Diploma: Ornamental Horticulture

Purpose

Qualifying students will be able to apply ornamental horticultural technologies and strategies in the green industry in a way that will be environmentally sustainable. They will be able to propagate and utilise plants, and to plan and implement a landscape design. To ensure that these goals are achieved efficiently, qualifying students will also be able to apply basic managerial skills in a horticultural enterprise.

The qualification aims to contribute to the green industry by developing horticultural professionals and managers and so enhance the effectiveness and the competitiveness of the industry. It also aims to support the discipline of Horticulture by providing the academic foundation for possible future research in the field.

The qualification strives to promote environmental awareness and a commitment to environmental sustainability, as well as the recognition that plants, with their various functional and aesthetic uses, have the ability to improve quality of life. It further aims to advance social and economic transformation by providing accessible opportunities for individual, career and entrepreneurial development to people from all social and cultural groups.

Rationale

Environmental degradation in both rural and urban areas is a worldwide phenomenon and is particularly prevalent in South Africa, where many natural environments are challenged by threats such as global warming, desertification, and large-scale industrial and urban development. This situation is exacerbated by a lack of awareness and knowledge of the potential capacity of plants to create and restore environmental health, and of the principles of environmental sustainability. There is also insufficient awareness of the various functional and aesthetic uses of plants which, when fully exploited, can serve to promote human and social well-being.

The "green industry" in South Africa has recognised these needs, and many of its activities are aimed at improving this situation. The industry is large and diverse, involving activities such as plant production and propagation, the import, export, marketing and sale of plants, landscaping, plant and landscape maintenance, the design, establishment and maintenance of public amenities, urban agriculture, and the rehabilitation of damaged areas. It further involves emerging fields such as conservation horticulture, ethnobotanical applications and horticultural therapy.

This burgeoning industry is currently well supplied with lower-level skills, but is experiencing a shortage of staff with the necessary technical knowledge to apply horticultural principles in a way that will maximise the functional and aesthetic uses of plants. It is further in particular need of middle management, and of new entrepreneurs with sufficient skills to manage their own horticultural businesses. General business skills, "soft" skills such as communication skills, and technological skills especially are in short supply.

The Diploma: Ornamental Horticulture has the potential to ameliorate this situation by providing the industry with the type of qualified employees it needs: employees who will have wide-ranging technical horticultural knowledge and skills, as well as basic managerial and project management skills, and a commitment to promoting environmental sustainability. Qualifying students will be able to perform the basic tasks involved in plant production and propagation, plant utilisation, plant maintenance and landscaping, as well as the management tasks involved in carrying out these activities commercially. The Diploma will thus provide students with a solid general foundation in horticultural practices and will so lay the groundwork for later specialisation on their part.

Learners enrolling are already competent in terms of the following outcomes or learning areas

• Learning at NQF Level 4, equivalent to grade 12 (National Senior Certificate or other certificate evaluated as being equivalent to the minimum admission requirements of universities). Literacy and numeracy skills in particular will be assumed to be equivalent to NQF Level 4.
• The ability to learn from written material in the language of tuition.
• The ability to communicate what they have learned comprehensibly in the language of tuition.
• The ability to take responsibility for their own progress with limited support, and independently adjust to a variety of contexts or learning environments.

Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition may be granted for non-formal prior experiential learning. The Recognition of Prior Learning process will be conducted according to Unisa's Recognition of Prior Learning policy and may involve, among other things, the submission of portfolios with evidence of prior learning, challenge examinations, and interviews with assessment panels.

Access to the Qualification

• Students who have completed a National Senior Certificate or equivalent learning, as determined by Unisa's Recognition of Prior Learning process, will be able to access this qualification.
• Students with disabilities will be granted admission wherever the nature of their disability does not preclude them from achieving the outcomes of the qualification. Severely visually impaired students will unfortunately not be able to function optimally in this field.

Total credits for the qualification: 360 Credits.

Credits at NQF Level 5: 120 Credits.

Credits at NQF Level 6: 180 Credits.

Credits at NQF Level 7: 60 Credits.

Number of credits allocated to

• Fundamental learning - 12 Credits.
• Core learning - 108 Credits.
• Fundamental learning plays a fairly strong role at the entry level of the qualification, since students need to be given grounding in basic managerial and computing skills, and knowledge of some fundamental areas underlying horticultural practice, such as the principles of ecology.
• The rest of the credits are allocated for core learning, centering around horticultural practices, as these constitute the essence of the qualification.
• No elective credits are allocated in this qualification as it aims at providing a broad generalist base of knowledge and skills which students will be able to use in various applications in the industry, rather than particular specialisations. The opportunity for specialisation will however play a role in the qualifications on the next higher level that qualifying students can progress to, the Advanced Diplomas in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design respectively.

