NVQ - Is it worth the paper it's written on?

Let us think logically about an NVQ. The purpose of an NVQ was to widen participation in education. It came to light that not everybody learns well in an environment where information is to be taken on board and then regurgitated in exam format. Thus and NVQ gets born, a format in which the learner can be observed in the workplace, can produce evidence of works completed and can obtain testimony from those people who are in a position to make judgements about the quality of the work.

One of the questions that I often got asked when I was a trainer assesor is “what is it worth to me”? In other words, if the student passes an NVQ what is that certificate worth. The answer to the question certainly in my mind is that an NVQ acts as a kind of currency. The purpose of the NVQ is to help the government achieve it’s target of raising the standard of competence in the workplace to give us a better place in the global market place. An NVQ opens doors for the person who holds it. Because it places a benchmark upon the workforce that says that someone has achieved a certain level of competence and understanding over a range of circumstances that will occur in the workplace. Simple.

But hang on a minute. If you flood the market place with thousands of NVQ certificates that supposedly benchmark these qualities what have you actually achieved? Have you actually input any more knowledge and understand into the student. Has the level of competence actually been raised. Or can it be said that some of those colleges and learning providers that have cottoned on to the large amounts of government funding that can be drawn down to help provide staffing for such purposes have become much more interested in developing their assets and improving their land and property stakes. If this is so then this is at the cost of the credibility of an NVQ. The fact is that if everybody in the country has an NVQ level 2, what then has been gained. You cannot improve the economy of a country simply by printing more money. The country has to have reserves of gold against which this money is to be printed. Likewise an NVQ certificate. Unless the student actually learns something, improves competences and understanding then nothing has been achieved. All too often now greedy training providers are targetting NVQ’s at such a voracious rate it calls into question just who exactly is being served by this wholesale handing out of certificates. Not the learner certainly, handing out certificates with gay abandonment does in fact devalue its currency. If everyone has one, how then does the holder have an advantage in the job procurement stakes. If you are thinking of doing and NVQ, or you are an employer who has been told they can avail themselves of NVQ qualifications for their staff then let me appraise you of some questions you should ask.
• Who is funding this
• How much money is the training provider getting into their coffers
• What training is the provider supposed to offer. (You can garuantee that Learning and Skills Councils, through which the funding is reached will have requirements about the hours and level of training to be provided)
• How much of the training is actually class room based
• Can the provide define the on the job training that will be available
• How much of an actual involved will significant others have in the work place (Known as expert witnesses)
• How many hours face to face meetings will the provider provide
• What are the Guided Learning Hours.
• What is the workload of the individual assessor
• How many certificates on a yearly basis does the department hand out.

Armed with this information you will be able to avoid some of the pitfalls of the Train 2 Gain wave of training currently being offered.

Things to avoid.

• If your assessor tells you that the qualification should take about 12 weeks to complete. Most NVQ’s carry with them GLH of 70 or more. 12 weeks in what the individual provider would like to have because they can achieve more thereby draw down more funding
• If you see your assessor once a fortnight for 40 minutes or so
• If you are not offered any class room based training.
• If you are asked to fill in a booklet as a method of ‘training’
• If your assessor comes and ticks a few boxes and then asks you to sign something
• If you assessor gives out pre printed Witness Testimonies, or asks you to get a Witness Testimony from someone without first discussing with them the reasons for the testimony and what it should include.
• If your staff tell you that they have no idea what it is they are doing for their qualification or why?
• If the assessor frequently re-arranges appointments due to illness or pressures of work.

What you want from and NVQ

• You want to know what work you had to put into it, and what you have achieved in terms of personal development.
• You want it to upskill you in those areas that you or others have identified as needing upskilling.
• You should feel as though you have ownership of the qualification
• You want to have a personal relatilonship with your assessor.
• Your assessor visits regularly. Explains what the visit it for, conducts
the assessment and then explains very clearly what has been achieved so far.
• You will have an up to date and ongoing action plan
• Your learning is reviewed at regular intervals.

Happy learning!

For more information on nationally recognised qualifications see www.onlinecoachingpartnerships.co.uk