Part 3: The Status Of Forensic Tertiary Education In South Africa: Collaborative Competency Development

Introduction

Part 1 of The Status Of Forensic Tertiary Education In South Africa: Collaborative Competency Development (Read Part 1 Here) introduced the topic’s significance and underlined the importance of collaboration between academia and industry.

Part 2 of The Status Of Forensic Tertiary Education In South Africa: Collaborative Competency Development (Read Part 2 Here) highlights the key findings based on the reviewed empirical data and literature. Two themes developed, containing appropriate research questions. The first theme views the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, and the second theme focuses on curricula alignment.

Theoretically, tertiary institutions should develop qualification curricula in support of promoting efficiencies and proficiencies to benefit the stakeholders within these forensic laboratories and their counterparts in the criminal justice system (Jordaan, 2014; Naidoo, 2007; Nortjé & Myburgh, 2019; Rampartab, 2017). This study aimed to provide evidence that connectivism and humanism educational learning theories—both of which emphasise detecting knowledge gaps and filling them—apply to forensics in South Africa.

Conceptually, this study introduces competency in the context of (a) skills and knowledge, (b) the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa based on empirical data, (c) the importance of collaboration between industry and faculty to align curricula to improve the employability perception of graduates, and (d) a review of the empirical literature.

The review of the data and literature confirms the hypothesised knowledge gap that exists among the public, institutions of higher learning, graduates, and the forensic industry about the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa. Furthermore, the findings encourage leaders and managers in education to consider designing new qualifications and improving the current curriculum of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, collaborating for improved competence, advancing vertical, lateral, and diagonal articulation, and subsequent policy development.

Conclusions

The first theme looks at the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa by asking questions about the availability, entry requirement qualification level, and articulation of registered qualifications on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF).

Theme 1: The Status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa

By scrutinising the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, collaborating role-players position themselves to develop competence more effectively. Gwandure & Mayekiso (2021), supported by Masoabi & Alexander (2021), encourage stakeholders to design curricula for South African educational programmes that are receptive to the economic and social needs of the country and global demand.

Disproportionately low numbers of registered forensic qualifications suggest a probable impact on the ability of the South African criminal justice system and its collaborating role-players to resolve crime effectively. These low numbers indict the collaboration efforts of the South African forensic industry and institutions of higher learning. According to Rampartab (2017), role-players should collaborate to ensure that the industry requirements translate to curricula to promote acquiring the relevant competencies to benefit society and the industry’s workforce.

Research Question 1: What is the availability status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa?

The high number of postgraduate qualifications (22 out of 27) indicates that institutions of higher learning and, by implication, the South African forensic industry do not prioritise developing young persons entering the forensic sector, indicating their failure to align policies, occupational competencies, and entry requirements for forensic-related vacancies with curricula.

The current availability status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa is very different from what is required to make an impact. It accentuates the provision of only eight forensic disciplines. The latter also contrasts with the view of Passalacqua & Pilloud (2020) on competence (the ability to be capable based on the required knowledge and skills) and proficiency (the level of competency needed to complete a task successfully).

The qualifications with the National Standards Body (NSB) main category of Health Science and Social Services indicate the preferred focus area of institutions of higher learning. All of these are, however, postgraduate qualifications. Excluding Health Science and Social Services highlights the need for and the opportunities that present themselves to align curricula with policies, occupational competencies, and entry requirements for forensic-related vacancies.

A probable nexus exists between the escalating crime levels in South Africa and the lack of focused Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa. This nexus contributes to the perception that there are no material repercussions for those who break the Republic of South Africa laws.

Research Question 2: What are the entry requirements for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa?

According to Swartz et al. (2019), the primary responsibility of faculty is to prepare students for the workforce and to contribute to knowledge. However, they also emphasise that graduates are dissatisfied with their education because they lack a relevant curriculum. Entry to qualifications within the dataset is through qualification with a lower National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). In most instances, RPL requires some related experience. Most qualifications within the dataset allow for RPL, highlighting previous assertions that Forensic Tertiary Education role-players do not prioritise the development of young persons entering the forensic industry and indicate their failure to collaborate and recognise the value of undergraduate development.

