What’s Your NVQ Worth?

NVQ – The numbers don’t stack up.

Some years ago I worked for a college that would deliver NVQ’s at a tremendous rate and in extraordinary numbers.  So extraordinary that in fact many of us began to question how it was possible for them to achieve the numbers they did.  At the time the expectation was that each assessor would achieve at least eighty learners NVQ’s against their targets.  Multiply eighty by one hundred and fifty staff and you can see how much money this college was making.  Then the average payout for an NVQ was about a thousand pounds.  Of course no one can argue with the concept that colleges are in business and in competition with one another for that business so I suppose how they conducted their business was up to them.

NVQ Assessors Finding Work Loads Stressful

The real sticking point came when some of us began to add things up. For example, if the guided learning hours for one NVQ was supposed to be ninety and each assessor had eighty learners each, that works out at seven thousand two hundred hours per year.  If you divide 7,200 hours between 37 hours (working week) you get 194 weeks.  Except everyone knows there are not 194 working weeks in a year. In fact in an academic year there are often only 42 weeks in the year since with holidays and statutory holidays the other ten weeks are vacation.  It doesn’t take much working out to see that some of those learners are not going to get the time and care that they need in order to get the full benefit of their qualification.

NVQ – Not Worth The Paper It’s Written On?

Around the time that I began thinking about moving on to pastures greener this particular college was thinking about increasing the number of achievements it wanted from its staff to 100 per year, which is IMHO nigh on impossible.  It was these demands that started people saying that an NVQ is not worth the paper it is written on.  In the community of NVQ learners and providers the joke was that NVQ stood for “not very qualified” or “no value qualification” Of course nowadays the bottom has fallen out of the NVQ market.  Train to Gain funding, which enabled some educational establishments to make a lot of money has withdrawn and in its place the emphasis is now on the Apprenticeship, the dangers though still remain the same, some providers will still try to push the Apprenticeships through at tremendous speed so that they can make their money.  This is why if you as an employer are thinking of taking on an apprentice, or you are a person thinking of entering the apprenticeship scheme you should ask some simple but very important questions to ensure that you get the best service a provider can offer.

NVQ – Ask The Right Questions.

Some establishments will still be tempted to give out certificates with out having the correct checks and balances in place that ensure that the learner has actually learned something, not just been observed once or twice and given a qualification on the strength of those observations alone.  So if you are about to embark on an Apprenticeship learning scheme I would advise that you take some time to ask some pertinent questions of the learning provider so that you can  aim to get the best level of training that you can.  Some of the questions you might like to ask are below.

How Many People Do Assessors Carry As A Case Load?

If you ask this question and the training provider tells you that assessors carry a case load of more than 40 you might want to consider how much quality time each learner is likely to get with the assessor/trainer.  A good rule of measurement for a QCF qualification is 10 Guided learning hours per credit.  A customer service level 2 Qualification carries about 350 GLH, if you add to that the 90 or so hours required of the technical certificate and then the 40 or so hours each for the Key Skills you can begin to see how having a case load of more than 40 or so can become an unmanageable task.  Carrying a case load of 40 learners giving approximately 2 hours per month to meetings and assessment time (when you factor in the setting of assessment plans, the compilation of handouts and resources and the travelling distance to cover)  is a manageable number. This is not to say that the only person guiding the learner has to be the assessor, this can also be done by a staff member sometimes referred to as a mentor.

According to the Data Service Guided Learning Hours are defined as

DEFINITION

1. Guided Learning Hours are defined as all times when a member of staff is present to give specific guidance towards the learning aim being studied on a programme.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

2. Guided Learning Hours include Lectures, Tutorials and
Supervised study, in, for example; Open Learning Centres and learning workshops.

3. It also includes time spent by staff assessing a learner’s achievements, for example in the assessment of competence for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’s).

4. It does not include time spent by staff in the day-to-day marking of assignments and homework where the learner is not present, nor does it include hours where supervision is of a general nature and is not specific to the study of Learners.

What Off The Job Training Is Provided?

