S/NVQ v's College ?

NVQ or College?
A number of school leavers in our experience are disallusioned with school, maybe have tried 6 months or so at college and not enjoyed it and want to try the world of work. Other are ready for work as soon as they have left school and want to earn an income and enjoy spending it!

The NVQ was designed as a measurement of vocational competence and not as a training mechanism. This causes problems for young people dealing with an NVQ as they do not have the necessary levels of competence due to inexperience and if the NVQ is their only source of training as it often is then gaps in knowledge appear.

Of course NVQs are not the only sort of vocational qualifications and dependent upon the occupational area other qualifications make up the gaps and hone the necessary skills. We do not find that employers have all the faacts on NVQs and ofen employers combine an NVQ with training in other areas as part of the process.

The present Government have set targets for young people and adults as setting the NVQ as a minimum standard. This is quite a tough task as the NVQ is not only a measurement of ability but of competence in a given occupatiional area. With the vast unemployment figures setting occupational targets for the unemployed seems off the mark.

Assessors are trained in the analysis of evidence to meet the standards and are not stand alone training qualifications. It is fair to say that a lot of assessors are also trainers but the assessment qualifications themselves are geared to good assessment practice not training.

The NVQ does not have a high profile generally as it has been used with government funding to target the 16-24 age group. We find that employers are often surprised when they look at levels 4 and 5 to see the difference in standards.

Training By Design Global Ltd

2 Responses

AnonymousUser says:

September 21, 2001 at 7:35 am

NVQ or College?
A number of school leavers in our experience are disallusioned with school, maybe have tried 6 months or so at college and not enjoyed it and want to try the world of work. Other are ready for work as soon as they have left school and want to earn an income and enjoy spending it!

The NVQ was designed as a measurement of vocational competence and not as a training mechanism. This causes problems for young people dealing with an NVQ as they do not have the necessary levels of competence due to inexperience and if the NVQ is their only source of training as it often is then gaps in knowledge appear.

Of course NVQs are not the only sort of vocational qualifications and dependent upon the occupational area other qualifications make up the gaps and hone the necessary skills. We do not find that employers have all the faacts on NVQs and ofen employers combine an NVQ with training in other areas as part of the process.

The present Government have set targets for young people and adults as setting the NVQ as a minimum standard. This is quite a tough task as the NVQ is not only a measurement of ability but of competence in a given occupatiional area. With the vast unemployment figures setting occupational targets for the unemployed seems off the mark.

Assessors are trained in the analysis of evidence to meet the standards and are not stand alone training qualifications. It is fair to say that a lot of assessors are also trainers but the assessment qualifications themselves are geared to good assessment practice not training.

The NVQ does not have a high profile generally as it has been used with government funding to target the 16-24 age group. We find that employers are often surprised when they look at levels 4 and 5 to see the difference in standards.

Training By Design Global Ltd
User deleted says:

September 25, 2001 at 9:21 am

agree with comment, add own thoughts
I agree with the comments by the other responder. However the situation is more complicated than that. Some young people are ready for the self discipline required to attend college or university and others are not. Also some people have the financial support to attend while others do not. (This is the ‘extras’ required over and above the government support.)In addition, some people feel the inner need to attend more schooling and others don’t. Finally, the family support may or may not be there to attand. The support may be in the form of a tradition of further and higher education, or an aspiration for the children to attend. A parent and peers that say “Don’t bother” will be far more influential than high marks and other encouragements.
I feel that I can give these observations because I have attended University within the last year as a Masters student. Also, separately, I have been providing support and supervision to persons gaining competencies and exams to qualify for the Certified Accounting Technician qualification of the ACCA. I have therefore seen persons from both sides of the fence and why they are there.