How was the competency-based triaining approach first applied?

National Vocational Qualifications in the United Kingdom:(7) The improvements introduced in the English educational model from the early eighties, which resulted in educational reforms towards the middle of the decade, focus on the following objectives:

Creating a more competitive workforce in the international scenario.
Having more flexible manpower.
Giving credit and practical support to the concept of continuing training, without admission requirements and with more flexible and accessible training methods.
Changing from a supply-side training system into another which reflects the needs of the labour market and responds accordingly.
Developing a training system that is efficient and profitable, with a wellearned reputation and with the same quality as that of academic training.

In that sense, in 1986 the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) was created to reform the system of vocational certifications that existed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NCVQ was created after a revision of the Vocational Certifications(8) which exposed the need to put in practice a series of urgent actions to achieve:

• a national manpower with a larger number of qualified personnel;
• certifications that are directly based on the levels of competency required by the job;
• a simplified and rationalised national certifications framework;
• higher quality and soundness in assessment and certification;
• putting an end to the division between academic and vocational certifications.

Before the reforms introduced in the eighties there were different types of certifications in the United Kingdom. In general, the “certifications jungle” was not well understood and almost everyone agreed on the need to rationalise and simplify the system, so that it would become more attractive and accessible for students or candidates and, at the same time, more related to employment needs.

Nowadays there are three ways to obtain a certification. Apart from the traditional educational certifications awarded by schools and institutes, there are NVQs and GNVQs.

The National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) establish the standard levels of performance for the different specific professions. As they are based on observing what actually takes place at work, the NVQs are designed to provide open access to assessment and to facilitate learning for the personnel throughout their working life.

The General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) award certification according to the knowledge and skills that are professionally relevant and that have been acquired during preparing for entering the labour market, or in order to progress towards higher education. GNVQs are mainly conceived to be obtained through programmes of elementary vocational education that take place either at schools or colleges.

The above does not imply that the United Kingdom has lacked a system of vocational qualifications during the 1985-1986 period. In fact, the existing qualifications had a high reputation at an international level. However, a different method was needed. A method that would provide the levels of participation and quality of results that was demanded by education and training in the ever-changing labour world. It was the time for a cultural change.(9)

The key point of the British system lies in the fact that it has been created by people who will use it and benefit from it. This gives entrepreneurs and workforce representatives a major role in the design of the new vocational qualifications.(10)

In 2000 and 2002 some modifications were made into the system; for instance, the Sector Skills Councils were created with the aim of reducing the existing lack of competencies and anticipating their future evolution by keeping workers and enterprises informed. The Councils were oriented towards improving sectoral competitiveness by facilitating improvements in the training offer and the occupational standards.

The National Qualifications system is based on competency standards governed by entrepreneurial organisations. Such standards reflect current and future needs of enterprises in terms of productivity and competitiveness. The standards and qualifications that are thus integrated are established according to competencies that individuals may have and may prove to have.

The development of the competency standards set by national vocational qualifications is bolstered by the National Qualifications Authority,(11) which, among many other educational functions, is in charge of competency standards and promotes a number of Awarding Bodies and Assessment Centres, handling the necessary mechanisms to ensure quality by means of an external control system.

The State, in turn, plays its role in the system through the Ministry of Education and Skills and by supporting the creation of Sector Skill Councils which have also the support of the Sectoral Agencies for the development of competencies. Councils may also be formed in sectors that are important from the economic or strategic point of view. The Council must be capable of exercising leadership and being convincing for the workers of such sector and have a technical team that may facilitate relationships with entrepreneurs and the coordination of actions geared to achieve the priorities of the sector in terms of the required competencies.

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7 Based on: NCVQ, Las titulaciones profesionales en Inglaterra, Gales e Irlanda del Norte, Londres, 1995. Hanson, Mike, Lecciones y experiencias del desarrollo de la educación y la capacitación basadas en competencias en el Reino Unido, CONALEP, 1996.
8 In the Mexican model and in Spanish literature, the term “Calificaciones” (Qualifications) has been used instead of “Titulaciones” (Certifications); in this case we keep the term employed in the source document.
9 Taylor, Marie, “Educación y capacitación basadas en competencias: un panorama de la experiencia del Reino Unido”, in: Formación basada en competencia laboral, Montevideo, Cinterfor/ILO, POLFORM/ILO.
10 Idem.
11 Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA). www.qca.org.uk