6 Responses

1. Arian Associates Ltd
   You don’t state whether you are looking to seek your own accreditation or source the accredited training from outside your organisation.

   If it is the first then there are literally hundreds of NVQ programmes that will assist you. If it is the second then a good starting point is your local FE college – which will usually have a wide range of qualifications that you can look at. If your local FE college does not appeal, then I would suggest trying one of your local training providers – the better ones will normally have a website you can access to take a look at what they have on offer.

   My experience of my local FE college is that their programmes are very flexible and they minimise staff downtime with well planned programmes and excellent student support.

2. Range of possible routes
   It’s useful to distinguish between accreditation and qualification, different types of qualification, and different sources of training.

   Accreditation is what awarding bodies do in agreeing to allow an organisation to offer their qualifications, by assessing their ability to deliver and quality assure training and assessment.

   Qualifications are what accredited organisations offer. There are three main types of qualification:
   1. National or Scottish Vocational Qualifications (S/NVQs) which assess workplace competence and don’t prescribe any training input, but assume that candidates will take advantage o a range of possible training as they require it.
   2. Vocationally Related Qualifications (VRQs) which are approved by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and which are all unique to various awarding bodies, but at prescribed levels (eg Level 3 equates to GCE A Level, Levels 4, 5 and 6 to the three years of a degree) and Level 7 to a masters degree).
   3. The third type are not available from every awarding body, but involve a less rigorous accreditation and allow more flexibility by the approved centres. One example is the ILM (www.i-l-m.com) which offers Endorsed Awards.

   You can avoid the whole accreditation process by going to an existing centre and getting them to take responsibility for the training and assessment, and ensuring QA, etc. This could be a local FE college or a private training provider. Alternatively, you can become an accredited (or endorsed) centre in your own right, buying in training from various sources (eg e-learning, workshops and seminars, etc). A lot depends on your own resources and experience, he degree of control you want over the whole process, and the volumes – accreditation isn’t easy or free, so isn’t worth doing for half a dozen people.

   If you want to talk through some of these issues, get in touch, and I’d be happy to chat them through with you.

3. Thanks
   Thank you David. Your comments and advice are extremely useful and informative.

4. on-line resources
   Hi there
   If you need qualifications or accreditation in the IT space especially, then take advantage of Skillsoft and their online learning resources – http://www.skillsoft.com. They provide all recognised certifications for Microsoft, Cisco, ITIL (courses and online library) for increasing management capability.

5. on-line resources
   Hi there
   If you need qualifications or accreditation in the IT space especially, then take advantage of Skillsoft and their online learning resources – http://www.skillsoft.com. They provide all recognised certifications for Microsoft, Cisco, ITIL as well as business resources (courses and online library) for increasing management capability.

6. Fnancial Awarenss Qualification
   Hi Sam

   There is a new ‘financial awareness’ qualification out in Jan aimed at individuals to show a minimum understanding of business finance. This is backed by elearning or CD based training, and an exam. We also have something similar for Project Managment.

   email me if you would like further details? [email protected]
   Thanks

   Martyn