Master of Community Development

Purpose

The Master of Community Development offers advanced training in community development education through coursework, practice, and a mini dissertation. Graduates from the qualification will contribute to the practice, evolution and application of community development knowledge while maintaining a highly collaborative and ethical relationship with their practice communities. By providing an interdisciplinary, multi-contextual, and theoretical conceptualisation of community development knowledge and practice, the qualification aims to contribute to the transformation of the community development occupation as legislated in South Africa. The dissemination of learner findings to various audiences will positively influence knowledge development and professional practice across South Africa and beyond.

On the completion of the qualification, qualifying learners will be able to

• Identify and critique approaches, theoretical discourses and policies on community development practices and thinking through advanced research and practice.
• Analyse and apply community development theories, methods and processes to multiple practice settings and communities.
• Connect local community development contexts to global development patterns and strategies within a social justice framework.
• Apply community-based research methods and communicate findings to different audiences.
• Provide ethical leadership to organizations in the planning and implementation of public participation and interprofessional collaborations addressing local communities.
• Demonstrate concrete skills in conflict management, mediation, and resolution in a community development context.

Rationale

The Social Development Sector is currently undergoing a process of professionalisation which will be legislated in the revised Social Services Practitioners Bill (SSP) that has since been returned from public comment. The professionalisation of community development in South Africa, therefore, necessitates an urgent need for a cohort of highly trained community development specialists for the public, civic, and private sectors. The qualification will equip community development practitioners with advanced knowledge in the field. This is critical to provide a knowledge and mentorship stream to an emerging profession.

At the heart of community development practice is the commitment to social justice/human rights and ecological sustainability. This requires a specialized practitioner, knowledgeable in collective and holistic community development approaches. The qualification enhances the identity of an emerging profession among a plethora of social service qualifications. By deepening the study and practice of methods, approaches and theories of community development, the qualification capacitates practitioners to collaboratively co-develop with their community's transformative praxis on emergent community development issues. The qualification will mitigate the negative implications of poverty, underdevelopment and economic malaise on the evolution and function of sustainable communities in South Africa.

The qualification is designed to strengthen the professional and ethical development of candidates in their pursuit of addressing societal challenges and deepen their learning of community development and commitment to the communities they serve. Additionally, the Department of Social Development and the South African Council for Social Services Professions (SACSSP), who are key stakeholders and employers overseeing the social services professions, have given their strategic support for this qualification.

The qualification infuses advanced community development theories and participatory methods with the lived realities of communities in South Africa and across the globe. The qualification aims to enrol learners who are working professionals in the community development sector both in and outside of South Africa.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The institution has an approved Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy which is applicable to equivalent qualifications for admission into the qualification. RPL will be applied to accommodate applicants who qualify. RPL thus provides alternative access and admission to qualifications, as well as advanced standing within qualifications. RPL may be applied for access, credits from modules and credits for or towards the qualification.

RPL for access

• Learners who do not meet the minimum entrance requirements or the required qualification at the same NQF level as the qualification required for admission may be considered for admission through RPL.
• To be considered for admission in the qualification based on RPL, applicants should provide evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that they have acquired the relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies through formal, non-formal and/or informal learning to cope with the qualification expectations should they be allowed entrance into the qualification.

RPL for exemption of modules

• Learners may apply for RPL to be exempted from modules that form part of the qualification. For a learner to be exempted from a module, the learner needs to provide sufficient evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that competency was achieved for the learning outcomes that are equivalent to the learning outcomes of the module.

RPL for credit

• Learners may also apply for RPL for credit for or towards the qualification, in which they must provide evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates prior learning through formal, non-formal and/or informal learning to obtain credits towards the qualification.
• Credit shall be appropriate to the context in which it is awarded and accepted.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Bachelor of Arts Honours in Community Development, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Bachelor of Social Science Honours in Community and Development Studies, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Bachelor of Social Science Honours in Community Resources, NQF Level 8.

