Vocational qualifications
How vocational qualifications can help you develop the skills your employees need to perform particular jobs or roles.
Vocational qualifications are work-related qualifications. Vocational qualifications combine a mix of theory and practical learning to enable the learner to develop the knowledge and skills required to be able to perform a particular job in the workplace.
Vocational qualifications cut across various business sectors, and examples of vocational qualification subjects include accounting, engineering, health, hospitality, IT, retail, as well as many others.
Vocational qualifications provide an important way of assessing the development of your employees' skills and expertise. Vocational qualifications can help you develop the skills your business needs to succeed and grow.
This guide explains how the vocational qualification system works and how these qualifications bring benefits to employers.
Advantages of vocational qualifications
How vocational qualifications can develop staff skills, leading to many benefits for your business.
Vocational qualifications can help you develop the skills and knowledge your business needs.
Benefits of vocational qualifications
Vocational qualifications bring real advantages to employers, including:
Meet specific employer needs
Vocational training is designed, often with employer input, to meet the specific needs of employers and specific job sectors.
Better employee knowledge
Practical learning gives employees a better hands-on understanding of particular roles and tasks.
More confident staff
Employees are more confident in their job roles.
Flexibility
Training is flexible to fit around the business needs.
Competitive edge
Having staff fully qualified for particular job roles may give your business a competitive advantage, eg, when tendering for contracts.
Increased productivity
Employees are likely to be happier in their job roles, more productive, and motivated to reach their potential. This, in turn, can improve staff retention rates.
Profitability
Increased profitability with more competent and able staff.
Skills matching
Qualifications are easy to understand, and employers can compare skills leading to career progression pathways.
Staff development and progression
Easier and more effective staff development and clearer career progression.
Nationally recognised qualifications
Many vocational qualifications have been designed in collaboration with industry, so you can equip your employees with the specific skills and knowledge your business requires.
The qualifications that your employees gain can provide a helpful guide to their skill levels. All new vocational qualifications meet national standards, so they can also indicate how well-trained your staff are compared with other businesses in your sector or region.
Having a well-trained workforce can be of great value to your business. Vocational qualifications can help show you whether training targets are being met and help you assess the skills development of individual workers. In turn, achieving vocational qualifications can offer a benchmark for setting reward levels, as a better-trained employee is likely to help improve the profitability of the business.
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It's important to bear in mind that while vocational qualifications are important, this is only part of the staff development process. You should also be looking at staff training and manage staff performance.
The Qualifications and Credit Framework
How qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework have been developed with input from employers.
The contains most vocational qualifications available in Northern Ireland, England and Wales. These vocational qualifications have been developed with input from employers to ensure that they meet their skills needs, and are based on national occupation standards that are managed by sector skills councils.
QCF qualifications can be gained through a range of different learning types, including training provided by employers.
QCF units and credits
Qualifications on the QCF are achieved by completing units. Most qualifications include some mandatory units and some optional units, which the learner can select depending on what skills or work they wish to focus on. Your employees can study units at a pace to suit your business needs and build these up to full qualifications of different sizes over time.
Every qualification and unit on the QCF has a credit value, showing how long it takes to complete. Employees can transfer completed credits from one qualification to another, provided certain criteria are met, and keep credits as they move jobs.
Many employers provide high-quality in-house training to help their employees perform better at work and to progress. Employers can have this training accredited on the QCF so that it is nationally recognised. For more information, see accrediting your in-house training.
Get your in-house training accredited as a vocational qualification
How you can have your in-house training provision accredited to national standards.
If you provide high-quality, in-house training for your employees, you might want to have it accredited by the . This means your training will be nationally recognised.
Using regulated qualifications allows you to have confidence that your training leads to a recognised qualification, and that it reflects current industry standards.
You can work with an awarding organisation to have your training accredited or consider becoming an awarding organisation in your own right.
A number of employers have already been recognised as awarding organisations with their own training included as qualifications on the Register of Regulated Qualifications. Others have worked in partnership with existing awarding organisations to have their training accredited. There is 91香蕉黄色视频 available for employers interested in training, accreditation, and recognition.
Training accreditation advice
If you want to have your in-house training mapped to existing qualifications or units, or get your training recognised as national qualifications, the can provide advice and 91香蕉黄色视频.
The CCEA is responsible for the regulation of all qualifications in Northern Ireland as defined on the Register of Regulated Qualifications. Organisations wishing to offer qualifications in Northern Ireland must be recognised by CCEA Regulation and must meet the CCEA criteria for recognition.
Benefits of accredited training
- Give confidence to learners and employers that the qualifications have been independently checked.
- Assure users that the qualifications are monitored and are of the standard and level they claim to be.
- Have qualifications listed on the Register of Regulated Qualifications - a key resource for those searching for qualifications to take.
- Allow particular aspects of the qualifications to be transparent across Europe by reference to the European Qualifications Framework.
Higher education accreditation
Foundation degrees are vocational higher education designed to meet workplace needs. They provide university-level qualifications, customised to meet your business's objectives and aims.
Foundation degrees are designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills and attributes required in the workplace by combining academic and work related learning. They are designed and delivered through partnerships between employers and/or employer organisations, universities and local colleges.
Read more on higher education training opportunities for your business.