More and more industries are developing increasing numbers of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs). People need to know what the NVQ system is, and the effect it may have on them.

At one time, GCSEs, O Levels and GCSEs were jargon: now, like NVQs, they're common household terms.  Over the past few years, over 3,000 people who work in the ceramics industry have gained NVQ certificates and many more are well on their way.

Most jobs, whether in tiles or tableware manufacture, office administration or retail, require practical skills and knowledge. For some jobs, people have to pass exams; for a lot of others, there have been no formal qualifications for people to achieve.

Exam results generally do not tell an employer how competently someone can do a job: they simply measure their ability to remember things and write them down. People go on courses; they return to work, and there's often little follow-up or assessment of how their training may have helped them to improve their performance, or enjoy their job more. Some supervisors/managers have been known to resent the time 'wasted' on a course, when they or their colleagues have had to cover for them.

NVQs are not about going on courses, studying, or passing exams. They are about assessment, to a nationally recognised standard, of how competently someone does the job that their employer pays them to do. At last we have the opportunity for people, who have been doing a good job for years, to be recognised for their competence and achieve a worthwhile qualification.

All NVQs are part of a 'framework' which links the qualifications together. There are five Levels in the framework, starting with Level 1. NVQs in ceramics are available at Levels 1, 2 and 3. Many ceramic operatives work for NVQs at Level 2, as this is the level for which specific, perhaps craft skills are needed. An NVQ at Level 3 would be supervisory or technical (i.e. some responsibility for people, or analysis of data); and so on up to Level 5, which represents a senior level of managing people or processes.

Someone who has a ceramic NVQ Level 2 that includes hand-decorating, for example, would be qualified to a similar level of skill as a person with NVQ Level 2 in hairdressing, retail, or business administration.

The main difference between NVQs and academic qualifications is that people don't have to attend formal training courses to achieve their qualifications. NVQs are based on standards, which someone can work towards at their own pace (indeed, many people within the ceramic industry may already have achieved the required standards for certain NVQs). You don't have to start at Level 1, either: you can start working towards whichever Level is right for your present skills and abilities.

Each NVQ consists of a number of units: in ceramics at Level 2, these are ...

• setting up
• doing the job
• closing down/passing on work to the next stage
• getting on with people
• working in a healthy and safe way

The units are split into elements, which describe a small aspect of the job and the conditions under which it must be done. All the elements must be achieved for the national standard to be met. When all the elements for a unit, and all the units for the NVQ are achieved, a certificate is awarded.

Ceramic NVQs are awarded by City & Guilds.  The qualifications (and the standards on which they are based) are developed by the Association for Ceramic Training and Development (ACTD) in conjunction with industry employers.

The format for NVQs is provided by QCA (the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority). Each industry has its own 'Standards Setting Body' whose job is to work with people in the industry to set the standards which will be used for the qualifications. ACTD is the Standards Setting Body for ceramic NVQs. Its role is to make sure that the NVQs are right for the needs of industry, from both employers' and employees' points of view.

Recognition of Skills | Proof of Skills | Go for NVQ