Question NW757 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
11 April 2016 - NW757
Lovemore, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
(1)Whether all training offered to public servants takes place through the National School of Government (NSG); if not, why not; if so, what are the details of the training offered by the NSG that is indeed mandatory; (2) whether specific training has been identified as appropriate for each position or grade within the public service; if not, (a) who decides what training should be carried out, (b) according to what guidelines and (c) who is responsible for quality assurance of training that is selected and offered; if so, what are the relevant details of such training; (3) whether any competency tests or assessments are performed within the public service to measure the effectiveness of training; if not, (a) why not and (b) how is it determined that any particular training is effective or otherwise; if so, what are the relevant details; (4) whether (a) his department and (b) the Public Service Commission recommend training offered through the NSG as an appropriate mechanism to improve performance where performance weaknesses are identified; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
- Yes. Not all training offered to public servants takes place through the National School of Government. There is no regulation that mandates departments to send public servants to the National School of Governement to be trained.
Mandatory training programmes are the Compulsory Induction Programmes (CIP) for newly appointed public servants from salary levels 1 to 16 as per the Directives issued by the Minister for Public Service and Administration namely;
(a) Amendments to the Directive on the Implementation of the Compulsory Induction Programme (CIP) in the public service, April 2015
(b) Directive on Compulsory Capacity Development, Mandatory Training Days and Minimum entry requirements for Senior Management Services (SMS).
(i) CIP 1-12 focuses on newly appointed public servants on salary levels 1 to 12. This CIP 1-12 is divided into two programmes, namely CIP 1-5 and CIP 6-12 with dedicated focus on the unique requirements of knowledge, skills, values and competencies that is relevant and responsive at these salary levels respectively.
(ii) CIP 13-14 focuses on newly appointed public servants on salary levels 13 and 14, namely Directors and Chief Directors. These programmes focus on the unique requirements of knowledge, skills, values and competencies that are relevant and responsive at these salary levels.
(iii) CIP 15-16 or the Executive Inductive Induction Programme (EIP) focuses on newly appointed public servants on salary levels 15 and 16, namely Deputy-Director Generals and Director-Generals. This programme focuses on the unique requirements of knowledge, skills, values and competencies that are relevant and responsive at these salary levels.
2. Yes. All the training programmes are focused on a specific target group or salary level of public servants.
(a) The department that identified the training needs decides what training should be carried out.
(b) The guidelines that inform the training programmes are the Learning Provision Cycle and the Learning Programme Design Matrix. The Learning Provision Cycle provides the strategic framework for planning, design, development, approval, delivery and monitoring and evaluation of the training programmes. The Design Matrix provide the specific guidelines with regard to the specific/enabling outcomes, assessment criteria, learning statements, assessment activities, and related critical cross filed outcomes to ensure integration of learning.
(c) The National School of Government is responsible for the quality of training that is selected and offered. It does this using its Quality Management and Monitoring and Evaluation Systems. The Quality Management System involves the Quality Management System Policies with accompanying implementation toolkits. The Monitoring and Evaluation processes include the 100% monitoring of all NSG programmes, regular on-site visits and evaluation reports as well as application or learning studies focusing on selected National School of Government programmes.
3. (a) Every training programme has assessment requirements to ensure the effectiveness of training.
(b) Training is monitored and evaluated on a regular basis. The National School of Government conducts evaluations of the training programmes and the application of learning thereof in the workplace to establish (i) whether training is achieving its intended objectives and (ii) whether training is resulting in expected changes in the workplace; and if so, what these changes mean to the public.
4. (a) The National School of Government is continually analysing the Report on National Skills Development Strategy of South Africa from the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa, and also the Workplace Skills Plans of departments, in order to recommend training offered through the NSG as an appropriate mechanism to improve performance where performance weaknesses are identified;
(b) The Public Service Commission has released reports on the “State of the Public Service” as well as reports such as “ Assessing the effectiveness of training provided by PALAMA in improving skills and competencies of public service leadership with a view to inform curriculum development by the National School of Government, September 2014” . The recommendations provided in these AMPAT reports inform the training offered through the NSG as an appropriate mechanism to improve performance where performance weaknesses are identified.