Occupational Certificate: Fish and Seafood Processor

Purpose

The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to operate as a Fish and Seafood Processor.

Fish and Seafood Processor will help learners to use equipment, including handheld equipment, and performs tasks to process fish or seafood products by de-icing, cleaning, sorting and grading, preparing and processing white and pelagic fish as well as seafood for consumption, to ensure that customer standards and specifications are met.

Learners will benefit from knowing the safety measures of preparing fish and seafood for consumption to ensure standards and specifications are met.

A qualified learner will be able to

• Receive fish according to specifications.
• Prepare fish for processing.
• Process fish products to specification. In one specific context within a range of species both pelagic fish, white fish and seafood.

Rationale

This part qualification satisfies the needs for the processing of fish and seafood on shore. For this part qualification, fish includes pelagic fish species namely, sardines and pilchards, and whitefish species, sometimes referred to as line fish. It is not an industry preference to use the term line fish as this presupposes that fish under this term would all be caught by line, while fish can also be caught by the method of trawling. For this reason, a more generic term for whitefish is used by the industry. Seafood is a generic term that incorporates shellfish, squid, octopus and molluscs.

This part qualification has been developed in collaboration with the industry to ensure access to the smaller plants that still require to develop their employees in manual processing.

The part qualification will be recognised nationally and for the manual processors in various contexts (white fish, pelagic and seafood) ensuring consistency and quality across the fish and seafood industry and ensuring that all interested learners will have access to the right level of skills and experience.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Learners may use the RPL process to gain access to training opportunities for a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification, or skills programme if they do not meet the formal, minimum entry requirements for admission. RPL assessment provides an alternative access route into a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification, or skills programme. Such an RPL assessment may be developed, moderated, and conducted by the accredited Skills Development Provider which offers that specific qualification/part qualification/skills programme. Such an assessment must ensure that the learner is able to display the equivalent level of competencies required for access, based on the NQF level descriptors.

For exemption from modules through RPL, learners who have gained the stipulated competencies of the modules of a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification or skills programme through any means of formal, informal or non-formal learning and/or work experience, may be exempted from certain modules.

Learners who have gained the stipulated competencies of the modules of a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification, or skills programme through any means of formal, informal or non-formal learning and/or work experience, may be awarded credits towards relevant modules, and gaps identified for training, which is then concluded.

A valid Statement of Results is required for admission to the EISA in which confirmation of achievement is provided that all internal assessment criteria for all modules in the related curriculum document have been achieved. For a Skills Programme, the accredited Skills Development Provider (SDP) must ensure all modular competency requirements are met prior to the EISA and keep record of such evidence. Upon successful completion of the EISA, RPL learners will be issued with the QCTO certificate for the qualification. Quality Partners are responsible for ensuring the RPL mechanism and process for qualifications is approved by the QCTO.

Entry Requirements

• An NQF Level 1 Qualification.

This qualification is made up of compulsory Knowledge, Practical Skill and Work Experience Modules

Knowledge Modules

• 716112-001-00-KM-05, Workplace Fundamentals, NQF Level 2, 8 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-KM-06, Knowledge of Self and Team to Contribute to Team Performance, NQF Level 2, 6 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-KM-07, Environmental Awareness, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-KM-08, Numeracy skills for Operators, NQF Level 2, 12 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-KM-11, Fish and Seafood Processing, NQF Level 3, 14 Credits.

Total number of credits for Knowledge Modules: 44

Practical Skill Modules

• 716112-001-00-PM-01, De-Ice fish and seafood products, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-PM-03, Grade and sort fish and seafood products, NQF Level 3, 6 Credits.

Total number of credits for Practical Skill Modules: 10

Work Experience Modules

In the Work Experience Modules, the learner will complete two compulsory work experience modules (16 Credits) and choose a further two modules from one of the three electives, namely pelagic fish processing, white fish processing or seafood processing (8 credits).

Compulsory modules

• 716112-001-00-WM-01, Processes and procedures to de-ice fish and seafood, NQF Level 2, 8 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-WM-02, Processes and procedures to prepare Fish and Seafood input materials for processing, NQF Level 3, 8 Credits.

