Stratagia Newsletter — July 2008
Click on the link to find out more information about...
- CreditAble progress — we've expanded our offering of services around the QCF, see how some of our clients are leaping ahead in this area;
- Teachers into Further Education — a new guidance document on orientation for teachers transferring into FE;
- Talent incubator — how we're helping encourage young people into higher education;
- Sector Skills Council “approval” of vocational qualifications — Stratagia are leading an evaluation into the pilot approval system for VQs and we'll be reporting very soon;
- A qualifications strategy for Business Enterprise and Business Support — see how we're contributing to the development of a qualifications strategy for business enterprise and support;
- International Trade Advisors — creating new national occupational standards for this niche area;
- Consistent solutions for complex documents — ever suffered from Word "going wrong" just when you needed to get something finished? Learn about our solution to this problem!
- Say Hi! to Jackie — Stratagia is pleased to announce that it is growing again;
- Any comments? — including what to do if you would prefer not to receive future editions of this newsletter.
CreditAble progress
Our CreditAble portfolio is continuing to expand with a number of exciting developments. Following the success of our unit development workshops with sector skills councils, we have been asked to help a range of organisations to develop units and qualifications within the QCF:
Skills for Justice
We are currently consulting on qualification proposals for people and volunteers who are working with vulnerable young people. These flexible and innovative qualifications will link to the CWDC common core and will be recognised as part of the Integrated Qualifications Framework (IQF). What makes these qualifications different is that they will be flexible enough to be used in a wide range of settings across different sectors, but will still address the core skills that are essential to this kind of work. The consultation events are currently taking place in Birmingham, London, Leeds and Sheffield. There will be further opportunities for those interested to influence this development when the proposals are available online in August. The qualifications will be ready to be submitted for accreditation in October this year and it is hoped that they will then be available in the New Year.
City College Norwich
Network Rail made considerable progress in developing their accreditation portfolio with support from Stratagia. We are now working with another recently approved accrediting body, City College Norwich. The first qualifications are being developed through the National Skills Academy for Financial Services for people working in insurance companies who need induction into the industry. The initial focus is to build capacity so we are running an initial workshop so that a team of staff can begin the process of qualification and unit development. We can then provide continued support as they go through the approval processes.
British Institute of Facilities Management
CreditAble is working with a professional body, the British Institute of Facilities Management, to translate their current qualifications into more flexible provision within the QCF. Working closely with BIFM and employers in the industry, we will be developing qualifications proposals and to replace their Part I and II examinations. Work on this will be completed by the end of September. To find out more about our work on credit or what we could do to help your organisation just e-mail contact Stratagia.
Teachers into Further Education
We are continuing our work on a range of wider educational initiatives at Stratagia and have completed the guidance on orientation for teachers with qualified teacher status (QTS) who are transferring to further education. This will help them to learn about the diversity of the sector of further education and understand how the expertise that they have already can be adapted to the new teaching context. In order to enable recognition of the learning and development in which they are engaged, there are units and qualifications to support the CPD opportunities that this will generate. If you are interested in looking at the guidance document produced, contact LLUK or contact Stratagia for more information.
Talent incubator
Stratagia is also engaged in an exciting piece of research known as the Talent Incubator in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire. The project is using a scenario development tool to try to come up with new ways of encouraging young people who have already achieved Level 3 to go on to higher education in some form. This will provide the basis for a longer term development in the West Midlands and focuses on what works to promote progression into higher education for particular disadvantaged communities.
Sector Skills Council “approval” of vocational qualifications
The Sector Qualifications Reform Programme is looking to improve the quality of vocational qualifications and the processes that lay behind them. An important part of this, following the Leitch report, is to ensure that these qualifications better meet the needs of employers. A new system is being piloted to help achieve this.
Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in the pilot use their Sector Qualification Strategies and similar resources to define the criteria to be used for judging whether vocational qualifications coming forward for approval meet the needs of employers in their sector. Awarding Bodies are expected to be involved in developing these criteria and should be in dialogue with the SSCs around their plans for vocational qualifications throughout.
Stratagia is finalising an evaluation of the pilot, commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. This is due to report in August. If you're interested in the outcomes of this work just drop contact Stratagia.
A qualifications strategy for Business Enterprise and Business Support
We're continuing to assist SFEDI with their work to develop a qualifications strategy for Business Enterprise and Business Support. If you don't know who SFEDI are or want to access a copy of their earlier labour market intelligence report for this work then visit www.sfedi.co.uk.
There are over 4.5 million small businesses in the UK and approaching half a million starting each year. The evidence we've helped assemble for SFEDI shows the people in these businesses have learning and development needs but are being poorly served by existing programmes. As a small business ourselves this something we get quite passionate about!
We are helping SFEDI with a series of consultation events around the UK and an online consultation document and questionnaire will be available shortly. Let us know if you would like to receive details of how you can contribute. Simply e-mail contact Stratagia.
International Trade Advisors
A pretty esoteric area of interest but we will be helping SFEDI with the research to develop National Occupational Standards in this area. Contact Stratagia if you would like to know more.
Consistent solutions for complex documents
If you've ever had problems maintaining control and consistency over highly formatted documents with lots of contributors then help is at hand. We are developing a guide to help technical writers, IT professionals and others manage the document development and production process. Contact Stratagia for more information.
Say Hi! to Jackie
To help ensure we can continue to offer you the highest quality of support and standards of service we are expanding our team. We are delighted we will shortly be able to welcome Jackie Hitchcott to Stratagia. Jackie has extensive experience in post-16 education and development, especially in credit developments, awarding body processes, and initiatives across further and higher education.
Any comments?
We would really welcome any comments you have about our newsletter.
