ANNEX E - 3
The company came into the project with the idea that they would benefit most from obtaining the
Level 4 vocational qualification in Explosives Safety Management and the Level 3 vocational
qualification in Explosives Safety Supervision.
In considering which roles and individuals should take part in the first qualifications we must
understand that this family-run company is in the vanguard of blasting- and explosives-safety and
professionalism in Estonia. The EUExImp project was not funded to provide the qualifications, only
the environment and framework within which the partners could act. All Erasmus+ projects require
partners to partially fund their participation so as such, each partner would be required to fund
activities that were a consequence of their participation.
During the project scoping phase Voglers were quite clear that their participation would need to
provide some benefit to the company. Initially, the intention was to qualify the Explosives Safety
Manager and two Explosives Safety Supervisors, however, commercial considerations had a
significant bearing and it was decided quite early on that the Explosives Safety Manager would not
undertake a qualification for two reasons: the greater benefit to the company was in qualifying the
Explosives Safety Supervisors as an element of succession planning; the Explosives Safety Manager,
who is the MD of the company, would not have time to devote to the qualification due to other
professional responsibilities in Estonia and Europe.
The role profiles created for other explosives workers in the company were considered to be a lower
priority at this stage because of the need to be assessed in English and almost entirely in the
workplace, whereas evidence for the explosives safety management qualifications is more likely to
be found from naturally-occurring documents or by assignment. Importantly, the Board of Voglers
Eesti OÜ could see more benefit in the international arena from holding the explosives safety
management qualification within the company.
CHOOSING THE CANDIDATES
Identifying which members of staff will be involved in the project and in the future is a complex
process of understanding the needs of the company for the short- and long-term, balanced with the
perceived business benefits that having suitably qualified people can bring. For Voglers, this process
involved the identification of the most advantageous role for the business to support that would
bring either a tangible or intangible benefit, which the company could use to demonstrate its
commitment to professional standards to existing and potential clients, the Estonian regulator, and
to the company’s own staff. This external and internal demonstration of commitment was an
important factor is choosing the members of staff for these first qualifications. The members of staff
were to be both customer-facing and well respected within the company.
In this pilot phase for the company, a good deal of time was spent in understanding the commitment
that would be required of the candidates. Given that the qualifications are UK-based, and at the time
of the project there were only English-speaking assessors and verifiers, it was clear that the
candidates should have a good command of the English language. This would place them in a good
position to be able to understand the standards, to enter into detailed dialogue with their assessor
and possibly the verifiers, and to translate essential elements of their portfolio of evidence so that
the assessors etc. could understand the content and significance of the evidence presented.
ANNEX E - 4
Naturally, the company was concerned about how much time the potential candidates would need
to spend in compiling their portfolio and assessment activities. One of the great business benefits of
this type of vocational qualification is that it is outcome-based, i.e. to a great extent, the onus is on
the assessor, through regular dialogue with the learner and the company, to find existing evidence
that demonstrates that the learner is suitably competent in each element of the standard that is
being assessed. Understanding the key role, the individual standards in detail, and the way that the
company and learner work, is essential to the way the assessor approaches the assessment.
Likewise, it is essential that the company and learner understand the assessment and verification
process and Voglers went to great pains to ensure that they did just that, as described in the next
section.
Having worked through the role profiling process and discussed in detail the commitment required
from a ‘learner’ (the generic term used by the awarding organisations for what is often called a
candidate in more traditional training and education environments) it was decided that this pilot
phase would involve the two explosives safety supervisors working towards the L3 VQ in Explosives
Safety Supervision.
Having made contact with a qualifications centre that offers this qualification, it became clear that,
until Estonia can establish its own centre, a great deal of the assessment would need to be
conducted in English. Although both the Explosives Safety Supervisors have a good command of
English, it was decided that only one would attempt the qualification within the scope of the project
on the grounds of cost and language.
Ultimately, within the bounds of the project, Voglers went forward with the assessment of one of
the Explosives Safety Supervisors for a Level 3 Vocational Qualification in Explosives Safety
Supervision.
SELECTING THE ASSESSMENT ORGANISATION
Identifying and selecting a training and assessment provider looks, on the surface, like a fairly
standard business process and decision: you simply look online for a range of training and
assessment organisations; confirm which offer the product you are seeking; send out an invitation to
tender; sift the responses to a short-list; confirm the qualities and attributes you want are
deliverable at a price, quality and timeframe you want and finally enter into a contract. In reality, if
you and your organisation has little or no experience of working the outcome-based regime of
vocational qualifications underpinned by occupational standards, the process becomes slightly more
complex as it is necessary to add in time and effort in understanding the process and implications at
each stage, always with the end-state in mind.
Voglers recognised very early in the project that the key to this process would be their
understanding of the assessment and verification process so that they could specify their
requirements to the prospective assessor organisations.
‘competence-based assessment’ may be defined
33
as “… a form of assessment that is derived from
the specification of a set of outcomes; that so clearly states both the outcomes – general and specific
– that assessors, students and interested third parties can all make reasonably objective judgments
with respect to student achievement or non-achievement of these outcomes; and that certifies
33
Wolf, Alison;
Competence-Based Assessment (Assessing Assessment);
Open University Press, 1995
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