More NVQs and TLA's from Education.

I though the last blog was getting a bit long so I move the broader (non-ITQ) stuff over here.

A couple of points of clarification, a TLA is a three letter acronym (HaHa). And I use the term English because the English education system is different to that in Scotland and Northern Ireland and is likely to diverge from the Welsh system as more power is devolved.

It's difficult to find a good explanation of NVQs. I find the the QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Agency) http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_6640.aspx not very helpful (like listening to a politician on the Today Programme)

Alan Chapman's site, though a bit dated, gives a better impression of what it all means http://www.businessballs.com/nvqs_national_vocational_qualifications.htm#correlations%20between%20qualifications

At one end NVQ's provide the operational and technical certification needed in skills based industries, engineering, construction, catering etc. Originally the awarding body and certificate reference were synonymous with the qualification so bricklayers had a City and Guilds 6217 and an office administrator had RSA II. Typically these would have studied at school or college and through evening classes and day release from work. That system started to fall apart in the late 70s and by the late 80s we realised our workforce didn't seem to getting the training it needed.

We have gradually put a qualifications back but not with the comprehensive training that used to go with it. If you have ever tried to get a decent joiner or an administrator who can type (rather than one with keyboard skills) you'll realise we still have some way to go.

Alongside this unified craft skill qualification it seemed like a good idea to try and up-skill the rest of the 'poorly skilled' workforce*. So the NVQ was extended to every type of occupation, this was more than justified as many of the new roles in care, administration, IT and so were so new that formal qualifications and skills training never been developed.

The criteria are set by an awarding body (exam board) in the case of my ITQ OCR but the body setting The standard are the SCC (Sector Skills Council) these are umbrella organisations representing the training needs of large and often disparate sectors.
Asset Skills
Automotive Skills
Cogent
Construction Skills
Creative & Cultural Skills
E-Skills UK
EU Skills
Financial Services
GoSkills
Government Skills
Improve Ltd.
Lantra
Lifelong Learning UK
People 1st
Proskills
Semta
Skillfast
Skills Active Skills for Care and Development


*England has always had a thing about its poorly educated workforce since it lost its lead in industrialisation at the end of the 19th century. One reason for the lack of qualifications was the difficulty obtaining them, a university degree or a craft apprenticeship took, on average, 5 years to obtain from age 16 and both were only open to small minority.

ITQ3, NVQ and other TLA's from the English education system

I am working on my ITQ3 at the moment. A somewhat thankless task, part of my "eating our dog food" philosophy. As a manager in the Education Sector I feel I should do regular consumer tests. I thought, rather optimistically as it turns out, that the ITQ might be fun.

ITQs are part of England's NVQ structure. National Vocational Qualifications, NVQs, are vocationally based qualifications originally designed to enable people who were working to have their knowledge and experience accredited and to provide them with a formal qualification equivalent to a conventional educational qualification.

NVQ's don't need to include any new skills, do not require you to follow a course or to gain any new knowledge, they can be purely an assessment of what you already know. This assessment involves the gathering of a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate that you meet all the requirements of the qualification.

This assessment route should make it less daunting for the student (or Learner as we are called in this world) although from my own point of view I would rather write an answer to a question or take an exam.

But there are no questions, there are only criteria, all of which have to be met. So here I sit trying to match my criteria.

The standards are the set by an SCC (Sector Skills Council). These are umbrella organisations representing the training needs of large and often disparate sectors. A list of the sector skills councils appear in my next blog along with an an attempt at describing the qualification system.

SCC for the IT industry is e-Skills and their NVQ standard for ITQ can be found at http://www.e-skills.com/nvq/1126 . (the page will force you register an email address and password to access this information)

I do wonder why I am doing this. I know I can do the stuff, or I wouldn't be able to compile my portfolio. My colleagues and management know I can do the stuff because they work with me and see me using it. So why bother? Well in the public sector 'a recognised IT qualification' often turns up in job specifications so having this will check a useful box.

The structure of the qualification is very rigid. If you do the Word Processing Module (by which they mean Microsoft Word - but this can't be acknowledged as any Word Processing software is supposedly acceptable). You must cover all the criteria so if you have never had to embed a spreadsheet in a word document (and why would you) you must contrive to do so in order to meet the criteria. If you can attach a printer or install a new driver it doesn't count if you are not following that particular module. Instead of looking at a broad range of skill they have created artificial modules based on Microsoft's division of the PC. The qualification is very obviously designed the suppliers of and educators in IT with little or no input from the business use end.

Still this blog has fulfilled one the criteria, contribution to a web site! Now I have to make three contributions web sites, so can I make two more entries or do they have to be different web sites. I'll have to email my assessor.

I'll just print the page, I know it's an IT user qualification but, the FE sector still likes to work from paper.