Or

• A relevant Bachelor of Arts Honours in a cognate discipline, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Bachelor of Social Science in a cognate discipline, NQF Level 8

Or

• Postgraduate Diploma in Community Development, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Postgraduate Diploma: Community Studies, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Postgraduate Diploma in Community and Development Studies, NQF Level 8.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory and elective modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 09 totalling 188 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, 172 Credits

• Advanced Community-Based Research, 32 Credits.
• Community Development Philosophy and Theory, 24 Credits.
• Sustainable Communities: Theory, Method, and Case, 16 Credits.
• Community Development Practice, Approaches and Processes, 24 Credits.
• Mini Dissertation, 60 Credits.
• Conflict Resolution and Community Development, 16 Credits.

Elective Modules, 16 Credits (Select one module from the following options)

• Social Policy in Community Development, 16 Credits.
• Development Communication in an African Context, 16 Credits.

1. Demonstrate specialist knowledge to enable engagement with and critique of current research or practices, as well as advanced scholarship or research in a particular field, discipline, or practice.
2. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate current processes of knowledge production, and to choose an appropriate process of enquiry for the area of study or practice.
3. Demonstrate command of and the ability to design, select and apply appropriate and creative methods, techniques, processes, or technologies to complex practical and theoretical problems.
4. Demonstrate the ability to use a wide range of specialised skills in identifying, conceptualising, designing, and implementing methods of enquiry to address complex and challenging problems within a field, discipline, or practice; and an understanding of the consequences of any solutions or insights generated within a specialised context.
5. Demonstrate the ability to make autonomous ethical decisions which affect knowledge production, or complex organisational or professional issues, and the ability to critically contribute to the development of ethical standards in a specific context.
6. Demonstrate an ability to critically review information gathering, synthesis of data, evaluation, and management processes in specialised contexts to develop

creative responses to problems and issues.

1. Demonstrate an ability to present and communicate academic, professional, or occupational ideas and texts effectively to a range of audiences, offering creative insights, rigorous interpretations and solutions to problems and issues appropriate to the context.
2. Demonstrate an ability to operate effectively within a system, or manage a system based on an understanding of the roles and relationships between elements within the system.
3. Demonstrate an ability to apply, in a self-critical manner, learning strategies which effectively address his or her professional and ongoing learning needs.
4. Demonstrate an ability to take full responsibility for his or her work, decision-making and use of resources, and full accountability for the decisions and actions of others where appropriate.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Analyse and apply community development theories, methods, and processes to multiple practice settings and communities to facilitate social change.
• Evaluate and apply the community development philosophical approaches and theories from a variety of perspectives demonstrating an in-depth, critical engagement with relevant ideas and concepts.
• Critically evaluate and apply the community development theories within their socio-economic, political, cultural, and geographic contexts and other contexts.
• Articulate the community development theories both verbally and in writing in a professional, accurate and coherent manner, according to post-graduate conventions using appropriate conceptual frameworks.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Engage critically with current debates and ideas on a range of contemporary social issues.
• Debate the construction of community development knowledge and theories.
• Identify what the political, ideological, social, and cultural factors are that impact theory and how theory is critiqued.
• Critique discursive knowledge, statements, conceptual frameworks, models, paradigms, and epistemology in the social and human sciences.
• Debate contemporary discourses and global issues relating to community development in the broader context.
• Apply a variety of research approaches and methodologies and appropriate research procedures, techniques, and instruments in a community-based context.
• Interpret and analyse processes and policies pertinent to community development in the context of the politics of knowledge production, including indigenous knowledge production.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Apply sound social science research methodology to community development-related situations, conducting in-depth research, analysis, and interpretation in a community-based context.
• In co-operation with the community, explore, reflect on, and apply a variety of community development strategies on facilitation, empowerment, and management within a human developmental environment.
• Analyse and interpret the legislation, policies, and international conventions for application and/or compliance in a specific context.
• Formulate the processes, legislation, and policies for community involvement in community programmes and/or projects.
• Analyse the social policies relevant to community development in terms of the inter-relationship between the policies.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Identify and analyse poverty and developmental problems, and manage projects to address poverty and developmental problems, by considering the White Paper on Social Welfare and the political and socio-economic influences in South Africa.
• Analyse, synthesise, evaluate, and review complex community development-related information to conceptualise a problem and produce an evidence-based argument or solution to a community development situation.
• Apply concrete skills in conflict management, mediation, and resolution in a community development context.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Provide ethical leadership to organizations in the planning and implementation of public participation and interprofessional collaborations addressing local communities.
• Conduct a community analysis, using different frameworks, to design a social development programme based on the analysis, to develop an implementation, monitoring, and evaluation plan, demonstrating an awareness of the value and ethical issues.
• Develop, facilitate, evaluate, and adjust appropriate actions to alleviate ethical, social, and economic problems.
• Introduce and apply the principles of social research ethics within the context of a community research project.
• Explain the process necessary to obtain ethical clearance for a research study.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6

