Summer update on the QCF arboricultural qualifications

Yes! according to the news this morning, summer is here because so many plants are flowering a head of time, for example elder and slipper orchids, and also thousands of caterpillars are munching their way through tree canopies in Bradford.

Back in April I told you that another round of industry consultation was the next stage of the procedure to getting the new qualifications validated by Ofqual. This is both for the level 4 and the level 6 qualifications. Well I am on a high today as news from ABC informs me that this round has been completed. Not only that, but LANTRA our Industry Lead Body has stated, and I quote “that the units were well written”. I tempted to take the rest of the day off and go lie down somewhere in the sunshine! I’m honestly amazed that I haven’t to pour hours of my time in to making amendments to the units – can the day get any better!

It’s great news that the qualifications have passed muster with LANTRA because they can now be passed on to the final stage with Ofqual who will give the final stamp of approval within the predicted timescales for commencement of the qualifications. For any potential candidates and the training providers this is important news as we can be almost assured that a 2011 commencement will actually happen.

On a personal note I would like to thank all those who have participated in assisting the processes, from those that took part in the original surveys, those that reviewed units and attended the meetings in Nottingham. Also a special mention for the ladies at ABC which kept us arboriculturists on the right track when aspects of the writing got frustrating – you can’t really believe that disagreements occurred between a group of arboriculturists actually happened can you!

The next part of the process related to the awarding body ABC is the production of the qualification content the appropriate format. Following that will be the distribution of the information to the training centres. Each centre will receive three aspects of the new qualifications

Learning outcomes – what the learner will understand or know

Assessment criteria – what the learner can do

Indicative content – guidance for the learner and the training provider as to what is required of the learner indicating depth and breadth of knowledge etc I have a little more work to carry out on the indicative content now that the learning outcomes and the assessment criteria have been validated by LANTRA to ensure its suitability.

Now here’s an update for you that I’ll do my best to explain thoroughly. Each centre will receive the three aforementioned aspects, what they do not receive is any form of assessment methodology. Each centre will be responsible for determining the methodology it uses to test the learners (have you noted as potential candidates that you are now called learners – good) against the set assessment criteria. Each assessment criteria has to be passed by the learner.

What this means is, that the old traditional examinations have disappeared and in their place is any assessment methodology that performs the role of testing a learners abilities against the assessment criteria. These methodologies could include reports, oral examination, witness testimony, video, audio, multi-choice tests, photographs, practical tests, observations, role play, letters, course work, projects etc.

Excellent for the learner undoubtedly and for the training provider – I think! The down side for the training provider is that they have to come up with all the various methodologies, implement them and bear the costs of their development and implementation. The awarding body has effectively passed on the costs of assessment to the training provider.

For the learner the implication is huge! Huge because you are going to have to keep very good portfolios of all your work to present to an external moderator at the end of the period of learning and assessment. Imagine all those records and bits of paper that the dog eats, the children spill drinks on, is left on top of the car, leaves the office without so much as a goodbye, my computer won’t give it to me and mysteriously disappears overnight. I’ve heard all of the excuses over the years but none of them will cut any ice in the future. Back up systems will be needed. Tree Life is thinking of running a course on portfolio building, storage and protection before allowing any learners though its doors that you have to pass its integrated assessment gaining 110%!

What you have hopefully gleaned from that paragraph, is that internal assessment is how the qualifications will be assessed in the future. This is very common place in universities and colleges and has been for many years. It will be new to these qualifications but should not detract from ensuring that you as an employee are very fit for work and that what an employer gets, is a person that can do the job and do the job very well. Under the old system of traditional examinations a candidate only had to score 50% to pass, which effectively meant they got 50% wrong. With the new system a learner has to pass each assessment criteria at 100%! Dumbing down of qualifications under a new system? – NO not a chance.

Well I’ve dribbled on for long enough, I’m off to find somewhere in the sun to lie down.

Arboricultural Qualifications Spring Update and it’s not April the 1st!

The second round of industry consultation took place today the 5^th April, plus the assigning of credit values and determination of mandatory and optional units. A successful day was had by all; the gin and tablets were not needed today, lunch was good and I made the most of it!

The next stage constitutes a third round of industry consultation. This should be completed by the end of April – bank holidays and a little matter of a wedding permitting!

In June the level 4 and level 6 qualifications will be submitted to a LANTRA technical committee for review and comment. This will result in my continued input if changes are required. However, this period of review should be completed before the end of June when the qualifications will then be submitted to Ofqual for their approval. Should all be well at this stage, approval from Ofqual to ABC should be forthcoming in early August for a September introduction. (fingers and toes crossed then everyone!)

The proposal at this stage is for, the level 4 qualification to have an Award, Certificate and Diploma size qualification built within the units. The level 6 qualification will have a Certificate and Diploma size qualification built within the units. Each size of qualification will have mandatory units and optional units. The mandatory units will reflect underpinning knowledge while the optional units will allow for a degree of specialism e.g. woodland management is listed as an optional unit at level 6.