Research Question 3: What is the status of the articulation of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa?

Even though lateral and vertical articulation is mainly allowed by the qualifications within the dataset, diagonal articulation is uncommon to practise in South Africa. The current articulation status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa limits the options to articulate between qualifications registered on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) and those on the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF), intended to allow both articulation within occupational learning itself as well as articulation between workplace-based training and learning and further and higher education.

Theme 2: Aligning Curricula

The lack of easily accessible academic material regarding the forensic sector and Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa and the rest of the world led to the consulting of empirical research about skills, teamwork, and employability in other industries.

Research Question 4: Will the alignment of curricula with industry requirements and vice versa enhance the employability of graduates?

Botha (2021) cites Cloete (2015), saying that the South African economy cannot provide employment to its total potential workforce and list knowledge, skills, and attitude, along with the ability to present and the context in which to give it to potential employers, as factors affecting employability. According to empirical literature from China, Finland, Indonesia, Israel, the Slovak Republic, and the United States of America, aligning curricula with industry requirements will increase graduates’ employability, and graduates’ skills and knowledge should be given priority during the hiring process. According to an analysis of the empirical literature, emphasising the training of young people entering the forensic industry by coordinating curricula with policies, occupational competencies, and entry requirements for positions related to forensics should significantly increase the employability of qualified graduates.

Research Question 5: Will aligning curricula with industry requirements and vice versa increase role-players’ ability in the South African criminal justice system to effectively resolve crime?

Studies from Chile, China, Finland, India, Israel, the Slovak Republic, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America support Rampartab (2017), suggesting that curricula alignments through collaboration impact the ability of graduates to be more effective as employees. Due to the shortage of empirical research, no conclusive evidence exists that collaboration efforts and competencies will increase role-players’ ability in the South African criminal justice system to resolve crime effectively; the probability does, however, exist.

Deductions

Logic and literature dictate that a healthy relationship between industry and faculty benefits society. Despite significant research (Cunha & Ross, 2022; Jordaan & Bradshaw, 2015; Rampartab, 2017; Phillips, 2013) on different fields of forensics, wide-ranging studies about the status of South African Forensic Tertiary Education, the needs of graduates, and the need for collaborative competence development by role-players within these forensic fields are not commonly available.

Through the alignment of policies and curriculum, collaboration between academia and industry could have a beneficial direct and indirect impact on a productive society (Hartzel & Ozturk, 2022; Kanyumbal & Lourens, 2022; Kettunen et al., 2022; Scandura & Iammarino, 2022; Xu et al., 2022).

The findings of this study suggest a lack of focus from the South African forensic industry and academia to create practise directed qualifications. The study furthermore encourages educational leaders, managers, and administration to suitably align the current curriculum and design new curricula for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa. In addition, they need to collaborate for improved competence, advance vertical, lateral, and diagonal articulation, and develop policy that supports attempts to resolve crime effectively.

Implications

According to the findings of this study, a discussion of the theoretical, practical, and future implications as well as the strength and weaknesses of this study, is appropriate.

Theoretical Implications

Both themes, the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa and curricula alignment, encompassing the five research questions, provide insights into humanism (graduate-significant) and connectivism (identifying gaps in knowledge and remediating them) as educational learning theories applied to forensics in South Africa.

The lack of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa identifies gaps in knowledge and suggests that faculty and industry are not implementing intentionally graduate-significant strategies. In addition, the need for such research is evident from the lack of concern from faculty, the industry, and researchers about collaboration specific to forensics in South Africa.

Practical Implications

The findings of this study should prompt a skills audit of the forensic industry in South Africa parallel to a detailed audit of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa. The priority for curricula design is identified by overlapping the results of these audits with crime statistics. Then consider the needs of the industry employers and graduates to enable role-players to resolve crime in South Africa effectively.

