National Council For Vocational Qualifications Research Articles

Competence-Based Approach for Improved Education and Learning

Competence-based approaches to education are spreading rapidly in many European countries and are now becoming popular in India. They are usually regarded as having originated in teacher education in the U.S.A. In particular the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) has embraced the approach in Competency-Based Vocational Education (CBVE). There is need to examine issues such as: What are the practical benefits and drawbacks of a competence based approach to assessment and curriculum development. How do competence statements relate to other means of expressing curriculum intensions. What values are assumed in a competence based approach. It is generally accepted that CBVE is an emerging area. This paper examines the issues related to competence based approach to education and its relevance to the present teaching-learning process.

From Business Education Council to Edexcel Foundation 1969–96: the short but winding road from technician education to instrumentalist technicism

This study accounts for the formation in England of the Business Education Council (BEC) in 1974, and its development and transitions into the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) in 1983, and Edexcel Foundation in 1996. The article outlines the background and response to the 1969 report from the Committee on Technician Courses and Examinations (the Haslegrave Report), paying attention to its conceptualisation of the notion of ‘technician’. It is argued that this further entrenched the class‐based ideological subtext that would continue to deny ‘parity of esteem’ to vocational education. The BEC/BTEC curriculum is characterised as one that, presenting a detour through a form of progressive vocationalism, transformed pedagogic practice in further education. By 1993, however, BTEC was, in practice, constrained by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications and its innovative role in curriculum development was lost.

The golden age of BTEC: the business education curriculum in 1980s further education

ABSTRACTThis article provides an account of ‘three generations’ of the Business Education Council (BEC)/Business and Technician (later Technology) Education Council (BTEC) curriculum as implemented in further education colleges between 1979 and 1992. There is discussion of aspects of the underlying philosophy of BEC/BTEC, the structure and content of the programmes, skills, assessment, work experience, learning strategies, and aspects of monitoring and quality control. It is argued that BEC/BTEC, through a form of vocational progressivism, successfully transformed pedagogic practices in FE during the 1980s. The advent of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, however, and the subsequent introduction of General Advanced Vocational Qualifications in 1993 effectively marked the end of the ‘BEC/BTEC’ era and the establishment of a more directly instrumentalist approach to vocational education.

Comparing Approaches to the Role of Qualifications in the Promotion of Lifelong Learning*

The issues discussed in this article arise from three recent developments with implications that most countries are or will soon be facing. The first is the growing interest on the part of governments in the idea of a single national qualification framework designed to include all types of qualification, those that are school- and work-based, whether they are general, vocational or professional, and all levels of qualification from those certifying basic skills to postgraduate degrees. The origin of the idea of a qualification framework based on outcomes can be traced back to the NVQ framework introduced by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) in the UK in late 19871. As far as I am aware, this was the first attempt to establish a national qualifications framework based on criteria and levels and independent of any institutions providing programmes of study. Although the NVQ framework was restricted to vocational qualifications, Gilbert Jessup (Jessup, 1990)-one of those involved in its design from the early dayssaw an outcomes-based framework as having a much wider potential. Learning outcomes could be the basis for a comprehensive framework for all qualifications. What was not apparent at the time but has become much clearer since is that the concept of learning outcomes is not as neutral as it appears. If a qualification is described in terms of a set of learning outcomes that in principle can be applied to any kind of learning, an assumption is being made about learning or at least the learning that can be assessed and certified for a qualification. In an outcomesbased qualifications framework, the criteria for learning must be precisely specifiable in advance. This concept leaves out learning that might be important and valued but not specifiable in advance or indeed not specifiable at all except in very general terms2. Some kind of pre-specification of outcomes is, of course, a feature of any qualification, since one of its functions is to communicate something about a person's capability to a user, whether an employer or admission tutor. However, with the launch of NVQs, pre-specification of outcomes became much more detailed. It changed from being a guide to those devising assessments and an indication of a person's capabilities to claiming to be a precise definition of what a person could do-in other words, evidence of his or her competence. The precise specification was designed to replace the kind of normative criteria which in more traditional qualifications were used to compare one individual with another. There *An earlier version of this article appeared in Working to Learn (2002), K. Evans, P. Hod Kinson & L. Unwin (Eds)

Developments in Education and Vocational Training in Britain: Background Note on Recent Research

