A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
The formal recognition of a candidate’s work against prescribed criteria; candidates can be accredited for all or part of a unit, or in all or part of an award.
The tasks an indivdual needs to undertake to reach particular goals; plans usually include target and review dates, and are often agreed with a supervisor; they may cover any time period, one or more goals, and may be recorded on formal documentation or in note form.
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)
APL is a process by which NVQ candidates can use proof of past achievements and experience in their portfolios of evidence.
Contract between a employee, employer and the LSC, under which the:
- Employee becomes a Apprentice or and Advanced Apprentice and agrees to work towards achieving the NVQ/SVQ, Key Skills and ERR targets set by the SSC for the occupational sector (for Apprentices usually a Level 2 NVQ, Key Skills at Levels 1 or 2 and ERR, and for Advanced Apprentices usually a Level 3 NVQ, a Technical Certificate, Key Skills at Levels 2-3 and ERR) by his/her 25th birthday.
- Employer agrees to support the Apprentice in achieving his/her NVQ/SVQ and Key Skills targets.
- The LSC subsidises the employer with payments for each month of the Apprenticeship and the achievement of target qualifications. Subsidies come from Government, are at fixed rates, and are subject to stringent audit.
An organisation approved by an Awarding Body to conduct NVQ assessments. The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) is an Approved Assessment Centre.
A person qualified to assess candidates. An Assessor must be competent in the occupation being assessed and hold training and development NVQ D Units 32 and 33.
The process by which the occupational competence of NVQ and SVQ candidates is confirmed by an Assessor who is occupationally competent and holds learning and development NVQ Unit A1 or the old training and development NVQ Units D32 and D33.
The range of questionnaires, tests, checklists and other materials used to assess specific skills, knowledge, qualities or understanding
The range of options to candidate and assessor to determine competence or achievement; these may be work-based, or training centre/college-based; they may be formally planned, occur during normal work and be based on a whole range of sources of evidence.
An agreed statement between candidate and assessor, normally written, of how the candidate will demonstrate competence; plans may cover whole or part awards or untis; assessment plans need to specify as a minimum what will be assessed, the criteria for assessment, how the assessment will be undertaken and by whom, the time-scale involved and any special arrangements that need to be made: assessment plans can be for individuals or for groups.
Evidence can be established as being that of the candidate rather than that of another or a group; if group work is used as evidence, the candidate’s contribution should be clearly identifiable.
An organisation such as EdExel, Royal Society of Arts, Construction Industry Training Board approved by QCA and SQA to award qualifications.
Anything (physical or mental) which prevents a candidate from taking up opportunities for training or assessment.
Increasingly known as Skills for Life, the Basic Skills are the DfES-approved standards of literacy and numeracy required by everyone to live and work in modern society. Related to Key Skills, Basic Skills programmes involve diagnostic testing, support and attainment testing.
Used in range statements to indicate oral or written reports from the candidate which involve descriptions of activities and processes and some self-assessment, eg. a work diary.
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The process of registration, assessment, recording results, completing documentation, applying for and receiving certificates.
QCA and SQA define competence as ‘the ability to perform to standards required in employment across a range of circumstances and to meet changing demands’. This includes the requisite knowledge, skill and understanding.
See Range Statement.
Making judgements on a candidate’s performance or ability over a period of time.
Continuing Personal or Professional Development.
An arrangement which enables candidates to collect individual units or elements of competence over a period of time; these can then be matched and accredited against appropriate awards or qualifications: reassesssment does not have to take place should a credit be used for credit transfer.
Using credits (units, qualifications) to count towards another different (but usually related) award.
Refers to evidence which shows the candidate can competently perform at the time of the assessment; currency often depends on the subject, eg. computing changes quickly, bricklaying techniques less swiftly; evidence less than two years old is usually required.
Directorate Educational and Training Services (Army). Responsible for ‘pan Army’ NVQ schemes (ie those not exclusive to one or 2 capbadges).
Assessing a product or process, eg. a cake, a completed stocksheet, a training session.
See Diverse Evidence
Evidence which candidates have produced themselves.
Evidence drawn from a number of different sources, including natural performance; see range for D33.
Department for Education and Skills.
A description of a single action, behaviour or outcome required to be demonstrated separately; a number of elements make up each unit; for assessment purposes, elements can be accredited separately; all elements must have been accredited before a unit award is given.
All Apprenticeship programmes require learners to be made aware of their Employment Rights and Responsibilities.
