competent. This ultimately ensures that students obtain their accredited qualifications at the end of their learnerships and businesses receive BEE points for their skills development efforts.
What are the benefits of becoming a facilitator?
1. You’ll contribute to the growth of the South African economy
Skills Development can be a very rewarding career to get involved in. Using education as a tool, you’ll empower previously disadvantaged individuals in South Africa to have the skills to create more work opportunities for themselves. This in turn will generate economic growth for the country. Therefore, by facilitating BEE initiatives, you play an active role in transforming the lives of the students that you facilitate and improving the economy.
2. You can share your expertise
3. You can grow personally
In order to provide the best training experience for your students it is wise to stay up to date with current industry trends, training methodologies, facilitator techniques, and knowledge. This means that while you guide students through their journey, you will be improving your own skills too. Not to mention, getting a facilitation job means that you are interacting with people from different walks of life. This means that you can learn something valuable from witnessing the experiences of others.
4. You’ll have flexibility and variety
For those that aren’t fond of the 9 to 5, facilitation can open the door to full-time, part-time, and contract-based work. This gives you the freedom to choose a working style that best suits you. Additionally, facilitators are needed by different clients and organizations. This means you can network with new people and experience different industries.
How to become a facilitator:
Perhaps the most important step to becoming a qualified facilitator is to have the right qualifications and facilitation skills. To do this, you need to enroll in an accredited facilitator course that is recognized by the correct SETA. You’ll also need to make sure that these facilitation training courses have the correct unit standard so that you are competent with SAQA regulations.
Why you should enroll in a facilitator course:
But why is this process so important? Aside from meeting regulations, facilitation courses help you navigate the complexities of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and give you guidance on how to carry out facilitation methods. More specifically, you’ll learn how to plan and prepare for facilitation, facilitate the learning of students, and evaluate learning and facilitation so you can be prepared to take on any facilitator jobs.
What you need to look out for when choosing a facilitator course:
1. Accreditation and Recognition
The first important thing to look out for when applying for a facilitator training course is the right accreditation. Facilitator training courses meet SAQA requirements if they are accredited with ETDP SETA. This is a SETA that facilitates and promotes the delivery of education, training and development. Additionally, you should make sure that the training provider you are using is also fully accredited with the right BBBEE certification.
2. Alignment with SAQA Unit Standards
It is crucially important that the course in question meets the relevant SAQA Unit Standards for facilitation. Unit standards are benchmarks for the required knowledge and skills that facilitators require in South Africa. A facilitation course should have a unit standard identification number of 117871 and the title of Facilitate learning using a variety of given methodologies.
3. Certificate of Completion
Upon completing your facilitator training course it’s important to have the right facilitation certificate to prove it. You should receive a letter of completion once you have completed your course and once your completion is verified, you’ll receive a certificate of completion from the training provider you used as well as a statement of your results issued by ETDP SETA.
What are the requirements to become a facilitator?
In order to study to become a facilitator, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:
- Have expertise in an area that you wish to facilitate. This means you’ll need to have an NQF Level 5 or higher qualification in the area that you choose. For example, if you’d like to facilitate learnerships for business management, a qualification in business may be beneficial.
- Have an assessor course While this isn’t completely necessary, completing a facilitator and assessor course can be beneficial to land you a facilitator job in several organisations. It’ll open the doors to allow you to assess the competency of students against specific unit standards or qualifications.
- Have experience in the field you’d like to facilitate. This step is very beneficial to helping you become a successful facilitator. By having hands-on experience in your facilitation field, you automatically become more credible and will help you relate theoretical concepts to real-world situations.
How long does it take to complete a facilitator course?
This will all depend on the training provider that you choose to study with as well as their training methods. For example, an online, self-paced course may take longer than completing a course onsite at the facilities of the training provider. Our facilitation courses take 4 days to complete and then an additional 6-8 weeks to complete your portfolio of evidence.
Next Steps:
Now that you know the ins and outs of how to become a facilitator in South Africa, you may feel ready to sign up for an accredited facilitator training course. Luckily, we offer a fully accredited facilitator course with the right unit standard to ensure you have everything you need to kickstart your career as a facilitator. We are fully accredited with ETDP and have over 22 years of experience in facilitation and providing meaningful Skills Development solutions to our clients. Get started today! Reach out to one of our representatives now.