COUNTRY PAPER: JAMAICA

Prepared for the Regional Technical Workshop "Competency-based Curriculum Design "
TVET Council, Barbados - Ministry of Labour and Social Security,
Barbados, 19 to 23 November 2001

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THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK -NVQ-J

The establishment of a national qualifications framework -NVQ system is very important to the education and training system in Jamaica. The National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) administers this framework. The award given is the NVQ-J, which is based on occupational/job standards. This framework guarantees that all trainees at all levels of an occupation are trained, assessed and certified based on standard s set by the industries that employ them, a major part of the mechanism which ensures a market or demand-driven training system.

The NVQ-J framework has five levels; ranging from level 1 (entry level worker/apprentice) to level 5 (graduate/professional level worker). The NVQ-J occupational certification is a statement of the assessed competency (knowledge, skills and attitudes) of an individual in both theoretical and practical applications in a particular technical/vocational subject area. It uses as its criteria for competence, established standards (defined by a group of experts from a particular industry), which outline expected work performance in various work settings and establishes that the individual has achieved competency at one of the five levels. The qualifications are open to everyone and the level an individual does depends on the standards that he/she can reach or attain. The system therefore has been set up in such a way to encourage individuals to continue learning new skills throughout their working life.

Another feature of the NVQ-J is that while each level is discrete, there is an in built facility for articulation among all levels; that is, a person who successfully completes level 1, for example, mar use this achievement coupled with the prescribed work experience to matriculate to a level 2 programme and so on. The system also caters for certified graduates to move from one accredited institution to another to pursue higher-level certification without duplication or loss of credit since the occupational standards determine the content of the curriculum at each level. The individual is therefore able to access, pursue and gain certification at the level or levels equal to the category of employment he/she will seek in the labour market.

To date the NCTVET, has completed the development of standard s for Levels 1 -3 in over 60 occupational areas and has certified over 15,000 persons at NVQ-J levels 1 -3. These are persons competent to perform and add value to enterprises.

 

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