National Certificate in Insurance Administration
NQF Level 3
Unit Standard 8993: Interpret current affairs related to financial services in general and insurance in particular
Credits: 10
Notional Hours of Learning: 100
Learner Material
This outcomes-based learning material was developed by IISA
with funding from INSETA in March 2003.
The material is generic in nature.
It’s purpose is to serve as a guide for the further development and customization of company-specific, learner-specific
and situation-specific learning interventions.
18/06/03
Page 2
Contents
Topic Page
Unit Standard 3
Learner material 6
Instructions 6
Process/Activities 7
Examples: Guide for Assessment of Portfolio 10
Critical Crossfield Outcomes 11
Oral Assessment 12
Additional Notes/Resources 13
1. TITLE: Interpret current affairs related to financial services in general and
insurance in particular
2. UNIT STANDARD NUMBER: 8993
3. LEVEL ON NQF: 3
4. CREDITS: 10
5. FIELD: Business, Commerce and Management Studies
SUB FIELD: Finance, Economics and Accounting
6. ISSUE DATE:
7. REVIEW DATE:
8. PURPOSE:
This unit standard is intended to promote general knowledge and understanding of current affairs in the financial services industry in order to ensure knowledgeable and informed workers in the industry. It addresses a broad base of knowledge and requires the interpretation and comparison of current affairs. Practical competence includes significant choice and a wide range of contexts.
The qualifying learner is capable of:
· Interpreting events in the physical, socio-political and economic environments that impact on the insurance sub-field.
· Interpreting business news events of importance to the insurance sub-field.
· Comparing information about the same event from two sources.
· Accessing information from a variety of media.
9. LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE:
There is open access to this unit standard. Learners should be competent in Communication and Mathematical literacy at Level 2.
10. SPECIFIC OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
SO / Description / Assessment Criteria1. / Interpret information about events in the physical environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field.
(Range: Includes but is not restricted to floods, earthquakes ,drought and other natural disasters) / 1.1 Current events in the physical environment are interpreted and an indication is given of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
1.2 Information relating to current events in the physical environment is collected and organised to allow for comparison.
1.3 Similar events in the physical environment are compared in terms of severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
1.4 Events in the physical environment are compared in a table in terms of severity and impact for three sectors of the sub-field.
1.5 Reports on the same event in the physical environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication are compared and the differences between the reports are tabulated.
2. / Identify events in the socio-political environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field.
(Range: Includes but is not restricted to elections, legislation, diseases, pandemics, war, riots and other socio events or disasters) / 2.1 Current events in the socio-political environment are interpreted and an indication is given of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
2.2 Information relating to current events in the socio-political environment is collected and organised to allow for comparison.
2.3 Similar events in the socio political environment are compared in terms of severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
2.4 Socio-political events are compared in a table in terms of severity and impact for three sectors of the sub-field.
2.5 Reports on the same event in the socio-political environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication are compared and the differences between the reports are tabulated.
3. / Identify events in the economic environment that could impact the insurance sub-field.
(Range: Includes but is not restricted to insolvencies, mergers, acquisitions, retrenchments, market fluctuations) / 3.1 Current events in the economic environment are interpreted and an indication is given of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
3.2 Information relating to current events in the economic environment and inflation is collected and organised to allow for comparison.
3.3 Similar events in the economic environment are compared in terms of severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
3.4 The concept of inflation is explained with reference to the effect of inflation on insurance premiums, medical costs, pensions and the value of the Rand in real terms.
3.5 Current value and the effect of inflation are compared for two different investments.
3.6 Socio-economic events are compared in a table in terms of severity and impact for three sectors of the sub-field.
3.7 The events are interpreted in terms of groups of people and kinds of work most likely to be affected by each event.
3.8 Reports on the same event in the economic environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication are compared and the differences between the reports are tabulated.
4. / Compare business news of importance / 4.1 Events in business that make headline news are identified and prioritised in terms of importance to a particular section of the insurance sub-field.
4.2 The importance of the event, and possible repercussions within the insurance sub-field are discussed.
4.3 Problems experienced in the financial services industry are interpreted and compared to industry best practice.
4.4 New developments in the financial services industry are examined and an indication given of their potential to improve business practice.
4.5 Two major events in the financial services industry are selected and compared in terms of their impact on the insurance sub-field.
11. ACCREDITATION AND MODERATION:
This unit standard will be internally assessed by the provider and moderated by a moderator registered by INSQA or a relevant accredited ETQA. The mechanisms and requirements for moderation are contained in the document obtainable from INSQA, INSQA framework for assessment and moderation.
12. RANGE STATEMENT:
The typical scope of this unit standard is news from a daily or weekly newspaper, television or radio newscast or other news medium. Learners are not expected to access information from dedicated financial newspapers or journals.
13. NOTES:
CRITICAL CROSS-FIELD and DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES:
This unit standard supports in particular, the following critical cross field outcomes at unit standard level:
1. Learners can collect, organise and evaluate information when researching and interpreting current affairs and indicating the possible impact of current events on the insurance sector.
2. Learners are able to demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems when comparing and interpreting socio-political, economic and physical events and the groups of people and kinds of work most likely to be affected by the events.
3. Learners can communicate effectively using visual, mathematics and language skills when presenting the findings of their research.
4. Learners are able to explore a variety of strategies of learning when gathering information from a broad spectrum of media.
Instructions:
Ø This task is expected to require 100 hours of reading, research and response by you
Ø Your notes, summaries, written feedback, and transcribed oral feedback (where applicable) must be collected and stored in a portfolio.
