Qualifications update following a meeting held on the 19th January 2010 at ABC offices Nottingham
The New Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF)
A qualifications structure in which all vocational qualifications are unit based from an entry level and then to levels 1-8, identified by a title, a level, a credit value and a set of explicit learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Each unit will contribute to a qualification. 1 credit will represent 10 notional learning hours. Three sizes of qualification will be available, Award requiring 1-12 credits, Certificates 13-36 credits and Diplomas 37+ credits. Each unit is stand alone and will be capable of independent assessment.
I agree whole heartedly with the government stated principles for the credit framework as being of benefit for trainees as it is a structure within which the learner builds up credits from learning to form a qualification. It is not plain sailing however for our Sector Skills Council (LANTRA), our awarding body (ABC), working parties writing the qualifications and training providers to implement the requirements of the Government set changes. The parameters and constraints under which the units have to be structured, written, reviewed and processed through to acceptance is not easy and it will be time consuming. The Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have, to their credit, recognised that there are some issues with implementation especially with assessment of the units and currently a working party is working to clarify the situation and is likely to produce a report by the end of February which should help significantly.
In my opinion there are clear advantages for arboriculture qualifications achieving QCF accreditation in terms of national recognition, quality control procedures, access to government funding, attracting learner funding from employers, employer recognition and enabling comparisons to be made across boundaries of qualifications and professions etc. Not to follow a national accreditation scheme could disadvantage the learner and our industry long term.
As a result of many hours of my examining the new framework, evaluating models already on the credit framework and talking to personnel at QCA, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) and Ofqual the qualifications regulator matched with the hard work and experience of the personnel at ABC the following has been agreed as a way forward for arboriculture in relation to the current level 2 Certificate, level 3 Technicians Certificate and the level 6 Professional Diploma.
I must emphasize at this point that the following proposals are simply proposals and are NOT set in stone – much work has to be done prior to the proposals gaining accreditation from QCA and they may require amendments along the way. Quite clearly, it is the hope of all of us involved in the process, that the proposals will form a sound basis for the future picture of what the qualifications will be. The titles of the qualifications will have to start with award or certificate or diploma, to that end the titles given here are provisional.
Proposals for the Arboricultural Qualifications in England and Wales
Diploma for Professional Arboriculturists
- Level 6 Diploma ready for use as of September 2011
- The qualification will be a specialised arboricultural qualification. The content is required to go through a review process. (I am underway with that and have sent out approx 160 invitations (4th Jan 2010) to practicing arboriculturists in the industry who can access details of the review on the Tree Life web site, and there is also an open invitation on our web site for individuals to do the same, so please take up the opportunity)
- Size of qualification could be 54 credits.
- The qualification may use mandatory units, core units and optional units – the vast majority being mandatory with some that would be advised to have to be achieved in a set order. (Underpinning knowledge units).
- Candidates may choose units relevant to their areas of specialism or interest. The awarding body would produce transcripts with certificates to detail units and content taken.
- Assessment methods are likely to include; written examinations, scenario analysis, production of critiques and attendance for one day for a series of realistic assignments which include evaluations/analysis, project management, identification tests and oral examinations graded at pass 50%, merit 65% or distinction at 75%.
- The examinations will be externally set and cover both theory and its application in practice with all subjects overseen by a panel of experienced industry practitioners.
- Examinations will be held twice yearly with an assignments (management) day held only once a year due to costs and practicality.
Arboricultural Certificate accredited in the Credit Framework
- Level 4 Certificate * raised from level 3 ready for use as of September 2011.
- The qualification will be a specialised arboricultural qualification. The content is required to go through a review process. (please visit the Tree Life web site and take the opportunity to review the content)
- Size of qualification could be 36 credits.
- The qualification may use mandatory units, core units and optional units – the vast majority being mandatory with some that would be advised to have to be achieved in a set order. (Underpinning knowledge units).
- Candidates may choose units relevant to their areas of specialism or interest. The awarding body would produce transcripts with certificates to detail units and content taken.
- Assessment methods are likely to include; written examinations, attendance for one day for a series of realistic assignments which include evaluations, project management, identification tests and oral examinations graded at pass 50%, merit 65% or distinction at 75%.
- The examinations will be externally set and cover both theory and its application in practice with all subjects overseen by a panel of experienced industry practitioners.
- The examinations will be held twice yearly both theory and assignment management.
Arboricultural certificate accredited in the Credit Framework
- Level 2 Certificate ready for use as of September 2010.
- A specialised arboricultural qualification and stand alone theory qualification – with the option to add NPTC tests and gain a Royal Forestry Society Certificate as is the case currently.
- Size of qualification could be 18 credits.
- The qualification may use mandatory units and optional units – the vast majority being mandatory with some that would be advised to have to be achieved in a set order. (Underpinning knowledge units).
- Candidates choose units relevant to their areas of specialism or interest. Awarding body produces transcripts with certificates to detail units and content taken.
- The assessment method will be written examinations in the form of multi-choice questions, marked by computer and graded at pass 50%, merit 65% or distinction at 75%.
- The examination will be externally set from a bank of questions to cover the theory written by a panel of experienced industry practitioners.
- Examinations held twice yearly.
The writing party and reviewers will be ensuring that there is a continuity, correlation and a complementary relationship between the 3 qualifications with the real added benefit, because the way that the QCF is structured, that candidates will also have the opportunity to achieve a Certificate in arboriculture at level 6 (by achieving 13-36 credits as opposed to the full 54 credits) and a Diploma in arboriculture at level 4 (achieving 37+ credits). All this will require careful writing (hence the delayed introduction of the level 4 and 6 qualification) but is highly likely to benefit the learner enormously in the future.
