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Roofing is a neglected aspect in the construction industry.
the past to provide training on a national accredited professional body and watchdog these are attended on a semester basis.
standard, but because of demand it wasn’t for the timber construction sector in “The intermediate course runs over three
possible. We don’t have enough South Africa. days while the latter is over four days,” he
information to put forward for a technikon
Getting their software training approved
shares. He also cautions that doing the
or university qualification. The training by SAQA is a process that Dixon describes training for a few days doesn’t necessitate
material changes often and therefore as long. “The initial process took over five trainee as qualified roof estimator or
makes it very difficult and time consuming years and we came to a stalemate,” he says. designer. “The training is an ongoing thing.
to have the courses continually vetted
The training that MiTek offers is divided
by the South African Qualifications into three levels, basic, intermediate and
Authority (SAQA).” advanced. The basic level starts off with an
Courses and programmes
introduction to roof technology.
“It’s a theoretical online course available
You practice the principles and concepts
you’ve learnt overtime,” Dixon says.
It’s safe to say that universities do not
offer a qualification in roofing. However,
“One can be trained and qualified at any
“While some educational institutions on a to the general public that gives an overview FET college that provides such training, be
tertiary level offer roofing and related before they commence with the software it a public Technical and Vocational
subject matter in their coursework, this training. Internally we’ve got software Education and Training (TVET) college,
mostly extends to roofing as part and parcel training courses to clients, this is part of Construction SETA Accredited Institutions
of a broader system of cons truction and their license agreement with us,” or private FET Colleges such as Tjeka
engineering. Specialist training and Dixon says. Training Matters and others,” says Dilimeni.
coursework on roofing is fairly hard to come
He maintains that the training they
He describes two options that anyone
by in the local context. The ITC-SA provide to factory workers and saw mills is interested in roofing can pursue. “You can
recognises this shortage of education and according to national standards. “We will either study for a full qualification to also
training options for the roofing sector and go out to our clients and train their increase prospects of employment and
in an effort to address this shortfall, offers employees in the factory with the choose to specialise in roofing or enrol
its Level 1 and 2 Estimator / Designer equipment they use,” he says. The assessor, specifically for a skills programme in the
courses, its new Roof Specialist Level 1 after the training session, return to the form of short course,” he explains.
course as well as roof inspector and erector factory to assess if factory workers applied training by ITC-SA accredited trainers,” says what they have been taught. If they do Amanda Obbes, national coordinator at the comply to teaching, a certificate is issued. The National Certificate:
Building and Civil Construction
Because intermediate and advanced With SAQA Qualification ID 65409 requires
Institute for Timber Construction South
Africa (ITC-SA). The ITC-SA is a SAQA-
training undergoes changes twice a year,
minimum credits of 140, and it’s a National
RESIDENTIAL // COMMERCIAL // INDUSTRIAL
APRIL 2018
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