The past decade has seen fundamental policy initiatives at a national level intended to improve vocational skills and to raise school-leaving standards — particularly in mathematics. These initiatives centred on:(i)the formation of a National Council for Vocational Qualifications with the object of re-designing, and imposing fundamentally greater coherence into, our previous ‘jungle’ of vocational qualifications, thereby raising their level of recognition both by employers and by potential trainees, and consequently encouraging a greater volume and higher levels of training to accredited standards of qualification;(ii)the specification of a National Curriculum for schools, stipulating the main subjects to be taught, the standards which teachers need to aim for in respect of the majority of each age-group, and associated nationwide attainment-tests to be taken by all pupils at several stages in their schooling. A detailed teaching scheme, the National Numeracy Strategy, was laid down nationally for teaching primary-school mathematics (based on the Improving Primary Mathematics scheme developed in Barking and Dagenham together with NIESR using a Continental model) together with a similarly detailed scheme for teaching basic literacy.

The effectiveness of NVQ TRAINING.

WITH THE move of nurse education into the higher education sector in the late 1980s, and the resultant establishment of supernumerary status for student nurses, nursing faced the prospect of a shortage of personnel and skills. One attempt to fill this gap was the introduction of the health care assistant (HCA), an unqualified nursing assistant who would receive work-based training, designed to meet the requirements of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications.

Lifelong learning and the ‘New Deal’ vocationalism: Vocational Training Qualifications and the Small Business Sector

The success of the New Deal policies of the current Labour administration – particularly the Welfare to Work and University for Industry initiatives – will depend crucially on the co-operation of the vital small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector of British industry. In turn, the reaction of small employers to the new policies will be structured by the national vocational education and training (VET) efforts and the vocational qualifications system. Against the background of our recent research on SMEs in the West Midlands region, we argue that the New Deal policies will fail to engage with SME needs and interests unless the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) effectively abandons the old agenda of the former National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) in its ongoing restructuring and radical review of issues and policies for VET.

Portfolio Assessment as National Policy: the National Council for Vocational Qualifications and its quest for a pedagogical revolution

ABSTRACT The National Council for Vocational Qualifications established assessment procedures for qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in which portfolios play a central role. The relevant qualifications (National Vocational Qualifications and General National Vocational Qualifications) have been taken by large numbers of young people in upper secondary schooling, and young people and adults in work or in government training schemes; and are intended to have labour market currency and to provide routes into further and higher education. The use of portfolios derives from a commitment to direct and comprehensive assessment of the whole ‘syllabus’, but also from a belief in certain pedagogical approaches and in enhancing students' independence and initiative. There is evidence that the approach has affected learning styles, but major problems have arisen relating to the manageability of the approach and the reliability of assessor judgements.

Euston Road and the ivory towers: the impact of the GNVQ research industry

A growing research enterprise surrounds the implementation of General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs). It encompasses a diverse array of researchers and consultants from different organisations who work to different agendas and imperatives. Between 1992 and 1997, the National Council for Vocational Qualifications developed a large research and support programme for GNVQs and this has become closely linked to projects carried out by other government bodies. This programme has now moved into the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The official research programme dominates political and research agendas for GNVQs. It also inhibits radical and critical thinking about developments in the vocational curriculum. The paper uses Lakatos's criteria to evaluate the research programmes which have evolved around GNVQ developments. It argues that researchers in higher education face two particular problems in deciding how their own research contributes to debate and policy in the vocational curriculum. The paper proposes that there is a need to identify discernible research programmes and to evaluate their effectiveness:Lakatos's criteria may provide a basis for this.

Exporting Failure: the strange case of NVQs and overseas markets

Summary At a time when Britain's vocational education and training (VET) system and vocational qualifications are undergoing a major review and restructuring in response to critical reports about the model established under the former National Council for Vocational Qualifications, the British Council and associated agencies is currently trying to market National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) overseas. The chief weaknesses and failings of NVQs and the competence‐based education and training (CBET) system on which they are based are outlined in terms of assessment anomalies and the needs of firms, trainees and employers. Since these shortcomings are so so serious, it is suggested that‐‐until they have been remedied through the current reforms under the aegis of the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority‐‐it is ethically unjustifiable to export a failed VET system to countries which may be unaware of the critical research surrounding NVQs and CBET.

