Gastos Preoperativos

Within the UK engineering sector, it has become clear that a bold restructuring of engineering education and training is es- sential to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Analyses suggest that the trend

towards flatter organisation structures will continue, with a consequent effect on the nature of individual work roles and op- portunities for progression (Engineering Council, 1995).

Hierarchical levels in employment have already undergone tremendous change and

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“Rover Group’s Integrated Engineering Development Scheme (IEDS) builds on its model of an integrated post-14 system for engi- neering formation (…)”

* Editor’s note:

National Vocational Qualifications

(NVQs) set the seal on standards of performance established for specific occupations. Being work-based, NVQs, which are available at five lev- els within a comprehensive national framework, are designed to provide open access to assessment and facili- tate life-long learning for people in employment.

General National Vocational Quali- fications (GNVQs) provide certifica- tion of a broad base of vocationally relevant knowledge and skills ac- quired in preparation either for entry to the labour market or for progres- sion into higher education. GNVQs are primarily intended for delivery via programmes of initial vocational edu- cation in school or college. The new framework of vocational qualifications provided by NCVQ (the

National Council for Vocational Qualifications,established in 1986 to reform the system of vocational quali- fications in England, Wales and North- ern Ireland), ensures that, through NVQs and GNVQs, everyone at or moving towards work can be assessed and certificated against agreed na- tional standards.

Source: Vocational Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, NCVQ, London, 1994

will continue to blur as team working, sin- gle status policies and flatter structures become the norm. Outmoded and rigid adherence to a divisive ‘class system’ of craft, technician and professional in engi- neering will become increasingly inappro- priate. In any event, ‘real’ jobs are infi- nitely more variable than any single quali- fication or professional classification sug- gests. Competence must be viewed as a whole. If fault lines are created, or allowed to develop, between school, further edu- cation, higher education and continuing personal/professional development, nei- ther seamless continuity nor more autono- mous learning will be achieved.

Perhaps for the first time, Britain has a real prospect of creating a seamless, inte- grated model of education and training, beginning with work-related curriculum activities for the very youngest pupils long before the many preconceptions and prejudices about work and careers have a chance to take root, continuing through vocational qualifications in which the in- dividual can accumulate unit credits at a pace and in combinations that suit their particular needs, progressing through higher education programmes designed to achieve predetermined performance outcomes and on into continuing profes- sional and personal development to sup- port lifelong learning.

However, to achieve that vision, employ- ers and educators will need to work in ac- tive partnerships as never before. New re- lationships will need to be forged, not only based on genuine parity of esteem for so- called ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ achieve- ment but on a new willingness amongst educators to recognise the workplace as a legitimate learning environment.

Work-based programmes combining vo- cational training, vocational education and skills development have existed for many years. However, such programmes fre- quently lacked effective integration and seldom provided adequate opportunities for continuity and progression. Now, Rover Group has led the development of a new initiative aimed at revitalising such work-based schemes in engineering manufacture.

Within the UK economy, patterns of ini- tial vocational education and training vary

enormously. In some sectors, well estab- lished post-16 routes do exist but, in many fields, there is no integrated framework providing for career progression for young people. Critical education and qualifica- tion decisions made at 14, 16 and 18 fre- quently determine, sometimes perma- nently, the course of an individual’s sub- sequent career, limiting their flexibility of movement and restricting their access to alternative opportunities for learning and/ or employment.

So the UK Government’s announcement, in the November 1993 Budget statement, of its intention to promote so-called ‘Mod- ern Apprenticeships’ provided a timely op- portunity to review how young people in a wide range of occupational sectors could be given the best possible preparation for future lifelong employability.

As one of the ‘modern apprenticeship’ prototype schemes which started in Sep- tember 1994 across the UK Engineering Manufacture sector, Rover Group’s Inte- grated Engineering Development Scheme (IEDS) builds on its model of an integrated post-14 system for engineering formation (See Figure 2) and is distinctive in a number of ways.

❏ Firstly, it aims to eliminate the tradi- tional differentiation between categories of trainee; engineering apprentice, tech- nician and student. Pathways for individu- als are constructed from combinations of units from National Vocational Qualifica- tions* (NVQs), General National Voca- tional Qualifications* (GNVQs) and degree programmes leading, where appropriate, to ‘whole’ qualifications but recognising both the integrity of individual units and their inter-dependency in combining to produce a coherent preparation for em- ployment. Instead of arbitrarily setting a ceiling on an individual’s potential pro- gression at the point of entry, the scheme is designed to offer a clear and explicit route to higher qualifications, from the very start, to all those with the necessary aptitude and motivation.

❏ Secondly, by combining, wherever pos- sible, the accumulation of evidence to- wards NVQ achievement at Levels 2, 3 and 4 (see Figure 3) with the new Inter- mediate and Advanced GNVQs and the degree programme, Rover is seeking to

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Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Continuing use of the National Record of Achievement for personal goal setting, individual development and assessment planning and credit accumulation

J P Berkeley - Rover Group 1.2.95