Anyone holding or studying for an Edexcel Level 7 NVQ Diploma in Construction Senior Management will no longer need to take a professional competence assessment in order to complete the CIOB’s Professional Review process and become chartered, the CIOB has announced.
Candidates will be able to present their NVQ 7 qualification certificate as evidence of meeting the Professional Review competence criteria along with a short application form detailing their CPD, training and commitment to the Institute’s code of conduct.
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Shortening the vocational route to membership should help anyone put off by the cost of higher education, and reduce duplication and bureaucracy, said Ros Thorpe, head of education at the CIOB.
“We found that candidates were being assessed repeatedly on the same criteria by NVQ assessors who were either members or fellows of the CIOB,” said Thorpe. “Candidates had already submitted a large portfolio of work to prove their competence for the NVQ7 and were then asked to do the same thing in a shorter format for CIOB membership.”
As a joint awarding body with Edexcel, each NVQ portfolio will be externally verified by a CIOB member to ensure the correct standards are met. However, anyone working towards or holding a CITB NVQ7 diploma will not benefit from the new arrangement.
The move was welcomed by NVQ assessor and training provider Gary Pollard. “Other professional institutions in the industry ignore vocational qualifications, but they can’t ignore the academic value [as confirmed by the national Qualifications and Credit Framework]. So the CIOB is moving forward on this and accepting vocational qualifications as a route to membership. It’ll make membership far more accessible to many senior managers, and be popular for people who want that extra edge.”
A bachelor honours degree is considered a Level 6 qualification on the QCF. Meanwhile, the National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) has confirmed that undergoing the CIOB Professional Review and holding the MCIOB title is also equivalent to a QCF Level 6 qualification, while Fellowship is considered to be at QCF 7 level, or equivalent to a masters degree.
“Once NARIC said that the Professional Review was the equivalent of a Level 6, it made sense to treat the NVQ7, a higher qualification, as a direct route to membership,” Pollard commented.
… and CIOB qualification leads to black card
It’s been announced that individuals who have completed the CIOB Level 4 Site Management qualification can now qualify for a black Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) management card without the need to take extra qualifications.
The black CSCS card was previously only issued to managers who had achieved NVQs Level 6 or 7 (on the QCF scale). But now anyone with the Level 4 Site Management certificate can gain direct access to the card, subject only to passing the CITB health, safety and environment test.
The CIOB’s Ros Thorpe told CM: “We’re pleased that the CSCS has recognised our qualification as a very vocational course for site managers, we’ve been trying for several years to get it accredited for the black card. Previously CSCS had very narrow definition of a vocational qualification, now they have recognised the need to extend it.”
Currently about 250 people a year take the Level 4 Site Management qualification. The CSCS has also been talking to the Institute about accepting other CIOB qualifications as a route to CSCS cards, including diplomas in site supervisory studies and site management studies.
Gordon Jenkins, operations director at CSCS, told CM: “The new qualifications will probably be accepted from autumn as proof of academic studies for certain cards, although the exact details still need to be finalised.”