The research’s uniqueness, being the first of its kind in South Africa, is that it creates value for stakeholders. By creating literature containing meaningful data about the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, the hypothesis is supported that aligning curricula with industry requirements and vice versa enhances the employability of graduates, enabling role-players to resolve crime in South Africa.

The study only considers South African qualifications registered on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) and excludes those on the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF).

The research theme for the data collection is restricted to South African registered qualifications containing the word “forensic” in the title—many registered qualifications cover, in their content, the forensic discipline in one way or another. These qualifications are excluded from this study due to their imperceptible nature.

The need for more forensic-specific material from which to conclude necessitated the utilisation of international and South African literature about the benefits of industry and academic collaboration in non-forensic disciplines.

Future Implications

Empirical literature to support the research theme, curricula alignment, is uncommon. The limited empirical literature suggests the need for individuals working in forensic-related disciplines to have specific qualifications. However, further research on both themes is essential to understand better and approach resolving crime strategies in South Africa.

Such research should focus on three aspects, (1) the disconnect between forensic curricula and occupational requirements, (2) the extent to which curricula of South African Forensic Tertiary Education aligns with the competencies required by the forensic industry, and (3) the occupational entry requirements for forensic-related vacancies.

Recommendations

The foundation hypothesis of this study is that the alignment of curricula with industry requirements and vice versa enhances the employability of graduates and enables role-players to resolve crime in South Africa. Therefore, this study creates literature containing essential data about the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa. The review of the empirical literature and data sources emphasised the lack of research on Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, highlighting the knowledge gap about the status of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa and prompting recommendations for further research.

Recommendation for Future Research

Recommendation 1: The lack of focus from the South African forensic industry and academia to create practise directed qualifications necessitates this recommendation for future research to determine the reasons for the low number of registered South African qualifications related to forensic disciplines and should include qualifications registered on the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF) and not only consider qualifications which contain the word “forensic” in their titles but also include those qualifications that contain the word “forensic” in their content.

Recommendation 2: The current curriculum of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa needs more substance in addressing the requirements for forensic-related vacancies. The recommendation is that educational leaders, managers, and administration engage with the forensic industry in South Africa to identify the criteria for forensic-related vacancies and matrix them against the relevant disciplines. They should then create policies that support successful efforts to reduce crime in South Africa.

Recommendation 3: The current curriculum of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa has a deficient focus. The recommendation is that educational leaders, managers, and administration suitably align the existing curricula of Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa with the needs of the industry and advance vertical, lateral, and diagonal articulation thereof.

Recommendation 4: Educational leaders, managers, and administration should design new curricula for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa based on the needs of the industry and fill the knowledge and skills gaps.

Recommendation 5: One final recommendation is to research partnerships between industry, academics, employees, and graduates to identify the variables to consider while enhancing competency within the forensic industry in South Africa to improve efforts to resolve crime effectively.

Recommendation for Future Practice

Recommendation 1: The alignment of the current curriculum and design of new curricula for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa should only commence with identifying the requirements for forensic-related vacancies and developing or aligning policy that supports attempts to resolve crime effectively.

Recommendation 2: The alignment of the current curriculum and design of new curricula for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa should commence with collaboration between industry, academia, employees, graduates, and the general public.

Recommendation 3: When aligning the current curriculum or designing new curricula for Forensic Tertiary Education in South Africa, consider integrating or recognising possible non- Forensic Tertiary Education skills development initiatives from employers and private skills development providers.

Final Conclusion

Two themes enclose the five research questions: Forensic Tertiary Education status in South Africa and curriculum alignment, which offer insights on humanism (graduate-significant) and connectivism (finding knowledge gaps and filling them) as applied to forensics in South Africa. Ultimately, this study encourages role-players to link current curricula with contemporary policies, professional competencies, and the entrance requirements for forensic-related vacancies. In addition, role-players need to identify specific practise-directed skills to develop new curricula aligned with policies.

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