Thank you for your frank and honest reply, after all your hard work it must be a disapointment that the NVQ does not seem to have been promoted well. Until I joined this forum I'd never even heard of the window cleaning NVQ. Reading your other posts its clear that your a reputable chap a sad loss to the Fed. Why do you think that their is not so much interest in anyone going for the whole NVQ qualification, is it too hard? Why don't the Fed promote the NVQ?
Tom
after all your hard work it must be a disapointment that the NVQ does not seem to have been promoted well.
In general terms I feel a measure of disappointment but mixed with a helping of disbelief as well in the way things have gone. Your point though is about disappointment as regards promotion.
I jumped at the chance to get my own window cleaning NVQ as soon as they came out. I saw them as a means, "at last" to differentiate myself, has a professional window cleaner, from the less reputable. I never expected window cleaners en masse to take up NVQ's but i thought there would be lots of others like me, who would want them for the same reason.
Promotions-wise a lot was/is done, advertising and editorially wise. . I don’t think most individual training centres for the cleaning industry promote the window cleaning NVQ though simply because they lack the expertise (a combination of window cleaning skills using such things as cherry pickers, cradles and travelling gantries along with the required NVQ assessor qualification) with which to provide them. Perhaps the best marketing material came from the British Window Cleaning Academy, though a lot of editorial was produced too by myself through the Federation's Window Talk magazine and other trade literature. The Cleaning Industry National Training Organisation has produced literature referring to window cleaning NVQ's as well. Moffat’s in Scotland are a good source for the Scottish VQ.
Why do you think that their is not so much interest in anyone going for the whole NVQ qualification, is it too hard?
NVQ’s are not too hard for the people they are meant for. The core purpose of an NVQ is to confirm and certify an individual’s competence. If someone is new to the trade and has a lot to learn strictly speaking an NVQ is not for them. NVQ’s are designed as an assessment of competence. While NVQ’s are commonly used as a training mechanism by many colleges and other training centres, that was not their original purpose. Of course NVQ assessment will show up areas of occupational competence that require improvement, and the NVQ standards themselves need to be explained to the candidate, but that is not the same thing.
It is commonly accepted that the choice as to whether whole NVQ’s should be worked for or not should be left to the judgement of the candidate and/or their employer. This recognition is built into the NVQ system. They call it “Unit Accreditation”. Additional units can be sort later. Sometimes in certain circumstances the full NVQ may not be relevant. A window cleaner that lives his working life on a cradle for example may not be interested in units that address other areas of competence such as ladders or cherry pickers for example – or visa versa. However that same window cleaner would probably find the cradle unit invaluable as a means to providing formally recognised evidence of his knowledge, skill and experience.
Why don't the Fed promote the NVQ?
It’s interesting to see you have the impression the Fed doesn’t! The Fed has promoted NVQ’s to a point but I think if you examined the facts for yourself you would conclude that they have also been unhelpful, awkward, and obstructive about them.
In past years Executive Committee members gave up copious amounts of time, without any sort of pay, or remuneration, in the initial development of NVQ’s. Window Talk carried articles on NVQ’s. The Federation made provision for what was essentially an NVQ booth at each of its annual trade shows. They sponsored me to represent them in their promotion and development.
With respect to the, “unhelpful, awkward, and obstructive” aspect I would be more than very interested to hear from any Federation member, that anyone might be able to refer me to, that accepted the Federation’s offer of an NVQ, that appeared in the October 2002 Window Talk (p.10, 11) I am interested to know whether the matter was just left or whether the Federation gave them a reason for not going ahead with the scheme, and if the Federation, gave a reason what that reason was. I am also interested to know what happened with the Scottish VQ's.
Andrew from Edu-Clean
