Sectoral Qualifications Framework for DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (SQF DS)
Level descriptors are made up of individual components which, in turn, constitute compilations of related learning outcomes. A component of a PQF level descriptor is a general statement pertaining to the knowledge, skills or social competence required for a qualification, an element which is part of the entire description of a given level. Therefore, the components of the SQF DS level descriptors must comply with two threshold conditions: they should be sufficiently general (generic) to refer to the qualifications of a given level functioning in the development services sector and, at the same time, they should take into account only those learning outcomes that are specific and essential from the point of view of activity in the sector.
Completeness and consistency of the sectoral framework’s level descriptors was guaranteed by basing them on the sectoral determinants. Sectoral determinants, in line with the definition of the sector, describe areas of activity that have common features characterising the development services sector, which has a clear identity. They outline specific and sector-specific areas of competence that feature the sector’s qualifications and distinguish them from those of other sectors. Four determinants were identified for the development services sector, which are jointly representative for the overall learning outcomes contained in the sector’s qualifications (cf. Chapter 1.3).
An important principle in developing the SQF DS is the fact that if specific learning outcomes cannot be found in the sectoral determinants, it is assumed that they are not sufficiently specific for the development services sector and, as universal, are not included in the framework’s descriptors. The SQF DS contains an extensive range of learning outcomes on individual levels, specific for the development service sector, which should allow a given qualification functioning in the sector to be described and aligned with a level. This means that in practice, level descriptors do not have to jointly reflect a specific qualification (and, in fact, they do not do so).
