QUOTS - Qualifying on the Spot

Its amazing -  the human memory;  such talk of upskilling people and the fact that A.I. is just around the corner, what effect will it have; how will humankind have to adapt; what new skills will be required; what skills will be transferrable; how can countries learn from each other etc

We have to go back a few years to where I/Minster came from

I have been involved with vocational training in the UK since 1989 forming firstly my own accredited centre and later a not-for-profit organisation committed to changing organisations through entrepreneurship, leadership, learning etc. I had begun to find that vocational training was becoming reactive (reacting to strategies developed by others and only able to work within confined parameters) rather than being able to look at things differently; what tools and techniques have we got which can achieve long term goals in people development and how will this solve social mobility providing more opportunities for people to realise their potential.

So disheartened I thought definitely “retirement” then during a discussion with an enlightened person who said “Go to Europe Christine, that’s where you belong. We have a National Agency in Birmingham – a Lifelong Learning Programme, Leonardo, Grundtvig etc. - go to a Contact Seminar, see how you get on”. So I did, Murcia, Spain in 2007. I thought quite negatively “this is going to be another disappointment” but to my amazement when the countries there got talking I had a queue forming – “come do this project with us on -----, we want to do something about --------, what do you know about accreditation, competences” and two groups of countries arguing about whose project I should join!

To cut a long story short I joined one project “Qualifying on the Spot” with Holland, Finland, and Spain and was introduced as the country with the most experience in competence based assessment. Our objectives were to look at accreditation as a means of starting half-way up the Lifetime Learning Ladder instead of from the bottom rung; I was so envious back then when we looked at a huge accreditation operation in Holland where they had a “dedicated” accreditation Centre.  Finland and Spain were only just starting on the road of vocational competences so they had the benefit of comparing the differences between the Netherlands system and the UK. We looked at how quality is assured in both our countries, who drives the process, Awarding Body or Government; how the advisers/assessors role is defined, how advisers are trained – and UK had an Advisers competence back in 1991 which seems now only to work from one level of competence to another – the challenge is to be able to accredit informal training if people’s true ability is to be recognised. 

Minster was able to bring the role of the private sector and its experience of working with small to medium enterprises, social partnerships, trusts etc. and show how this is valued not only by the individual but also the organisations. During our mobilities via the 8 different advisers we took; we were able to show case studies and include the people who developed the strategies for these in the hospitality and catering sector, management, administration and customer service, and they were amazed that we are able to do this using the latest e-registration, and evidence assessment methods. We showed how much we now have available online and they will be able to access our e- knowledge as they develop their own competences.

When it was our turn to host in UK in 2009 I looked at the cost of accommodation, subsistence etc. and thought “why not try to get a country cottage, show them the Real England, hire a mini-bus etc? It will either work and we will all become firm friends or it will fail and we will have a huge fight”!! . I chose a cottage on the side of Carsington Water, Derbyshire, idyllic - slept up to 18, not all rooms with ensuite bathrooms but enough for our requirements. We collected everyone from the airport in our mini-bus and returned them at the end of the visit. We had a Visitor Centre across the water, we “visited” a local pub for evening meals, catered for ourselves for breakfast and lunch. Our meetings were held in the very large kitchen sitting on bench seating, lots of coffee, local cakes, biscuits etc. When we brought the latest contingent from Finland from Birmingham Airport I came back to find the evening meal had been prepared by Holland, & Spain and what a meal it was. Really entente cordiale!  Of course everyone had to agree the venue prior to booking and were sent photographs from the web site, costings etc. but it was certainly
different.

During the visit we piled into the mini bus and took them to see the Black Country, explaining why it is so called, we crossed Cannock Chase so they could see the woodland in spring. Our mobility was to a Social Partnership in Dudley – they literally “put the flags out for us” and we toured the printing company which uses the trainees in employment situations.

Our objectives defined in the application with numbers of beneficiaries etc in each of the countries were to see  what could be learned and how the process can be improved, what tools and techniques we all bring to the process and how we maintained quality assurance and  consistency.

Now, reminiscing, that was all back in 2008, I cant help but think that we have "thrown the baby out with the bath water".  We had a quality process, we were succeeding - we need a rethink to where we took the detour and lost our way (at least with all my years of experience thats what I feel).

This is only a short intro - I will be adding photos, presentations & oh so much more on to my Knowledge Base.  If you feel as I do then lets think of what the re-set would mean.

https://www.bizicard.in/ChristineLester#