1.1 Introduction

Welcome to the Eco-Ranger skills programme. Eco-Ranging is an exciting and rewarding career in the well-established nature conservation sector and can lead to employment opportunities, not only in South Africa but almost anywhere in the world that you choose to work.

This skills programme is accredited under the QCTO, a South African accreditation body that ensures that quality standards and relevance in occupational qualifications are met in the development and implementation by training providers.

A skills programme is a unit of learning that leads to an employable skill and earns credits on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) towards a qualification. The Eco-Ranger skills programme is 60 credits at NQF Level 4. As a general rule of thumb, 1 credit will require 10 hours of theoretical and practical learning and so this skills programme will take you 600 hours of learning – this is approximately 75 days or 15 weeks if done on a full time basis but each training provider will have their own unique learning schedule that may range from 4 months (full time) to a year (part time).

This skills programme is made up of 60% or 36 credits of theory (Knowledge Modules) and 40% or 24 credits of practice (Practical/Application Modules).