PAA\VQ-SET’s fifth National Conference was held on 13^th and 14^th November at the new venue of The Belfry, West Midlands. The occasion began with a dinner on Thursday 13^th where delegates were welcomed to the event by PAA\VQ-SET’s Chairman, Neil Wallace, and were entertained by Jon Allen and his close up magic.

Conference Day

The Belfry, well known as a destination for golfers, provided a beautiful setting for PAA\VQ-SET’s Conference. The Conference was opened by PAA\VQ-SET’s Chairman, Neil Wallace, followed by Ann Randall, PAA\VQ-SET’s Chief Executive, who was the only speaker allowing the delegates to spend more of the day in workshops and seminars, and to allow time for networking. Over 100 delegates attended the event from across the UK and one delegate travelled from Kuwait to be there. There were representatives from all the sectors PAA\VQ-SET works with, including Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Paper, Nuclear, Science and Meteorology, and the recently incorporated Polymer and Signmaking sectors.

Speakers Forum                   Ann Randall – Chief Executive, PAA\VQ-SET

Ann Randall’s presentation updated delegates on the news and events since PAA\VQ-SET’s 2007 Conference. This year has been a very successful one for PAA\VQ-SET’s centres and candidates with two significant milestones being achieved; PAA\VQ-SET has now registered over 20,000 candidates and issued more than 10,000 certificates. Approved Altro Floors were given a special mention as they won the Manufacturing Excellence ‘People Effectiveness’ Award.  

"This has been achieved with the commitment from our Centres and the PAA\VQ-SET team."

Ann also talked about how PAA\VQ-SET expanded its' qualification portfolio and base of centres through the acquisition of SASL Awarding Body in July 2008. PAA\VQ-SET continues to work overseas and, in addition to successfully offering both regulated qualifications and Specialised Awards in the Middle East, recently expanded its operations to cover New Zealand. 

"This will ensure that we stand firm on strong foundations providing protection for our

portfolio of specialist qualifications, the centres and candidates who use them."

The presentation also covered changes in the wider qualification environment; the change from QCA to Ofqual and the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which will eventually replace the existing National Qualification Framework (NQF). Ann also summarised the various projects PAA\VQ-SET have been working on in conjunction with Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and National Skills Academies (NSAs).

"We have actively been working with the SSCs to ensure that their qualifications

are fit for purpose and meet the needs of our centres and candidates."

To read the full Conference speech, which will open in PDF format, please click here.

• Assessment of Employer Training (ASET)

• Centre Performance - What is Best Practice?

• Funding Opportunities

• How to Improve Performance and show Business Savings

• Malpractice - How can Centres avoid it?

• Qualification Reform and the Future

For further information, including to obtain presentations, please contact our Head Office.

Assessment of Employer Training (ASET) - Liz Rooney, NSAPI & Jacky Nelson, PAA\VQ-SET

This presentation introduced delegates to the Qualifications Reform Program and how employer-based training is being linked to qualifications. The seminar began by introducing delegates to the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), before moving on to the Gold Standard, which considers competence and finally the ASET system. The ASET system has four stages and has been developed to map employer training and assessment systems to the emerging Gold Standard framework. The system has been piloted with a number of organisations who were asked to provide information about their site and visits were undertaken to consider job roles. The activity being undertaken was then matched with qualifications and a corresponding action plan developed. Liz also covered the Train 2 Gain funding which has been ring-fenced for this project. Delegates were interested in whether this could be mapped to non-regulated qualifications, such as PAA\VQ-SET’s Specialised Awards, and were told this was possible.

This popular workshop again gave delegates the opportunity to discuss how centre performance could be improved; discuss and share best practice ideas and also match these ideas to the requirements for centres. It was highlighted from the outset that there would be differing opinions on what constituted best practice, which are equally valid, providing they conform to the requirements of the NVQ Code of Practice 2006. Areas for discussion were: support for assessment teams; succession planning; continuous improvement; standardisation; tracking systems and record keeping. Delegates worked in groups to come up with ideas about best practice which were then fed back to the rest of the workshop. PAA\VQ-SET's recently revised Risk Assessment Form and Guidance were also discussed.

Jonathan’s presentation began with an introduction to Proskills; the sectors they cover and the multitude of different organisations they work with. He then moved on to consider the possible funding opportunities relating to Skills Development and therefore Business Improvement; and the process to access these. Funding opportunities include Train 2 Gain, Apprenticeships and the European Social Fund. In response to delegates’ questions Jonathan confirmed that other Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are involved with similar work for their own sectors. Measuring Return on Investment is seen as crucial to business improvement; as what gets measured, gets attention, gets managed and therefore gets better. Delegates were asked to consider what to measure, how to measure and when to measure before being given examples of real successes and huge costs savings. Jonathan then covered the Compact; what it means, what it is expected to achieve and the perceived benefits for employers.

This popular workshop looked at improving business performance and reducing business costs by using Business-Improvement Techniques. The presentation began with delegates being asked to consider rising energy costs; the impact of this on their organisations and what they could do about it. John Jones then talked about the techniques of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma; the benefits, differences and associated training costs were considered and interested delegates asked about possible providers who could offer them. The Business-Improvement Techniques NVQs were briefly discussed as these combine the two techniques. Delegates then took part in a series of exercises demonstrating saving time, which were well received. The workshop concluded with suggestions of how delegates could get started by setting goals, allocating roles and responsibilities, project selection and training; and useful reference materials and websites were delegates could find further information.

John Skipworth led an interesting and thought provoking workshop about how to avoid malpractice. This interactive workshop focused on how centres and the assessment teams within them should ensure the integrity and authenticity of their qualifications. Issues such as confirming the identity of candidates were raised, how this should be done and where it should be recorded. Delegates were also asked to consider whether or not their record keeping met the requirements of the NVQ Code of Practice 2006; in particular, what should be kept, where it should be kept and how long for. John reminded delegates that all assessment records, such as assessment plans, tracking sheets, observation reports, are centre records and should therefore be retained by the centre and not kept in a candidate portfolio.

Ann’s presentation began by introducing delegates to the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which is at the heart of a major reform of the Vocational Qualifications system and has recently been given ministerial approval from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Qualifications will be easier to understand and measure as each unit and qualification will have a Credit value (1 Credit represents 10 hours, showing how much time it takes to complete) and a Level between 1 and 8 to show how difficult it is. The perceived benefits of the new system were discussed before Alan Gibbons talked to delegates about Solutia’s involvement in a pilot project for one of PAA\VQ-SET’s new QCF qualifications in Emergency Response for CPPO.

"Both enjoyable & informative, many thanks."

"Good networking opportunity"

"This is the first conference I have attended for NVQs & won't be the last. Thoroughly enjoyed experience"

Details of PAA\VQ-SET's 2009 events, including Best Practice Workshops, VRQ Examinations and 2009 National Conference details, will be made available shortly on this website under Events Diary. Visit again soon for latest details.