TVET CDACC is a SAGA in Kenyan government corporation that was established under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Act, No. 29 of 2013. The full name is Technical and Vocational Education Training Curriculum Development Assessment and Certification Council (TVET CDACC) under the Ministry of Education Kenya.
It was mandated to design and develop occupational standards and Curricula for the training institutions and assess and certify the trained on their respective competencies.
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TVET CDACC functions
As per the TVET Act 2013, TVET CDACC has the following 8 functions.
- Undertake design and development of curricula for the training institutions’ examination, assessment, and competence certification.
- Make rules with respect to such examinations and competence assessments.
- Issue certificates to candidates who satisfy the national TVET examination and competence assessment requirements.
- Promote recognition of its qualifications in foreign systems.
- Investigate and determine cases involving indiscipline by candidates registered with it.
- Promote and carry out research relating to its examinations.
- Promote the publication of books and other materials relevant to its examinations.
- Anything incidental or conducive to the performance of any of the preceding functions.
These are the 8 roles of CDACC in the TVET sector to enable the government to achieve the implementation of the CBC curriculum.
Registration and Accreditation by TVET CDACC
The council does registration and accreditation of 4 different parties, assessment centers, curriculum developer assessors, and verifiers.
To be able to implement its functions CDACC requires professionals and institutions to work with. On this, they work with TVET institutions, universities, trainers, and other organizations to implement the curriculum.
Assessment center accreditation
These are learning and training institution that offers training on the respective curriculum that the council certifies. They can be universities, National polytechnics, technical training institutions, vocational centers, private colleges, and any other center that wants to offer CDACC courses.
The council visits the institution to verify if they meet the quality are their requirement before they are certified to offer and examine their course.
Registration and accreditation of curriculum developer
These are the professionals who help the council to develop curricula that they examine. They can be people working in their respective professions or trainers in the field.
To be accredited the person is required to make a request to the council and do registration to be considered. These individuals will work as contracted professionals to develop or review the curricula in their respective trades on a need basis.
Registration and accreditation of assessor and verifier
For the implementation of the curriculum to be complete trainees need to carry out assessments and be certified. The work of assessment is done by the assessor and verifier.
TVET CDACC assessor is an accredited person to carry out the assessment and develop various assessment tools. Most of the time the assessor is a trainer in the respective assessment institution.
After the assessor has done their work the verifier comes to quality check what they have done. To ensure the credibility and reliability of the assessment mostly the verifier is not from the same institution where the assessment is taking place.
This means a trainer can be an assessor in their training center and during assessment, they can go to another assessment center as a verifier.
Role of CDACC in Curriculum Development
The role of CDACC in curriculum development as per the TVET Act 2013 is to develop respective trade competence as per the industry’s needs and requirements.
TVET CDACC can develop the curriculum or any accredited center can request to develop one with guidance from the council for specific market needs. Here is a list of CDACC-approved occupational standards and curricula.
For any curriculum to be developed there must be a need in the market. Due to this, the council liaises with trade experts to come up with an Occupational Standard (OS) for that trade. The OS is then translated into a curriculum that can be used for training. You can read more on the TVET CDACC curriculum development process.
Assessment of CDACC Courses
After the trainee has acquired the required competence they are assessed using practical and theoretical examination. CBET courses are competence-based which means there is more practical work.
The assessment starts from the day the trainee enters the institute for training.
The internal assessor/trainer collects all work that the trainee has done to act as evidence of acquiring competence. All this is collected for each trainee into what is called a portfolio of evidence.
Every end-of-term trainee sits for internal assessments that are monitored by an internal assessor and verifier. All of this is termed an internal assessment.
External assessment is done by CDACC when the trainee feels that they are competent in the units of study. The candidate sits for end-of-unit examinations supervised by an external assessor and verifier. Currently, CDACC carries these exams 3 times per year.
During the assessment, trainees are graded using a CBET grading system that determines if the learner is competent or not yet competent.
TVET CDACC Certification
After the trainee has acquired the required competence they are awarded a certificate. The council awards 2 types of competence certificates.
When trainees complete one unit of competence they are awarded a certificate for that one unit.
The other certificate is a national certificate that is awarded when you have completed and are competent in all units in that course. This is a certificate for the whole level of competence.