In my opinion the proposals described above are as good as it is going to get under the new credit framework. Our industry now needs to get an understanding of what is happening to vocational qualifications and embrace them and seize the opportunities that the new framework can offer.
I have done my best along with the support of ABC to embrace the new framework and format whilst maintaining a recognisable resemblance to our existing qualifications and methods of assessment. I do not envisage that any lowering of standards will occur due to the examinations remaining externally set and marked. It has, in my opinion been important to seek the opportunities that the new framework offers and therefore to raise the level of the Technician’s Certificate giving it added value, and to accrue real benefits through the introduction of a certificate at level 6, which will suit candidates who do not wish to undertake a full diploma at level 6, and the introduction of a diploma at level 4 for those who wish to achieve much more at that level but perhaps do want to learn at an upper level.
The writing of the qualifications content in the strict format required by the credit framework is the next step with reviews to follow. I would please ask that you find time, if you haven’t already done so, to assist the processes by visiting the Tree Life web site to review the content for the level 4 and 6 qualification. Remember this is your industry and the content should be industry led. Just follow the instructions and thank you for your time.
Link to Professional Diploma review page Techncian's Certificate review comming soon.
Very little has moved forward since the last update on the 3rd August 2009 which is disappointing. ABC as the awarding body is very busy holding meetings with all the other industries that are going through the same processes. Arboriculture will be meeting with ABC on the 19th January 2010 in reference to levels 2, 3 and 6 to discuss the way forward for each level.
Since August I have done quite a lot of research into qualification provision within the new credit framework and with customised provision – evaluating the pro’s and con’s, and how other awarding bodies are handling the changes in preparation for the meeting in January. I have nothing specific to report from that research as yet until after the meeting in January.
I can certainly see time-tables for the introduction of the new qualifications slipping in the coming months and on that basis I can confirm that Tree Life will be offering the Technician’s Certificate on the current framework at the usual venues for a further one year starting September 2010. ABC has also confirmed that a second opportunity now exists to undertake the management day exercises at Technician’s level in the year. In 2010 there will be a management day in May and September which is good news.
Whatever the outcome of any discussions, a new syllabus will appear in relation to level 6. It is very important that the industry drives the content – that is a principal component of the new credit framework. I consider that I represent the arboricultural industry not just education BUT it is very important that a much wider contribution is made by YOU the industry to the content of syllabi. To that end Tree Life is running a survey of level 6 topics on our web site and would request that you take the time to contribute your views as to what should be included or not. Thank you in anticipation of your assistance to this important work.
More updating after the meeting on the 19th January.
Following a meeting attended by Andy and Dave at Lantra house on the 28th July they will both be involved in groups of specialists that will begin to examine the available National Occupational Standard units (NOS) that currently exist in the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at levels 2 and 3 (Certificate and Technician's Certificate levels) in preparation for writing new units to comply with the Qualification Credit Framework (QCF). The NOS units require to be written in a different language and style to suit the QCF and the specialists group will be working under the control of Lantra Sector Skills Council. The NOS units are used as a basis for the new QCF units because the NOS units set out what industry requires of the training.
At level 6 (Professional Diploma) because there are no NOS units a small specialist group that will include Dave will write the new QCF units under the management of the current awarding body ABC.
The likely timetable for having all units written is February 2010. The new units will be introduced from September 2010 and candidates may begin to undertake learning followed by assessment from that time. In-between February and September there will be consultation to allow additional input to the final units
Once the QCF units are written then the awarding body ABC, who will be responsible for arboriculture, is required to establish assessment procedures before the qualification is complete, this process will also be finalised for a September 2010 introduction.
It has been confirmed by ABC, and should be stated on their web site soon, that the final date to complete existing qualifications under the NQF will be September/October 2013, after this time it is very unlikely that any candidate will be able to complete the Technician's or Professional Diploma qualification. Any candidate part way through an existing qualification will be reliant on Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) to apply (and it may not) to enable them to be credited with new units.
At this moment in time we cannot state what the new qualifications will be called, this rather depends on the size and level of the qualification, which will be determined at subsequent meetings as the units get written. The current Professional Diploma is likely to still be a Diploma at level 6. It is possible the Technician's Certificate will be a Certificate or Diploma at level 4 depending upon the size of the qualification and the Certificate maybe an Award or Certificate at level 2.
Tree Life fully expects to be offering the new qualifications from September 2010 on similar lines of day and fortnightly release, block release etc around the nation as we do now. We also expect to offer a range of the new units tree related to other candidates where trees are not the primary focus but are a part of non-arboricultural specific qualifications.
As for the current NQF qualifications we expect to stop offering new starts on the Technician's Certificate after September 2009 however, we will continue to support any current candidate's all the way up to the 2013 cut off point.
We will offer new starts on the Professional Diploma for the last time for January 2010 with the two provisos that candidates recognise and accept that there is a cut off point of 2013 and that we can organise viable numbers into groups and keep them viable during the training period. Should viable numbers not be forthcoming than we will stop the delivery of the Professional Diploma as of December 2009 however, we will continue with current programmes and to support any current candidate's all the way unto the 2013 cut off point.
Potential candidates have already shown great interest in starting in 2010 and achieving the qualification before the cut off point, I think this demonstrates how valued by the industry the qualification is and also it is testament to its long standing credibility. If we are to commit to a final run of training at this level we need all potential candidates to step forward and help us to make plans for its delivery.
