How Industry and Commerce View
the Establishment of NVQ in Sri
Lanka and its Benefits
Dr. Thusitha Tennakoon
Secretary General/CEO
Federation of Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL)
How Industry and Commerce View at NVQ
NVQ's are work-related, competence based qualifications achieved
through the acquisition of skills that reflect the competencies and
knowledge required to perform a given job (by Employers) efficiently and
effectively by employees.
Benefits of NVQ System for Individuals
(employees):Industry perspectives
• NVQ's can support employees career development as well as prepare
them for work.
• It shows that a person can do a job to national/international standards
and possesses the up-to-date skills employers are looking for
• With NVQ's practice is as important as the theory - they show what an
employee know as well as what he/she can do . NVQ's are about putting
learning into practice.
• With the flexibilities in NVQ System, followers can obtain a NVQ of their
choice as part of their normal job, work towards one at college or through
open learning or private study, or a combination of these.
• There are virtually no limits with NVQ's - No time limits, no age limits and
no strict entry requirements. It gives lifelong learning opportunities to the
employees.
• Disadvantaged groups in the society suffering from long term
unemployment due to the lack of appropriate skills for employments can
be supported through NVQ.
• Help women returning to work, by drawing on previously acquired skills,
to reach an NVQ level of competence.
• Employees can learn whilst on the job as NVQ is a work-based
qualification.
• skill requirement for a particular job/s can be announced according to the
skill level/s benchmarked by NVQ so that one can be focused in applying
for jobs
• increased flexibility of NVQ delivery allows candidates to complete
individual units of NVQ without compelling them to obtain whole
qualification
Benefits of NVQ System for Employers –
Industry Perspective
• NVQ's can help organizations to improve productivity and competitiveness
in their fields of operation.
• Valuable tool for business and human capital development.
• Improved employee performance and motivation; lower staff turnover;
better staff-supervisor relations.
• NVQ's allow the industries to benchmark standards for their workforce
hiring procedure and provide training that can be more specifically
targeted to their business needs.
• The NVQ system offers flexible work-based training. So no work time is
lost.
Overall Benefits
• NVQ is a solution to the governments policy decision to export skilled
labor to the international labour market.
• NVQ system can improve competitiveness in the international labour
market.
• With the systematically upgraded skill level of the workforce , Sri Lankan
Industries will be able to withstand the highly dynamic technological
advancements.
• Considerable emphasis has been placed by NVQ system on the need to
meet the economic growth targets for a more flexible and transferable
workforce, and to provide workforce with systematic skill upgrading
system to face future challenges in our march to become the Miracle of
Asia.
Major Drawbacks of NVQ System in Sri
Lanka
• As a new initiative, the early development of NVQs is not visible enough to
the school leavers and to the general public.
• No strong communication strategy has been formed to create awareness
among HR Managers in the industry and commerce about NVQs.
• Slower build up of numbers, and it will take several years to obtain proper
response for mass participation from Industry and commerce sector and
from the general public.
• There is no exact correlation between a particular academic qualification
and a particular vocational qualification in NVQ System to facilitate
apprentices to compare, chose and continue courses in the NVQ System.
• No clear mechanism of obtaining the feedback of industry and commerce
sector in further developing standards and qualification structures and
quality assurance measures.
• Lack of mechanism for timely revision of curricula needed for
improvements necessary to address problems/mismatches identified by
the Industry and Commerce.
• The assessment and certification body has established itself as an training
provider for the NVQ system and it will lead to possible conflicts of
interest.
• Development of Infrastructure and implementation of all systems and
standards required by NVQs pose challenges for private sector training
providers due to the financial constraints.
• With no specific time requirement on completing NVQs, the attainment of
full qualifications has usually taken far longer than policy makers looking
for quick results.
• NVQ assessment and quality assurance require far greater resources than
conventional qualifications awarded by Private training providers. In
addition to that if implemented badly, unnecessarily bureaucratic
procedures and excessive paperwork for employers and trainers can be
involved.
• The duration of the courses are lengthy and associated program cost is
very high. Therefore NVQs cannot usually be delivered entirely in a college
or school environment without access to suitable work placements.
• It is clear that the perceived cost of NVQs is still a deterrent for Small and
Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
• Successful implementation can be difficult without recognition by
managers and trainers of the need to provide support and adapt to new
ways of working.
Suggestions by Industry and Commerce for
Further Developments
• The policies should be developed to enhance the skill levels of existing
workforce though qualifications that are directly related to their occupations
and a new evaluation system should be designed to maximize access to
assessment and certification at the workplace.
• increase the relevance and quality of vocational qualifications provision by
ensuring a demand-led approach, directly responsive to labor market needs
contribute to the achievement of greater labor market flexibility and
transferability, ensure greater coherence in TEVT provision (through a
rationalized and simplified national disseminating standards within the
sector).
• New forms of local and International co-operation should be obtained
especially from industry and commerce sector to develop NVQ system to
face the upcoming technological challenges through globalization.
• Carrying out of occupational mapping to identify the occupations and
occupational structures of the industrial sector is a must.
• greater participation of industry and commerce from the designing stage
of NVQs to the point of training delivery and standardization.
• public-private partnership (with widely representative apex organization/s
of industry & commerce) in the registration of private sector training
providers, in the accreditation of training modules, organizing industrial
training and quality assurance and certification
• public sector setting the trend of recognizing NVQ as the entry
qualification for those vocations that the NVQs are available.
• intense social marketing campaign of NVQs and associated benefits
among employers, training seekers (especially school leavers) as well as
parents.
Thank You