Higher Certificate in Labour Law

Purpose

The purpose of the Higher Certificate in Labour Law qualification is to equip employees, employers, trade union officials, shop stewards, compliance officers, legal consultants, employer organisation officials, and aspiring legal professionals with a socio-economic and socio-political awareness of the context in which labour law operates. The qualification will also equip learners with basic theoretical knowledge, analytical and problem-solving skills to apply general labour law principles.

The qualification will emphasise relevant procedures and the application to meet challenges and address basic disputes within the world of work. The qualification will produce qualifying learners with a basic level of higher education knowledge, cognitive, and conceptual tools, and practical techniques for higher education studies. The qualification will further provide qualifying learners with enhanced employment opportunities in the commercial and public sectors, in non-governmental organisations, and in a wide range of careers, which require the basic application of labour law principles to advance good labour relations. Additionally, the qualification will provide graduates with an opportunity to progress to appropriate diplomas and/or bachelor's degrees.

Upon completion of this qualification, qualifying learners will be able to

• Describe and explain basic language principles and practices.
• Analyse the nature of the law and its relationship with justice, certainty, and morality.
• Explain the common law principles regulating employment relationships.
• Describe the constitutional rights to freedom of association and to choose a trade, occupation or profession freely in the context of transformative constitutionalism and related collective labour legislation.
• Discuss the objectives, context, and implementation of transformative law in South African labour relations.

Rationale

South Africa has made significant strides towards a society aligned with the values of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. South Africans must constantly strive to strengthen and further constitutional imperatives. This qualification is intended to address these imperatives such as the right to equality, freedom of association, and fair labour practices, as enshrined in sections 9, 18, and 23 of the Constitution. In the South African socio-economic context, it is imperative that these rights should be realised at grassroots, and this qualification will thus be especially suitable to contribute to its realisation.

The qualification will empower qualifying learners from all backgrounds and occupations with labour law competencies to advance good labour relations in the respective workplaces and assist in resolving potential labour disputes. This will enhance greater social justice pertaining to individual labour law and practice and collective labour law relations to the benefit of all parties in employee-employer relationships, society, and the economy.

This qualification will benefit all who are directly or indirectly involved in employment relationships and thus contribute to graduates' career progression. This entry-level qualification will allow graduates to access appropriate bachelor's degrees in law, which is a requirement to access the legal profession.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL)

Learning that has been acquired through formal, informal and non-formal means is recognised for the fulfilment of the requirements of this qualification or part of the qualification. It is required that through assessment practices, the learner should demonstrate competence in the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes implicit in this qualification.

This Recognition of Prior Learning may allow for accelerated access to further learning. All Recognition of Prior Learning is subject to quality assurance by the relevant accredited institution and is conducted by a registered workplace assessor.

RPL will be in accordance with the institutional RPL policy and will be dealt with on an individual basis subject to the guidelines provided by the Council on Higher Education (2016).

RPL for access

The Higher Certificate in Labour Law is an entry-level higher education qualification with specialisation in labour law to equip learners enrolled for the qualification with sound theoretical basis and with appropriate analytical and problem-solving skills. The qualification contains general principles pertaining to labour law and its application. Consequently, it is not foreseen that RPL for access will be applied in this qualification.

RPL for credits

• Only credits from accredited qualifications offered by accredited institutions are

considered.

• The similarities of and differences between curricula, subject content and outcomes, and assessment practice are taken into consideration.
• Qualification and content mapping should not result in similarity of less than 80%.
• All credits from an incomplete qualification may be recognised by the same or another institution as part of the requirements for another or the same qualification.
• Credits can be transferred horizontally at the same level of learning, or vertically from lower to higher levels.
• A maximum of 50% of the credits of a completed qualification can be transferred to another qualification.
• This approach seeks to protect the integrity of qualifications by ensuring that credit accumulation and transfer becomes the exception rather than the rule.
• The same credits of a completed qualification may not be recognised or transferred to more than one qualification.
• Credits will only be evaluated for recognition, where the candidate meets the minimum requirements for admission to a qualification.
• No credits will be awarded for exit level modules.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• National Senior Certificate, NQF Level 4, granting access to Higher Certificate studies.

Or

• Senior Certificate, NQF Level 4 without endorsement.

Or

• National Certificate Vocational, NQF Level 4, granting access to Higher Certificate studies.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 5 totalling 120 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 5, 120 Credits.

• English and Afrikaans Legal Proficiency, 20 Credits.
• Legal Philosophy and Ethics, 20 Credits.
• Individual Labour Law and Practice, 40 Credits.
• Collective Labour Law, 40 Credits.

