17/09/2026
๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ซ (๐๐๐๐) ๐๐๐
๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ ๐๐
Qualification: Occupational Certificate: Early Childhood Development Practitioner NQF L4
Minimum admission requirements:
National Certificate Vocational (NCV) NQF Level 3 OR any NQF L3 Qualification
Minimum of 2 yearsโ experience in an ECD Centre
Be 25 years and older
Duration:
12 Months or 1 year
Compulsory requirements:
Clearance certificate in terms of the provisions of the Childrenโs Act, Act 38 of 2005, as persons suitable to work with babies, toddlers and young children as contemplated in section 97(3) and duly verified against Part B of the National Protection Register in accordance with section 126 of the said Act.
Police clearance certificate
Purpose
The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to operate as an Early Childhood Development Practitioner.
An Early Childhood Development Practitioner plans and prepares early childhood activities, facilitates and mediates learning, observes and assesses the progress of children, and reflects on learning in an inclusive, play-based environment to support holistic development of children (from conception - school going) in different centre-based or non-centre-based settings.
The Occupational Certificate: Early Childhood Development practitioner has been designed to meet the needs and interests of the early childhood development practitioner in a variety of settings and contexts with an inclusive focus on education, health and safety issues, amongst others.
There is a vast need for early childhood development services, and it is critical that the field must be served by competent practitioners.
To meet the needs at early childhood development level, it is important to be able to identify and recognise competent early childhood development practitioners who can work in centre-based and non-centre-based early childhood development settings.
This qualification will provide a means to give recognition to practitioners at an entry level, thus making it possible for practitioners to increase their employment prospects within the Department of Basic Education.
The Department of Social Development, through the registration of early childhood development centres and/or sites, may also provide business opportunities to successful practitioners who may wish to establish early childhood centres and/or sites.
It will also provide access to a recognised career path and at the same time provide the field with suitably qualified professional practitioners.
The qualification will provide opportunities to people who wish to enter and/or continue learning in the early childhood development field, which include the employed, under-employed but not qualified, and school leavers. Every child has the right to high-quality, holistic education and care which forms the critical foundation for further development and learning from childhood into adulthood.
This necessitates the universal availability of high-quality early childhood development and education as a vital strategy to yield personal and long-term benefits to individual children, their families and the society at large.
Early childhood development practitioner is an essential component of economic development within the framework of childcare services. Changing social and economic needs require parents to enter the labour market.
Therefore, quality early childhood development service provision is required to meet growing demands in the country, both in urban and rural settings.
