About National Vocational Qualifications
What is an NVQ?
An NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) is a qualification that recognises someone's competence (the skills, knowledge and understanding they have) in a work situation. NVQs are based on standards (national occupational standards). You can achieve a full NVQ or a Unit of Competence from an NVQ, known as Unit Awards or Mini Awards.
These standards describe the level and breadth of performance that is expected of anyone working in the sector that the standards cover.
These qualifications consist mainly of units from the learning and development standards developed by the Employment NTO, the government approved standard setting body for the learning and development sector at the time.
Who are these qualifications for?
These awards are work-oriented and are suitable for those who have real work experience. They are open to candidates of any age, of either gender and there are no entry barriers on grounds of race, creed or previous academic attainment or learning.
Candidates are expected to have sufficient standards of communication and number skills to carry out the work described in the standards.
What are the benefits of NVQs?
Employers will benefit from:
- Better targeting and evaluation of learning and assessment opportunities;
- Improved staff performance;
- Increased skill levels;
- Improvements in the quality of service to learners and candidates;
- More highly motivated staff;
Employees will benefit from:
- A clear understanding of responsibilities;
- The opportunity to develop new skills;
- The recognition and continued development of existing skills;
- Opportunities to improve service to learners and candidates;
Who will be involved in the delivery of NVQs?
We allocate assessors who are themselves qualified to the recognised A1/A2 Assessor Award (formerly D32/D33) to each candidate.
Our trainers will enable the learner to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to the qualification they are preparing for. Our Trainers will:
- Provide opportunities for learning;
- Provide ongoing mentoring to the candidate,including review and feedback on learning experiences and development of competence;
- Provide opportunities for a candidate to practice what they have learnt in a realistic, but safe and protected,working environment or, where this is not appropriate, in a simulated environment
The assessor will judge the evidence of a candidate's performance, knowledge and understanding against the units of competence in order to decide whether the candidate has demonstrated competence.
The assessor will have suitable and reliable experience and be trained and qualified as an NVQ assessor. The criteria for appointing assessors are strictly controlled.
We can also train and qualify assessors within a client company and an assessor may be a candidate’s line manager, a college tutor, or someone specially appointed to this role. A team of assessors could also carry out assessments.
The roles of trainer and assessor are inextricably linked and may be carried out by the same person, however, training activities must be clearly separated from assessment and only assessed evidence of competence should be presented as evidence towards the qualification.
The independent assessor who will assess a substantive piece of outcome evidence will be a competent jobholder who is qualified as an assessor.
Each assessor’s work is checked and confirmed by an internal verifier who is also a member of the team at Reynolds Training Services. The criteria for appointing internal verifiers are also strictly controlled. The internal verifier checks and standardises assessment decisions made by all assessors in the centre.
How are NVQs Assessed?
All NVQs and NVQ unit based qualifications are competence-based. This means that they are linked to a person’s ability to competently perform a range of tasks connected with their work.
To gain these NVQ Qualifications a candidate must achieve the level of competence described in the relevant units of competence. The units of competence contain the national occupational standards for specific qualification skill area and will be made available to the candidate.