1. Demonstrate the ability to communicate proficiently orally and in writing in the legal context by illustrating the basic principles to construct an argument and formulate a justified conclusion.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of holistic basic foundations of legal philosophy and application of ethical values to advance sound labour relation practices in society.
3. Demonstrate basic knowledge of individual labour law and its application in the employment relationship to address elementary legal issues and to propose and implement a solution-driven approach to resolve challenges.
4. Demonstrate basic knowledge of collective labour law and its application in the world of work to address elementary legal issues and to facilitate the implementation of fair and just labour practices.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Describe and explain basic language principles and practices.
• Identify and logically summarise primary and secondary authorities.
• Critique content of primary and secondary authorities.
• Find appropriate sources, law, and literature.
• Interpret, compare and appraise different points of argument.
• Formulate a cohesive argument for or against a particular view.
• Apply the core principles of efficient and effective communication.
• Reliably, accurately and coherently communicate information using conventions appropriate to the legal context, in written and oral or signed form.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Discuss the origin and role of the law.
• Analyse the nature of the law and its relationship with justice, certainty, and morality.
• Distinguish between the different legal philosophical schools/views, approaches/applications of the law.
• Evaluate the relationship between the law and the individual and the law and society.
• Apply the guiding principle of Ubuntu in general and with regard to labour relations.
• Discuss the objectives, context, and implementation of transformative law in South African labour relations.
• Apply basic principles of ethics in the evaluation of the behaviour of persons in the pursuit of improving social justice in South Africa.
• Analyse and resolve moral and ethical dilemmas arising in labour relationships.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Explain the common law principles regulating employment relationships.
• Analyse the labour law framework and sources.
• Explain principles and rules regulating individual labour law.
• Describe the constitutional rights to freedom of association and to choose a trade, occupation or profession freely in the context of transformative constitutionalism and related legislation.
• Apply the principles and rules regulating individual labour law in an ethical manner to propose sound solutions.
• Create theory-driven arguments for issues concerning individual labour law.
• Analyse and apply workplace processes and offer suitable and equitable solutions for issues arising in the workplace.
• Apply legal principles of procedural fairness in the labour law context.
• Analyse the influence of the Constitution, 1996 on individual labour law.
• Discuss basic principles and statutory regulation of employment equity and unfair discrimination in the workplace.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Define essential concepts pertaining to collective labour law.
• Analyse the structure, principles, and rules regulating collective labour law.
• Describe the constitutional rights to freedom of association and to choose a trade, occupation or profession freely in the context of transformative constitutionalism and related collective labour legislation.
• Describe the important role players and their functions and responsibilities in a collective labour law and collective bargaining context.
• Discuss the importance of industrial action in the collective bargaining landscape in South Africa.
• Debate the right to strike (including freedom of association) and its integral part in attaining industrial democracy.
• Create theory-driven arguments concerning and offer ethical solutions for legal issues relating to the resolution of elementary labour law disputes on a collective labour law level.

INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT

This qualification is offered by means of distance education provisioning and therefore, assessment serves as a useful tool to support learning and teaching and to ensure that the Exit Level Outcomes (ELOs) are attained. Assessment is a tool to motivate learners to foster learning. Assessments are criteria based, and meticulous attention is afforded to feedback.

The qualification employs continuous assessment as a learning and teaching tool. This allows learners in distance education and who are mostly self-directed an opportunity to constantly monitor their progress, and for learners and lecturers to detect challenges and gaps early, and to act swiftly to remedy such challenges.

Continuous self-assessment

Once a learning unit has been finalised, the lecturer posts self-assessment questions that the learners must complete before a marking guideline and/or discussion of the questions are provided. This approach allows learners to first grapple with the questions, sources, and content before guidelines and/or answers are provided, which approach enables self-directed learning. Furthermore, this strategy enables learners to ascertain whether they have developed the necessary competencies, attained the required skills, and reached the relevant outcomes pertaining to the learning unit, but also feeds into the ultimate qualifications ELOs.

Formative Assessment

The following formative assessment strategy is implemented in this qualification.

• 20% of the year mark stems from learners' performance in smaller, low-stake continuous assessments. In every semester, four small assessments are set, of which the individual learner's best three out of the four contribute towards 10% of the year mark. These assessments are typically conducted once a learning unit is completed and can take a variety of forms, for instance a quiz, essay, or group discussion.
• 30% of the year mark reflects learner's performance in two larger, higher-stake problem-based assignments that require research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, all of which are essential in the world of work and especially in the legal field.
• 50% of the year mark reflects learners' performance in a high-stakes, invigilated, closed-book semester test for which learners must prepare thoroughly in advance. The continuous self-assessments and continuous formative assessments are, among others, intended to scaffold learners' capabilities to successfully complete the semester test. Learners will benefit from the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that semester one assignments developed, when conducting the semester test.

The assessment strategy is specifically designed to ensure achievement of the ELOs. Elaborate feedback is required for all formative assessments to facilitate learning and ensure escalation of competencies. All ELOS are inherently linked and therefore, assessments are designed such that all four modules can achieve these outcomes:

Summative assessment

Examinations are used as summative assessments to test whether module outcomes aligned with the ELOs are attained.