That which a candidate offers to an assessor in order to be judged competent (see Competence). Both Performance Evidence and Knowledge Evidence will be required. Evidence may include work products, statements by line managers/colleagues/customers, photographs, video/audio tape, work records, assignments/projects, and statements by the Assessor. Evidence must be; authentic, complete, current, reliable, sufficient and valid.
Learning which has happened through and from experience, as opposed to formal programmes of education or training; much adult learning occurs inthis way and the learner often needs help to recognise skills, knowledge and understanding gained in non-formal ways.
Assessment by an assessor who is not part of (is external to) the assessment or accreditation centre.
The process by which the Internal Verification of the Assessment of NVQ and SVQ candidates is confirmed by an External Verifier from the Awarding Body.
A person appointed by the awarding body who approves assessment centres and then regularly monitors their operation to national standards; they act as a quality assurance link between the approved centre and the awarding body.
Ensuring just and equitable conditions in the assessment process for al candidates, eg. by providing for candidates with special needs and by following that national standards for assessment
Receiving a process and giving constructive oral or written comment to the candidate so that they understand the strengths and weaknesses of their performance evidence and understand what to do as a consequence.
Assessment made to help determine future actions and development or to confirm progress.
Means of testing proposed NVQ/SVQs and the National Standards upon which they are based.
The process of breaking down a whole job or task into its component pieces according to the different tasks performed in that job; NVQ competences have been determined through the process of functional analysis.
A paradigm of work functions in an occupational sector used to guide the development of National Standards for that sector’s NVQ/SVQs.
Standards of competence common across occupational boundaries, eg management, health and safety.
The Higher Education (HE) Funding Council for England allocates Government funding for HE. It has counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A reference document agreed with an external verifier which lists fully acceptable, guaranteed NVQ evidence that is held centrally and need only be referred to and cross-referenced in a candidate’s portfolio, replacing the need for the actual evidence thus listed to appear in the portfolio itself. The evidence listed may include material not suitable for reasons of security or confidentiality for inclusion in a document which is outside the Army’s control, central course records (including test scores) and individual course reports, though this is not an exhaustive list.
Help for the candidate which is organized from another source, eg. by putting them in touch with someone who could train them in certain techniques.
Assessment by an assessor who is a member of staff of teh assessment or accreditation centre with which the candidate is registered.
The process by which the Assessment of NVQ and SVQ candidates quality assured by an Internal Verifier.
A person approved by the external verifier to co-ordinate the assessment prosesses and practices within a centre, and who liases with the external verifier and the awarding bodies. An internal verifier must be competent in the occupation concerned and hold learning and development NVQ Units V1 or the old training and development NVQ Unit D34.
A set of generic skills, transferable across all occupational areas. There are 6 areas, and candidates can gain certificates of competence in each at any of 3 Levels. The 6 areas are:
- Communication (Comm)
- Application of number (AoN)
- Information and communications technology (ICT)
- Working with others (WWO)
- Improving own learning and performance(IOLP)
- Problem solving (PS)
Achieving any of these subjects requires production of a portfolio of evidence and, in the case of Comm, AoN and ICT, success in a multiple choice examination. Certain other qualifications can provide exemption from all or parts of the Key Skills requirements.
Key Skills form part of apprenticeships alongside NVQs and technical certificates.
A means of showing that a candidate knows and understands both what they are doing and the context in which they are working; knowledge evidence is also a means of showing that the candidate knows what to do in a range of different situations.
Learning & Skills Council (LSC)
Government agency that:
- Promotes and supports learning and upskilling
- Allocates Government funding to all training and education for adults except Higher Education
- Audits all training and education that it subsidises
The LSC has about 40 regional branches covering England and Wales.
NVQ/SVQs have 5 Levels from basic competence (level 1) to strategic management (level 5); the levels are determined by job role and are defined on the basis of the skill, knowledge and understanding required, together with the degree of responsibility and supervision involved in performing the related work roles.
A document issued by many awarding bodies to candidates in which detailed tasks and tests are set out together with the required units and elements of competence; both assessor and candidate are required to sign in the book as competence is confirmed.
A process whereby the results of assessments from more than one source are compared together and against an agreed, accepted standard; moderation can be internally or externally conducted.
A self-contained unit og learning which can build towards a qualification; a BTEC leisure studies course might include modules in organizing sporting events and obtaining sponsorship for sport.
National Framework Of Qualifications
A means of classifying both National Occupational Standards and qualifications (including NVQ/SVQs) to illustrate their Levels and inter-relationship. The NQF in England and Wales recognise 8 levels above entry level. The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) recognises 12 levels.