Choose between Category A, B or C.

Elective Modules (Category A) Elective 1: Pelagic Fish Processing

• 716112-001-00-WM-06, Processes and procedures to de-scale pelagic fish, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-WM-07, Processes and procedures to bleed, gut and cut, pelagic fish, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.

Elective Modules (Category B) Elective 2: White fish processing

• 716112-001-00-WM-08, Processes and procedures to de-scale white fish, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-WM-09, Processes and procedures to fillet, cut and trim white fish, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.

Elective Modules (Category C) Elective 3: Seafood Processing

• 716112-001-00-WM-10, Processes and procedures to clean seafood, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.
• 716112-001-00-WM-11, Processes and procedures to shuck and shell seafood, NQF Level 2, 4 Credits.

Total number of credits for Work Experience Modules: 24

1. Describe the fundamental knowledge and concepts required of an employee in the workplace including communication, interpersonal relations, business understanding, manufacturing, quality and food safety in the fish and seafood processing and related products manufacturing environment.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

ELO 1: Describe the fundamental knowledge and concepts required of an employee in the workplace including communication, interpersonal relations, business understanding, manufacturing, quality and food safety in the fish and seafood processing and related products manufacturing environment.

• Prepare work area and equipment to receive fish or seafood according to standard operating procedures.
• Clean and process fish or seafood according to contextual standard operating procedures (such as bleeding; gutting; de-heading; de-icing; descaling.)
• Complete physical, sensory and process control checks according to standard operating procedures.
• Clean, sanitise and remove work area and equipment , waste and sub-standard products according to standard operating procedures.
• Release fish or seafood for further processing or packaging according to standard operating procedures and process is recorded and reported according to standard operating procedures.

Integrated Assessment

Formative Assessments conducted internally

Formative assessments are conducted throughout the training of learners. A range of formal, non-formal, and informal ongoing assessment activities are used to focus on teaching and learning outcomes to improve learner attainment.

Formative assessments are conducted continuously by the facilitator to feed into further learning, to identify strengths and weakness, and to ensure the learner's ability to apply knowledge, skills and workplace experience gained.

Formative Assessments are conducted by the accredited Skills Development Provider (SDP), and a variety of ongoing assessment methods may be used, for example, quizzes, assignments, tests, scenarios, role play, interviews. Continuous feedback must be provided.

Integrated Summative Assessments conducted Internally

Integrated Assessment involves all the different types of assessment tasks required for a particular qualification, part-qualification or occupational skills programme, such as written assessment of theory and practical demonstration of competence. To achieve this, the Internal Assessment Criteria (IAC) for all modules as found in the QCTO curriculum document must be followed.

An accredited SDP should implement a well-designed, formal, relevant, final internal Summative Assessment strategy for all modules to prepare learners for the EISA. These assessments evaluate learning achievements relating to the achievement of each module of the relevant components of the qualification, part-qualification or skills programme.

Internal Summative Assessments are developed, moderated and conducted by the SDP at the end of each module or after integration of relevant modules, e.g. applied knowledge tests, workplace tasks, practical demonstrations, simulated tasks/demonstrations, projects, case studies, etc.

The results of these final formal summative assessments must be recorded. These results, which include the Statement of Work Experience results, where applicable, contribute to the Statement of Results (SoR) that is a requirement for admission to the EISA. An SoR, using the template provided by the Quality Partner, is issued by the accredited SDP for qualifications and part-qualifications. The SDP must produce a valid Statement of Results for each learner, indicating the final result and the date on which the competence in each module, of each component, was achieved. Learners are required to produce this SoR, together with their ID document or alternative ID document, at the point of the EISA.

External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) - a national assessment

The Quality Partner is responsible for the management, conduct and implementation of the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA), in accordance with QCTO set standards. Competence in the EISA is a requirement for certificating a learner.

For entrance into the EISA, the learner requires a valid Statement of Results issued by the accredited institution indicating the attainment of all modules for the Knowledge, Practical and Work Experience modules.