• Collect, analyse, organize, and critically evaluate information gathered on poverty, developmental problems, and inequalities, based on a relevant theoretical framework.
• Collect, analyse, and synthesise data and textual Information gathered via research conducted in a community-based context.
• Conduct a comprehensive review of leading and current research in standards of evaluation and validation in qualitative and quantitative research.
• Conduct research independently under the supervisor's guidance.
• Make use of various sources critically and integrate these into a research report.
• Write a research proposal and minor dissertation.
• Produce a scientifically sound/accurate, logical, and coherently argued research paper and present it according to appropriate academic standards in a community setting.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7

• Apply community-based research methods and communicate findings to different audiences.
• Communicate effectively and appropriately with individuals, groups and organizations in communities using visual, language, group work and mass media skills in oral or written formats.
• Communicate the information both verbally and in writing to a range of audiences and stakeholders about community development-related issues in specific contexts.
• Discuss limitations and recommendations for future study.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 8

• Connect local community development contexts to global development patterns and strategies within a social justice framework.
• Apply knowledge of the interdependent relationships between individuals, families, groups/organisations to facilitate processes.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 9

• Identify relevant areas for professional development.
• Develop a self-directed programme for skills development.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 10

• Work effectively with others as a member of a team and facilitate, co-ordinate and empower teams to become effective, sustainable community-based organizations, based on a relevant theoretical framework.
• Function effectively with others as members of a multi-disciplinary team when facilitating the process and technology of helping individuals, groups, organizations, and communities.
• Use the resources of academic and professional discourses to communicate and defend substantial ideas.
• Operate independently and take full responsibility for one's work, and, where appropriate, account for leading and initiating processes and implementing systems, ensuring good resource management when conducting the research.

INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT

Integrated assessment provides an opportunity for learners to show that they can integrate concepts, ideas, and actions both within and across modules to achieve competence. In this qualification, learner assessment will be formative and summative.

Formative Assessment

The qualification will use a series of innovative assessment approaches based on a combination of tests where information is analysed and applied; written assignments; oral presentations and practical presentations as formative assessments.

Summative Assessment

The qualification will also use a summative assessment to measure and evaluate the learners' ability to integrate theoretical and practical competencies required in the various modules.

Mini Dissertation

• This refers to the dissertation required in part-fulfilment of the requirements of a Master's by coursework and Mini-Dissertation as described in the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF).
• The Mini-Dissertation is an integrated assessment at the level of qualification that provides an opportunity for the learner to show that they can integrate concepts, ideas, and actions to achieve competence that is grounded and coherent in relation to the purpose of the qualification.
• The purpose of the dissertation is to show that the learner can carry out supervised research, has a grasp of the research tools in the chosen field and is familiar with the more important publications on the subject.
• It should also demonstrate that the learner can communicate results and evaluate his or her own work and that of others critically.