1. Produce and propagate plants.
2. Select and utilize plants.
3. Maintain plants.
4. Produce a landscape design.
5. Construct and maintain a landscaped area.
6. Apply managerial and administrative skills in a horticultural enterprise.
7. Demonstrate a commitment to the principles of environmental sustainability.

Critical Cross-Field Outcomes

The following critical Cross-Field Outcomes will be promoted by this qualification

• The students will have to identify and select plants appropriate to a particular setting, propose appropriate landscape designs for a particular setting, and explore solutions to the problems of a small horticultural enterprise.
• The practical work and work-integrated learning involved in the qualification will require work as members of a team and an organisation.
• The completion of set activities and assignments will require self-management, and successfully organising their activities during the work-integrated learning period will encourage self-management.
• The proposal of planting and landscaping plans, designs and applications for certain settings, as well as the application of management principles, will involve extensive collection, analysis, organisation and evaluation of information.
• Activities requiring effective written, graphic and electronic communication will be involved.
• A scientific approach to horticulture and landscaping will be promoted in a way that will emphasise ecological principles and environmental sustainability. Technology will be used in accordance with accepted horticultural and environmentally responsible principles and practices.
• Principles from a variety of sciences and technologies (e.g. plant biology, horticulture, chemistry, ecology, soil science, horticultural technology, computer technology) will be applied in an integrated way in the solution of horticultural and landscaping problems.
• The qualification will encourage the development of learning strategies such as linking theory to practice and reflecting on learning that has taken place, and the use of visual representations and textual organisation strategies.
• The qualification will emphasise the development of environmental responsibility and the use of plants to the benefit of communities, for example by requiring students to participate in work-integrated learning where they will apply functional and aesthetic uses of plants. The qualification will also promote indigenous plant knowledge.
• Awareness of the use of local resources such as indigenous plants will be developed, and both horticultural and landscaping applications will develop aesthetic sensitivity. Participation in work-integrated learning will offer opportunities for intercultural interaction and the development of cultural sensitivity.
• An awareness is promoted of opportunities for further learning as well as career opportunities, for example in horticultural enterprises and local and national government organisations. Participation in voluntary associations, which the qualification will encourage, and in work-integrated learning will also offer opportunities for career development.
• The qualification will encourage the development of the basic skills necessary to start a small horticultural enterprise.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 1

• Appropriate propagation techniques are selected and applied to a particular type of plant.
• Production plans are drawn up to ensure that propagation will be conducted effectively and efficiently.
• An appropriate environment is established and managed to achieve optimal production.
• Plants are produced and propagated in accordance with health and safety, environmental and other relevant legislation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 2

• Plants are correctly identified using their diagnostic features.
• Appropriate plants are selected, installed and established for a particular setting.
• Plants are installed and established in accordance with health and safety, environmental and other relevant legislation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 3

• Maintenance procedures are carried out and equipment is used in accordance with industry best practice, and in accordance with health and safety, environmental and other relevant legislation.
• Plant pests and pathogens are correctly identified, and prevented and controlled according to environmentally acceptable principles and practices.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 4

• The design is appropriate to the requirements of the site and the environment.
• The designed landscape will be environmentally sustainable.
• The design is financially efficient and meets client needs.
• Correct isometric and perspective drawings are prepared to explain the design.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 5

• Hard landscaping features are constructed and maintained correctly using a variety of materials.
• Soft landscaping features are implemented and maintained according to industry best practice.
• Construction and maintenance activities are carried out according to industry best practice and in accordance with health and safety, environmental and other relevant legislation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 6

• Managerial and administrative activities are carried out in a way that is effective and efficient in the particular workplace.
• Effective leadership skills are demonstrated in the workplace.
• Effective communication is established in the workplace.
• Managerial and administrative activities are performed in accordance with health and safety, labour and other relevant legislation, and ethical principles.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit-Level Outcome 7

• Plants are propagated, maintained, selected and used in ways that will minimise harmful effects on the natural environment.
• Plant maintenance and landscape design and construction are performed in accordance with the principles of environmental sustainability.
• Plants reflecting South African biodiversity are identified and incorporated into horticultural and landscape applications.

Integrated Assessment

Applied competence - that is, the integration of foundational, practical and reflective competence - will be assessed in a variety of ways and instances during the course of the programme. For example, students will be asked to propose practical solutions to horticultural and landscaping problems and to evaluate their own proposed solutions and their learning in the process, thus involving knowledge, the application of knowledge, as well as reflection.

In the various modules of the qualification, students will be required to provide evidence of integrated knowledge, skills and values. An Integrated Assessment of the main outcomes of the qualification will be conducted during work-integrated learning, where students will be assessed on their actual performance of horticultural and landscaping activities in a real horticultural organisation or enterprise.

A variety of formative and summative assessments will be used during the course of the programme, including written assignments, practical activities, examinations and a portfolio.