Ø The portfolio can be a flip file, scrapbook or exercise book.
Ø Each article / notes or summary should be neatly pasted, dated and headed “Specific Outcome 1, 2, 3, or 4” depending on what aspect it covers.
Ø Your portfolio will be assessed at the end of the twelve-week period.
Ø During the twelve weeks, you should have regular contact and discussion sessions with your trainer / facilitator. During these sessions the progress of your portfolio will be checked. Should you live in a rural / distant area, your contact session can be telephonic / via fax or via e-mail.
Ø At these contact sessions you will be asked to comment on some of the articles you selected and this oral input will form part of your assessment for this unit standard.
Ø After three months you will also need to fill in a questionnaire as part of the assessment of this unit standard.
ACTIVITIES
Specific Outcome 1:
Interpret information about events in the physical environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field
Action 1 / Do PERSONAL RESEARCH to obtain information regarding interpretation of information about events in the physical environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field. Once you have this information, write down (or type) on a piece of paper the answers to the following questions: The answers to the questions below need not be longer than a paragraph each.)
· Interpret current events in the physical environment and give an indication of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
· Collect and organise information relating to current events in the physical environment to allow for comparison.
· Compare similar events in the physical environment and rank them in order of the severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
· Compare events in the physical environment in a table in terms of severity and impact for three other? sectors of the sub-field.
· Compare reports on the same event in the physical environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication and put the differences between the reports into a table fro comparison.
Once you have answered these questions, paste the answers into your portfolio of evidence, and number them clearly : Specific Outcome 1, Number 1
Specific Outcome 2:
Identify events in the socio-political environment that
could impact on the insurance sub-field
Action 2 / Do PERSONAL RESEARCH to obtain information regarding events in the socio-political environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field. Once you have this information, write down (or type) on a piece of paper the answers to the following questions (the answers to the questions below need not be longer than a paragraph each):
· Interpret current events in the socio-political environment and give an indication of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
· Collect and organise information relating to current events in the socio-political environment to allow for comparison.
· Compare similar events in the socio political environment in terms of severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
· Compare socio-political events in a table in terms of severity and impact for three sectors of the sub-field.
· Compare reports on the same event in the socio-political environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication and tabulate the differences between the reports.
Once you have answered these questions, paste the answers into your portfolio of evidence, and number them clearly : Specific Outcome 2, Number 2
Specific Outcome 3:
Identify events in the economic environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field
Action 3 / Do PERSONAL RESEARCH to obtain information regarding events in the economic environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field. Once you have this information, write down (or type) on a piece of paper the answers to the following questions (the answers to the questions below need not be longer than a paragraph each):
· Interpret current events in the economic environment and give an indication of their possible impact on the insurance sub-sectors.
· Collect and organise information relating to current events in the economic environment and inflation so as to allow for comparison.
· Compare similar events in the economic environment in terms of severity of impact on the insurance sub-field.
· Explain the concept of inflation with reference to the effect of inflation on insurance premiums, medical costs, pensions and the value of the Rand in real terms.
· Compare current value and the effect of inflation for two different investments.
· Compare socio-economic events in a table in terms of severity and impact for three sectors of the sub-field.
· Interpret the events in terms of groups of people and kinds of work most likely to be affected by each event.
· Compare reports on the same event in the economic environment from the main section and the business section of a daily or weekly newspaper or any other relevant medium of communication and tabulate the differences between the reports.
Once you answered these questions, paste the answers into your portfolio of evidence, and number them clearly : Specific Outcome 3, Number 3
Specific Outcome 4:
Compare business news events of importance
Action 4 / Do PERSONAL RESEARCH to obtain information regarding the comparing of business news events of importance. Once you have this information, write down (or type) on a piece of paper the answers to the following questions (the answers to the questions below need not be longer than a paragraph each):
· Identify events in business that make headline news and prioritise it in terms of importance to a particular section of the insurance sub-field.
· Discuss the importance of the event, and possible repercussions within the insurance sub-field.
· Interpret problems experienced in the financial services industry and compare it to industry best practice.
· Examine new developments in the financial services industry and give an indication of their potential to improve business practice.
· Select and compare two major events in the financial services industry in terms of their impact on the insurance sub-field.
Once you answered these questions, paste the answers into your portfolio of evidence, and number them clearly : Specific Outcome 4, Number 4
Guide for assessment of portfolios
SPECIFIC OUTCOME 1
Interpret information about events in the physical environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field.
SPECIFIC OUTCOME 2
Identify events in the socio-political environment that
could impact on the insurance sub-field
SPECIFIC OUTCOME 3
Identify events in the economic environment that could impact on the insurance sub-field
SPECIFIC OUTCOME 4
Compare business news events of importance / The questions concerning events in the physical environment are answered correctly
The answers are pasted into the portfolio of evidence
The questions concerning events in the socio-political environment are answered correctly
The answers are pasted into the portfolio of evidence
The questions concerning the events in the economic environment are answered correctly.
The answers are pasted into the portfolio of evidence
The questions regarding the comparison of business news events of importance are answered correctly.
The answers are pasted into the portfolio of evidence / § The explanation and examples not recorded
§ The concept and illustration are not recorded
§ Terms and explanation are not recorded
§ List not recorded
§ Terms and explanation are not recorded
§ List not recorded
§ Comparisons are not recorded
§ List not recorded
CRITICAL CROSSFIELD OUTCOMES MATRIX