NVQs

Friday, 26 February 2010 03:08

National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) cover a broad range of industry sectors and occupations and are delivered either in the learner’s actual workplace or in a workplace setting. Each NVQ is made up of units of national occupational standards, which define the knowledge, understanding and competence required to perform that particular job related role.

To make sure that these national occupational standards — and the resultant NVQs — are relevant to the sector they relate to, industry sector bodies and organisations, such as Sector Skills Councils, create them. These sector bodies adopt a partnership approach to NVQs to determine their content, structure and assessment requirements.

Because each NVQ is ‘outcome based’ there is no prescribed programme of learning. This means that each one is highly flexible and tailored to meet the individual learner’s needs. To guarantee consistency on a national basis, awarding organisations certify a learner’s achievements on a unit by unit basis. When assessing NVQ portfolios, all awarding organisations follow a set of key messages and principles and adhere to the same stringent quality assurance processes. These quality assurance and control requirements are outlined in the NVQ code of practice 2001 and the NVQ code of practice 2006 (Addendum to NVQ code of practice 2006).

To help employers who may be considering implementing NVQs, we have developed an NVQ business guide. This outlines the different NVQ models available to suit each organisation’s culture, structure, size and business objectives.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 September 2010 10:29 Tags: national occupational standards, National Vocational Qualifications, NOS, NVQs, qualifications