STANDARDIZED QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION DEFINITIONS (ISO-9712): QUALIFICATION: Demonstration of physical aptitude, knowledge, skills and training by experience required to adequately execute the activities established. CERTIFICATION: Procedures which lead to written testimony of the qualification of the individual's competency level in a determinate activity or industrial sector.

Source: PETROBRAS. Workshop on certification experiences. ILO-SEFOR, Brazil, March 2000.

The certification awarded has a number of levels and categories. The levels are in ascending order of complexity and technical competency, and they facilitate worker mobility. To be a candidate for certification, the worker must exhibit a minimum level of schooling and vocational experience. In a number of cases, the more experience a candidate has the less the requirement for formal academic learning. Besides this, a minimum standard of good eyesight is required.

After formally satisfying the minimum requirements, the candidate takes a verification examination which also has a theoretical part and a practical part. Both phases are conducted by "examiners", in line with standardized procedures.

A number of the occupations which the SEQUI is interested in for PETROBRAS obtain their certification from the norms used by the FBTS or by ABENDE. In fact, what is in operation here is a sectorial department of the National Qualification and Certification System, and it functions with considerable participation from the private sector.

There are two noteworthy aspects of these experiences. The first is that they are inserted into the national policy on quality and have national standardization and certification bodies. The INMETRO participates by accrediting the certifying bodies, and these in turn accredit the evaluation centres. Second, there is the role bestowed on certification as a complementary means of ensuring quality. Obviously the sectors in question have a high profile on international markets, which makes them particularly inclined to the use of these mechanisms.

PETROBRAS: NORMS FREQUENTLY USED IN CERTIFICATION The structure of the National Certification Systems which function in FBTS and ABENDE is based on the following norms: EN-45013: (Sept. 1989) General criteria for certification bodies operating certification of personnel ISO-9002: (July 1994) Quality systems. Model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing EN-473: (Nov. 1992) Qualification and certification of personnel - General principles (in Europe) ISO-9712: (May 1999) Non-destructive testing - Qualification and certification of personnel (outside Europe)

In 1998 in Colombia, CENPAPEL, the Training and Technological Development Centre of the papermaking industry, started a project, backed by funds from the IDB, aimed at establishing a system of standardization, training and competency certification for workers in the Colombian papermaking companies.

In the Cenpapel system, labour competencies form a complex structure with identifiable and measurable components which are logically and functionally interconnected and which allow satisfactory performance in real work situations set up within agreed standards. These components are knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, they are linked in levels which determine cover of the working population, differentiation between fundamental, basic and applied knowledge and technological skills, degrees of autonomy and transferability between work ambits.

The objectives of the project include raising the degree of competitiveness of the workforce in the Colombian papermaking industry, developing a training system oriented by the criteria of efficiency and profitability, making occupational structures more flexible so as to ease technological progress, and the construction of new schemes for organizing production, making the transition from a training system based on offer to one which is ruled by demand and which satisfies the real needs of the labour market, recognizing the knowledge and skills acquired through experience outside the academic environment, and conceiving of training as a continuous process that goes on throughout the worker's lifetime.

The system covers the typical stages of the process of work by competencies, namely identification, standardization, competency-based training and certification.

In Honduras the Advisory Centre for the Development of Human Resources (CADERH) (www.caderh.hn), which functions as a network of training centres, is promoting the model of Instruction Based on Labour Competencies (IBC), a modular training methodology based on competencies. The CADERH has 750 modules plus occupational standards for 54 job posts, and its network is made up of 29 centres.

INSTRUCTION BASED ON COMPETENCIES FOR THE CADERH
CONVENTIONAL PROGRAMS	INSTRUCTION BY COMPETENCIES
Based on content Based on time Group teaching Group needs Delayed feedback Textbooks/workbooks Lecture classes Averaged final grades	Based on competencies or specific tasks Based on performance Each person at his own rhythm Individual needs Immediate feedback Learning facilitated by activities Certification by competency Evaluation with reference to performance criteria

In Paraguay, the Paraguayan Chamber of Construction is developing the Program of Efficiency and Competitiveness in the Construction Industry (PECC) with financing from the IDB. The objectives of the program include setting up a standardization, training and labour competency certification system for that sector. The project has been working on identifying profiles in the sector, and to this end it has prepared the functional map and the classification of groups and families of occupations.

Curricular design developed by the PECC: · Rubblework · Waterproofing · Concrete technology · Concrete reinforcing · Shuttering · Laying concrete · Window and door framing · Ceramic coatings · Residential plumbing installations · Operation of road making machines · Machine maintenance · Scaffolding · Preparation work · Plastering · Roofing

 

The program has developed a diagnosis of the training needs of the sector, and plans to have modular curricular designs in 17 occupations. It also has two transverse modules in the fields of safety and work hygiene, and the environment. Besides this, it includes the execution of training courses directly on the work and training of teachers to bring them up to date on the content of the new programs. The program is expected to improve the quality of training given by training institutes in the private sector, whose instructors benefit from the training offered by PECC.