SASE requirements stipulate that both on the job and off the job training and learning should be accounted for within the qualification.   You should ask the training provider what off the job training will be organised.  Either the establishment that you work for, or the training provider that is doing your Apprenticeship should make provision for you to do some off the job training relevant to your learning aim.  Off the job training can involved distance learning and home study as long as it can be verified, or it can mean going into the training establishment or college for some time to learn new skills or knowledge about a subject.

How Often Will I See My Trainer?

It’s crucial that you see your trainer on a regular basis, or at least you hear from your trainer every couple of weeks.  It has become more popular these days for trainers to work on a freelance self employed basis.  This can put quite a distance between those learning and those training.  However with the emergence of new technologies ways of coping with this distance are becoming more innovative so that some of the study and assessment can be done at home.

Distance Learning Using Technology

These days I tend to do my discussions with my learners using Skype or if they don’t have  Skype I use my mobile phone and record the discussion while we have it.  This way I can keep in regular contact with my learners throughout the programme. It helps to reduce the feeling of distance between those learning and myself and can make the study more interesting.  I find that my younger learners are also quite excited at the idea of using technology to advance their learning especially if it means that they can study a little from home and make faster progress.  It usually works out that I see them face to face once a month, we have a distance learning discussion once a month and I set them one written assignment once a month.  This way they are in contact with me three different times during a month keeping the momentum going.  I also prefer to use an electronic portfolio making the submission of evidence much easier for the learner and much quicker for the assessment and feedback.

Will I Need To Study From Home?

One of the things you should find out before you start the learning programme is “how much time do I need to study”? and “do I need to study from home”?  In other words is this a distance learning programme? In terms of an apprenticeship it should not be a home study course or a distance learning programme.  Your employer should be giving you adequate training as well as allowing your trainer/assessor access to you on a regular basis to discuss and assess your progress.  However your employer may feel that because they are giving you on going training and allowing access by your trainer that it is only fair that you do some of your study at home in your own time, showing a level of personal commitment to your own learning and development.  I think a good figure to work with in terms of how much time your will need to study and write up your assignments whether from home or in the workplace, if you are allowed,  is at least 2 hours per week.

How Long Will The Course Last?

If you are doing a level 2 Apprenticeship then you should allow for up to 12 months to complete your course.  A Level 3 Apprentice has up to 18 months to complete.  You can do it much earlier if you choose but this would depend on how much time you are able to study and whether you are committed to some home study.  It is also not a good idea to expect to submit your last assignment a couple of days before your finish date.  A portfolio has to be verified before it is submitted and a certificate is received. These processes can take a month or two so you should be looking to have gone the distance of your complete learning programme somewhere in the region of ten months for a level 2.

Summary.

In conclusion it is important that you discover how much contact time you will have with your assessor/trainer.  You will need to know how much off the job training you are going to receive and where and when it will be delivered. You need to know how much time you are expected to dedicate to your home study and whether or not your employer is going to allow you to study and complete some of your home work during your working hours.  You should ask if there is any off the job training and when and where this is likely to take place.  Ask your assessor if they are prepared to use technology to do some of the learning and training from a distance to help speed up the process. Find out if your trainer or employer has any books or training materials DVD’s etc; that you can also use to study from home.  The bottom line is that this is your Apprenticeship and with a few carefully targeted questions you can find out if the training on offer is going to give you a qualification that is valid, sufficient and authentic. As how long you have to do your course in and when the final submission is expected.

About Home Study UK

At Home Study UK we can offer a variety of learning opportunities.  Many of the courses we offer are based on the units of an NVQ.  The Information Technology modules are based around the e-skills standards which set the standards for all Awarding Bodies. This means that any unit you do with us is comparable to a unit in the iTQ suite.  The personal development units that we offer are based around the Employability suite of units for the NOCN ‘Progression’ qualification.  Many of these can also be mapped into a unit of an NVQ.   Although our courses are marketed as distance learning our combined experience of assessing and training means that we are appreciative of the importance of maintaining contact with our learning.  At Home Study we are dedicated to making sure that you have a pleasant and rewarding experience whether this is your first or one of many learning programmes you choose to embark on.