ANNEX A - 9
The greatest challenge we faced was having to create a new ‘Role’ field within the Competera
system for each role profile, followed by ‘Competence’ fields for each Standard and then grouping
the ‘Competences’ under each ‘Role’.
We recognised that the ‘Key Role 13 – Generic Functions’ Standards have wide utility across all the
explosives workers so they were created in Competera as a separate ‘Role’ so that they could easily
be referenced by any of the individuals in their own record.
TESTING THE NEW DESIGN:
The Competera system is well tried and tested so it was only necessary to test the working of new
records and that they can be viewed from a number of aspects, e.g. to provide management with a
view of what skills gaps they have within a particular team.
Mock Assessment
The apparent complications of overlaying the many Occupational Standards identified in the role
profiling activities was almost overwhelming for the company. It was suggested that a mock
assessment might help in understanding the Standards in better detail and so choose those
Standards that best demonstrate the critical competences for each role. This ‘down-selecting’ of the
number of Standards is a very important part of the design of qualifications that the awarding
organisation undertakes when creating international, national, industry-recognised or bespoke
qualifications
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. For our purposes, i.e. understanding the principles of assessment of competence in
the workplace and improving our understanding of the use of occupational standards, we would
only need to assess one of each of our ‘candidates’ against one or two of the Standards identified in
the Role Profile we created for each.
We decided to conduct a mock assessment of a Test Leader and the Assembly/Disassembly Foreman
and, as is often the case with assessments of ‘candidates’ in their real-time working environment,
the actual Standards and elements of those Standards that would be assessed could not be
predicted until the week before the assessment at the very earliest.
Over a two-day period, we
•
Used a presentation about the Assessment Process as the basis for a discussion/workshop
for the President of BTC.
•
Conducted some 'Assessment Planning’ to confirm which qualification/Standards/Elements
would be assessed and by which type(s) of evidence
•
Conducted assessment by observation and verbal questions.
•
Had a period of Reflection during which the President of BTC evaluated the work we had
done.
In the presentation about the assessment process the emphasis was on how line managers and
senior staff can use the principles and practices of assessment that are available as a Level 3
qualification to ensure the competence of staff in terms of the Occupational Standards. This ‘ensure’
term is important to the company as it is a requirement of the ISO17025 technical standard that:
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For more detail, contact Homeland Security Qualifications
http://www.homelandsecurityqualifications.co.uk/
ANNEX A - 10
“5.2.1
The laboratory management shall ensure the competence of all who operate specific
equipment, perform tests and/or calibrations, evaluate results, and sign test reports and calibration
certificates. When using staff who are undergoing training, appropriate supervision shall be provided.
Personnel performing specific tasks shall be qualified on the basis of appropriate education, training,
experience and/or demonstrated skills, as required.
5.2.2 The management of the laboratory shall formulate the goals with respect to the education,
training and skills of the laboratory personnel. The laboratory shall have a policy and procedures for
identifying training needs and providing training of personnel. The training programme shall be
relevant to the present and anticipated tasks of the laboratory. The effectiveness of the training
actions taken shall be evaluated.
NOTE 1 In some technical areas (e.g. non-destructive testing) it may be required that the personnel
performing certain tasks hold personnel certification. The laboratory is responsible for fulfilling specified
personnel certification requirements. The requirements for personnel certification might be regulatory,
included in the standards for the specific technical field, or required by the customer.
NOTE 2 The personnel responsible for the opinions and interpretation included in test reports should, in
addition to the appropriate qualifications, training, experience and satisfactory knowledge of the testing
carried out, also have:
relevant knowledge of the technology used for the manufacturing of the items, materials,
products, etc. tested, or the way they are used or intended to be used, and of the defects or
degradations which may occur during or in service;
knowledge of the general requirements expressed in the legislation and standards; and
an understanding of the significance of deviations found with regard to the normal use of
the items, materials, products, etc. concerned.”
We discussed the types of evidence that might be readily available within the normal working
practices of the two ‘candidates’ that would be acceptable if they were being formally assessed. The
attributes for each piece of evidence are that they must be:
•
Valid – demonstrate genuine achievement of the Standard
•
Authentic – the candidate’s own work
•
Reliable – show that the candidate gives consistently reproducible output
•
Current – show that the candidate uses current practice
•
Sufficient – show that the candidate’s work meets all the elements of the Standard
To help the BTC staff, we created a ‘Mock Assessment Portfolio’ that included a variety of relevant
Standards, with space for the manager/assessor to enter important information about the evidence.
An example of a page from the portfolio for the Test Leader is shown here:
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