National vocational qualifications, scottish vocational qualifications and competence-based education and training: from de ville to beaumont1

1996 marked the tenth anniversary of the Review of Vocational Qualifications undertaken by Oscar de Ville (now Sir Oscar) and the setting-up of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), of which he was the first Chairman. National Vocational Qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (NVQs/SVQs) have exerted a major influence on training and education in Britain. Despite widespread criticism from a number of quarters, NVQs have, until recently, appeared to enjoy a charmed existence, bolstered by official approval and supportive financial arrangements. The publication of the Beaumont Report, A Review of 100 NVQs and SVQs, in December 1995, may have marked a decisive turning point in the history of the NCVQ movement. This article outlines the development of competence-based education and training (CBET), and traces the influence of the 1981 New Training Initiative, including the transformation of its original ideas in the period leading to the publication of the 1986 Review. It considers some of the recent critiques of CBET. The article argues that the critics have misinterpreted the original ideas, and questions the conspiracy theory of CBET as a vehicle designed to take over education and training.

Using Fuzzy Logic in Educational Measurement: The Case of Portfolio Assessment

This paper highlights the relevance of a relatively new quantitative methodology known as fuzzy logic to the task of measuring educational achievement. It introduces the principles behind fuzzy logic and illustrates how these principles could be applied by educators in the area of assessment using portfolio evidence. Presently, and particularly in the UK, the assessment of portfolios is very much perceived as the way forward in measuring achievement. The paper argues that fuzzy logic could offer some useful insight when trying to rationalise assessors' deliberations with respect to complex portfolio types of evidence. Illustrations are drawn from issues being tackled by the UK's National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQs) to support the argument. The need expressed in this paper for an improvement in current educational measurement is supported by developments in other fields of enquiry, where new perspectives were adopted to warrant advances in these areas of study.Finally the paper argues tha...

Identifying and measuring knowledge in vocational awards: the national vocational qualification experience

This paper tackles the problem of knowledge specification in vocational awards. More particularly, it addresses this issue in the light of the United Kingdom (UK) experience, through the recent work of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ). Based on the short history of NCVQ, it traces the origins of some of the current knowledge specification and related knowledge assessment problems back to the pre-NCVQ era. The paper also highlights the controversy between competence and capability, and identifies two broad perspectives on the problem of competence specification: one, a behaviouristic perspective which primarily targets observable skills; the other, a cognitive/constructivist perspective which aims to identify the knowledge and understanding that underpins observable performance. The paper argues that a balanced view is both possible and necessary if valid and reliable standards of competence and associated assessment procedures are to be achieved. This argument is supported by suggestions, which build on recent views advanced in cognitive psychology, about on how to specify knowledge. The paper might be useful to those currently involved in similar initiatives around the world in understanding some of the factors that have influenced the setting of standards of competence.

Through a Glass Darkly: a critique of the NCVQ visions of higher level vocational qualifications

The first thing to be said about the Employment Department (ED) document A Vision for Higher Level Vocational Qualifications (ED, 1995) is that it is about as far away from the 'vision thing' as President Bush's last administration famously was. A vision should be pro-active and offer a synoptic, architectonic perspective which explores aims, values and ideals derived from a critical evaluation of current practice and probable future needs. The ED document is essentially reactive and concerned with accommodating the government's call for the completion of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) framework. Similarly, the consultation document on GNVQs at Higher Levels (NCVQ, 1995) assumes that the policies and framework established in the DES White Paper, Education and Trainingfor the 21st Century (DES, 1991) are now set in concrete and unquestionably endorsed by educators at all levels. Consequently, it is simply a matter of implementing those policies and, to this end, the NCVQ is now seeking 'advice ... on the need for GNVQs at levels 4 and 5' (NCVQ, 1995, p. 12). Thus, what appears to be a genuine opinion-gathering exercise is really-through a subtle and sophisticated process of asking questions which imply a form of consensus based on a predetermined agenda-simply a means of preparing the way for future policy changes. Higher education institutions, like schools and further education colleges, may indeed have to make the best of a system characterised chiefly by centralised control and the top-down imposition of an external ideological agenda (Chitty & Simon, 1993; Jenkins, 1995), but teachers, lecturers and academics surely have a duty to interrogate such policies seriously and critically (Halpin & Troyna, 1994) rather than simply assuming their educational validity. In this respect, there are valuable lessons to be learned from the recent experience of the National Curriculum which, largely as a result of teacher lobbying and criticism, is now, post-Dearing, in a much better state than it would have been without such professional activity.

