January 7, 2008

QUALIFIED NVQ ASSESSORS in Barbados' school system: (from left) Henderson Cadogan, SJPP; Ivor Boyce, Combermere; Orson Alleyne, St George Secondary; and Henderson Wiltshire, St Lucy Secondary.

BARBADOS has gained the first regionally trained and certified National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) assessors. And last Wednesday a ceremony was held to award the ten NVQ assessors who successfully completed training and assessment conducted by the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET), Jamaica, with the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) Level 4 in Assessment.

One assessor also received the NVQ-J Level 4 in Training and Development. This forms part of the
implementation of NVQs, a competence-based assessment and certification programme that will serve as the foundation of workforce training and development in Barbados and throughout CARICOM.

As part of the local programme, candidates drawn from the private and public sectors, as well as the education and training field, were trained and their performance assessed and verified by the CTVET in collaboration with the local Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council.

The group of candidates comprised persons representing employment sectors which included customer service, tourism and hospitality, construction, amenity horticulture, as well as education and training.

The ten assessors who were presented with certificates are Orson Alleyne, Ivor Boyce, NVQ programme is built on three pillars – clear, well-defined occupational standards; valid and reliable assessment and robust quality assurance.

“Assessors and verifiers are critical to the strength of the latter two pillars. Having assessments being carried out by persons who are trained and certified and having their work verified by occupational experts in the field builds confidence in the NVQ award.”

McClean added: “The TVET Council is therefore placing heavy emphasis on the training of NVQ assessors and verifiers. Our goal is to ensure that those persons who meet the national standards of competence for a work role and only those persons are awarded the NVQ.”

Henderson Cadogan, Llavonne Clarke, Dr Richard Graham, Joan Leacock, Paul Puckerin, Norma Shorey-Bryan, Winifred Williams and Henderson Wiltshire. Assessors – together with the verifiers (i.e. moderators) who carry out the quality checks to ensure sound assessment decisions – will form the
foundation of a reliable system of quality assurance as Barbados seeks to implement the NVQ
programme.

SEATED in the front row at Wednesday’s ceremony to award Barbados’ first NVQ
Assessors: (from left) TVET Council Senior Technical Officer, Wendy McClean;
NCTVET Director of Quality Assurance, Jennifer Walker; NCTVET Assessment Lecturer,
Lurline Bannister; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Carston Simmons; and Deputy
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Shelly Carrington.

TVET Council Senior Technical Officer Wendy McClean explained: “The integrity and credibility of the NVQs are competence-based certification geared towards training and assessment that rests on employer-specified standards of occupational competence. NVQs are awarded once individuals have
demonstrated that they meet the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitude required by the
employer-specified occupational standards, in either a real work or realistic working environment.

Assessors make judgements about the occupational competence of candidates by reference to the national occupational standards. They base their decisions on a variety of work-based evidence that
consists of directly observing the candidate’s performance at work and using oral and/or written
questioning.

Assessors also determine an individual’s competence by examining portfolios containing evidence of the candidate’s products of work and supplementary evidence such as witness testimony in support of the candidate’s ability to perform the job functions to the specified standards.

The training in competence-based assessment, the first phase of which ran from February 12 to 21, 2007, culminated with the assessment phase from May 14 to 17, 2007, during which time the candidate assessors had their portfolios of evidence reviewed by a panel of assessors from the
NCTVET and the TVET Council.

The NCTVET, a leading provider of competence-based training, assessment and certification in the region, whose qualifications are recognised in British Commonwealth countries, is also a key
contributor to the development of the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies’ (CANTA) model for workforce development.

This model of competence-based TVET, which has been adopted by CARICOM, consists of standards-driven competencebased training, assessment and certification that equips workers with the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes to meet the needs of employers.