National Occupational Standards
NOS are standards designed by an SSB to define competence within the occupational sector for which it is responsible.
Evidence which occurs as a normal part of an individual’s work, ie. part of their job or part of a programme of study.
A National Vocational Qualification is a qualification fulfilling QCA criteria, eg based on occupational competence, achievable by a variety of methods, etc. An NVQ consists of several Units of Competence. The Scottish equivalent is the SVQ.
A paradigm of occupations within a sector and their inter-relationships. Details the sector’s structure and strength.
Systems of learning, training, education or assessment open to as many people as possible through removing as many barriers to participation as possible.
Methods of acquiring skills, knowledge and understanding which do not involve traditional attendance: at classes or even require contact with a tutor; they often involve the use of interactive learning packages (written or video), supplemented by appropriate tutor support.
Open University.
Personal Development Record issued to soldiers. To be used to plan and record all personal development.
Oral or written descriptions of activities or pocesses from the candidate’s peer group providing information about the candidate’s performance which can be used for assessment purposes.
Statements which indicate the standards of performance required for each element of competence; all performance criteria need to be met before an element can be accredited.
Evidence from the candidate’s workplace activities, including things produced (product evidence) and the means by which they have been so (process evidence).
A collated collection of evidence of competence that the candidate presents for assessment. See Assessment and Evidence.
The Qualifications & Curriculum Authority is the regulatory and accreditation authority for NVQs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and is responsible for all academic and vocational qualifications other than degrees. It is also responsible for the National Curriculum. SQA is the Scottish equivalent.
The Quality Improvement Agency (formerly the Learning & Skills Council Development Agency).
Methods by which standards are regularly checked and monitored; systems which ensure that procedures are done in certain ways, eg. BS5750 (also known as as BSEN ISO 9000).
Sometimes called Scope or Context, Range Statements defines the scope of circumstances and contexts to which an individual Standard applies. It may include lists of equipment used, factors such as “uncooperative/cooperative customer”, and what in Army Training Objectives are called “Conditions” (eg “by night and by day”).
See Simulation.
An organization which conducts its own assessments under the supervision of a larger approved centre; staff follow the same practices and procedures as those of the approved centre.
See Range Statement.
The 25 SSCs are bodies licensed by the Sector Skills Development Agency to identify, monitor and report on workforce development needs in their respective sectors and to ensure the development and maintenance of appropriate occupational standards and qualifications for them. Some are Standards Setting Bodies in their own right, others work with independent SSBs.
A realsitic exercise set up specifically to assess knowledge, skills or understanding; it should replicate a real work stuation and should be used in circumstances where it would be difficult or costly to assess within the work context leg, fire fighting procedure, dealing with an emergency first aid situation. The internal verifier should be able to advise on the acceptable use of simulation in consultaton with the external verifier. Sometimes known as ‘replication’.
Special Assessment Requirements
NVQs emphasise the importance of access to fair an reliable assessment. According to candidates’ circumstances, this may involve special arrangements being made, eg. physical access.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is the accreditation authority for SVQs in Scotland. QCA is the equivalent for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Sector Skills Development Agency was established by DfES to promote and direct Sector Skills Councils.
A specification of expected performance in employment. See Element.
An industry body empowered to specify occupational standards within an industry.SSBs develop and seek QCA/SQA accreditation for National Occupational Standards.
A Scottish Vocational Qualification is a qualification fulfilling SQA criteria, eg based on occupational competence, achievable by a variety of methods, etc. The equivalent elsewhere in the United Kingdom is the NVQ.
The identification of individual or organisational training needs through a systematic analysis of current skills against future performance requirements.
The ability to relate learning or performance in one area or context to another, eg. a candidate who can measure.
A Unit is the smallest part of an NVQ/SVQ that can be certificated in its own right. It describes a significant aspect of a job. Some NVQ/SVQ Units consists of 2 or more Elements.
Underpinning (Knowledge & Understanding)
That which ensures that tasks are not performed unthinkingly, but shows that candidates know why things are done in a particluar way, and that they have a general and/or specific knowledge about the task overall.
Units within NVQs can be accredited separately; a unit is the smallest amount of achievement or competence which can be submitted to an awarding body for accreditation.
An assessment process has validity if it measures what it is supposed to measure.
The process of checking that the correct and agreed procedures and systems have been used.
A third party statement confirming competence against specific units/elements.
See Performance evidence.
Learning which occurs in the workplace rather than, through attendance on a formal programme of study based in an institution; some programmes of study do, however, include work-based learning as part of the course.
Training which tales place within the..
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