Quality assurance for NVQs in higher education

Summarizes the quality assurance requirements, criteria and processes of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), with those for two NVQ awarding bodies active in management education in UK higher education. Describes the effects of these on the quality assurance systems of one large accreditation centre and sets out some implications for the future.

National Vocational Qualifications: is policy supporting the principles of lifelong learning?

ABSTRACT 1996 marks the 10th anniversary of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, the body responsible for a national framework of competency‐based education and training in the United Kingdom. Concurrently, the qualifications are being highlighted as they are developed at professional levels 4 and 5.The anniversary was preceded by a plethora of reports. Beaumont flagged up issues of validity, reliability and quality control in relation to the organisational structure of the framework. The Institute of Employment Studies noted that there had only been a marginal increase in the number of employers implementing the qualifications and the Higher Education Quality Council began the process of persuading the higher education sector by noting the positive contributions that competency‐based assessment processes could make. However, there remain very real issues to debate. Whether knowledge and understanding can be ‘inferred’ from performance. Whether the qualifications are suitable for the comple...

Morality, Work and Employment: towards a values dimension in vocational education and training

Abstract The marginalisation and neglect of values education at school level in England as a result of the pressures of the National Curriculum has been paralleled in post‐16 education by the spread of the competence‐based education and training (CBET) strategy which underpins the increasingly influential work of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ). This approach to vocational education and training (VET), if it allows for attention to values at all, results in a technical‐instrumental approach in which morality is interpreted as a “competence” designed to serve the needs of industry. In place of such an approach, an “education for work” programme‐‐based on a Deweyan conception of vocationalism‐‐is outlined, and full attention to the values dimension of work and employment is suggested. It is recommended that such a values‐based education for work core should form part of the 14‐19 curriculum for all students.

Competence and clinical aspiration: The situation for complementary therapies outside the ‘big five’

Summary Considering the need for clear standards of competence for complementary practitioners in general, it is apparent that much of the pace has been set by the most established professional groups. The position of other therapies might be seen to suffer by comparison. However, there are important options available for them and, indeed, for any therapeutic group, which have been set in place as a result of government moves to establish universal standards on competence in the workplace. In England and Wales, National Vocational Qualifications may be awarded by bodies accredited by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), on the basis of occupational standards agreed by the appropriate profession or industry through an appointed Lead Body. The Lead Body potentially covering the complementary medicine sector is the Occupational Standards Council for Health and Social Care. Prospects for pursuing such accredited qualifications for complementary medicine are reviewed.

Appropriating Competence: the competency movement, the New Right and the ‘culture change’ project

Abstract This paper raises some critical issues concerning ‘competency’ as represented, today, by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications and, earlier, by the Manpower Services Commission. It is argued that the narrowly behaviouristic model supported by the ‘competency movement’ is only one of the many ways in which competence has been approached within the social sciences. The issue of why those agencies should have promoted this particular model of competence is explored, using Bernstein's concept of ‘pedagogic discourse’. It is argued that competency should be located within the political context of the policies with which it is associated. The promotion of competency can be understood in terms of political aspirations of the New Right to change the culture of British institutions and economic life in the direction of a neo‐liberal market ideology. The problems of competency are explored with reference to its methodology and the manner in which it represents ‘the world of work’ and competenc...

Liberal‐Humanist Education: the vocationalist challenge

ABSTRACT This paper argues for the need to move beyond the ideological analysis of recent educational change. The current crisis of liberal education (both traditional and progressive) should not be seen exclusively in terms of New Right criticisms. The challenge presented by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications’ vocationalism in the ‘competency’ form predates the New Right and is opposed to both market economics and neo‐conservative traditionalism. Factors intrinsic to the development of liberal education in the post‐war period of expansion were inherently destabilising. A legitimation crisis resulted from differentiation represented in the distinction between traditionalism and progressivism and in developments such as anti‐sexist and multicultural education. Credential inflation produced diminishing returns to individual ‘investment’ in education. The cultural capital of the high status variants of liberal‐humanist education remained inaccessible to newly incorporated groups. Educational expansion was not associated with tangible gains in terms of a redistribution of social opportunities. Competency can be seen as an attempt to stabilise the system and supplant liberal‐humanist forms of education. It is argued that understandings of educational change have to move beyond a reductive analysis of the political interventions of the New Right towards a broader view of tendencies intrinsic to educational expansion and the liberal‐humanist model in the post‐war period.