The size of each qualification (award, certificate or diploma) is determined by the number of credits attained by a learner. The team today have assigned the credit values to each unit based on the predicted numbers of hours it takes an ‘average’ learner to complete the necessary work as laid out in the learning outcomes. This amounts to the whole qualification taking shape and a light appearing at the end of the QCF tunnel.

QCF summary of what is expected from a learner at each level.

Level 4 achievement reflects a learner’s ability to identify and use relevant understanding, methods and skills to address problems that are well defined but complex and non-routine. It includes taking responsibility for overall courses of action as well as exercising autonomy and judgment within fairly broad parameters. It also reflects understanding of different perspectives or approaches within an area of study.

Level 6 achievement reflects the ability to refine and use relevant understanding, methods and skills to address complex problems that have limited definition. It includes taking responsibility for planning and developing courses of action that are able to underpin substantial change or development, as well as exercising broad autonomy and judgment. It also reflects an understanding of different perspectives, approaches or schools of thought and the theories that underpin them.

The text in bold is designed to help you spot the difference. I am happy with what was achieved today and take heart that we may have something in the cocoon that can blossom in September in to something that is not too alien!

QCF – A winter’s tail-end report on progress towards level 4 and 6 new qualifications

Well March is here and the deadline for production of the new draft units for the level 4 (Technician’s Certificate) and level 6 (PD arb) certificate and diploma in arboriculture has past. I’m very pleased to say that I have met that deadline and 18 units went to a first formal consultation during two long days this week. This followed some individual informal, but expedient, consultation with specialists in our industry.  The working party is made up of those that can advise on technical issues and those that can advise on the peculiarities that is the language of writing qualifications within the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) bestowed upon it by Ofqual, the regulatory body.

At first reading, some moans and groans, tears and tantrums and then a little reconstruction of the units, it appears we have something that on the whole, conforms to the needs firstly, of the credit framework, and secondly to the needs of our industry. I have some more work to do, to ensure there is progression from level 2 through level 4 and up to level 6 and that some aspects of arboriculture sit at the correct level.

Ofqual are very strict in respect of the language that can be used in writing the content of the units, which has made it quite difficult for me as an educationalist to produce the content that is desirable. Nonetheless in my opinion we have draft qualifications at this time, that largely comply with the rules and frequent change of rules imposed by Ofqual!

The units are composed of learning outcomes (LO), assessment criteria (AC) and indicative content. The LO describe what the learner will understand or know, the AC describes what the learner can do, the indicative content is offered as guidance to aid delivery of the unit and to set the LO’s and AC’s in context. Every one of the AC’s has to be assessed and passed at 100%! Anybody thinking that the qualifications will be dumbed down by the changes is mistaken. The learner will gain a qualification having passed every AC at 100%, as opposed to the old system where getting 50% of answers correct gained a pass mark. Undoubtedly the learner and the prospective employer have much to gain from the new credit framework.

Each time a unit is passed (signed off) the learner gains a number of credits that eventually builds into a qualification. The number of credits assigned to each of the units has not been set yet, until the final draft of the units is complete. The next deadline for me is the first week in April, when a second round of consultation will take place and hopefully the number of credits will be assigned to each unit.

The new qualifications in my opinion are more arboriculturally specialised incorporating new research, knowledge and depth of knowledge, and will push the learner in some areas at level 6 more than ever before. I can’t confirm categorically at this time, but it appears that assessment will be carried out internally, verified by internal verification and external moderation to demonstrate that standards are being maintained by the training provider. The implication for any new learner is the large task to produce the evidence that meets the assessment criteria. The production of work to meet ALL the assessment criteria will need to be collated in a portfolio type file and maintained by the learner throughout the duration of the learning process and moderation period. I hope some of you are going to have good filing systems! I look forward to continuing the development of the qualifications (gin and tablets included) with a view to them gaining Ofqual approval in early summer in time for a September 2011 introduction.

Arboricultural survey related to the Professional Diploma

Requests for individuals to contribute their views on qualification content for the replacement QCF Level 6 started in January 2010 publicised on the our web site and promoted through the AA and ABC awarding body. The RFS, ICF and the ISA failed to respond to a request to publicise the need for the industry to contribute to the new qualification content. Besides the open invitation, over 1,000 individuals received a personal invitation to take the opportunity to shape the content of the new qualification. The survey concluded in December 2010, during the period of opportunity to comment, 34 individuals did so and the working party are very grateful to those individuals who took time out to respond.

Of those who responded, the breakdown of their job role is as follows:

23 persons operating as consultants of which 5 are AA Registered Consultants

10 Local Authority tree officers and 1 Forestry Commission manager

3 of the responders are current professional diploma examiners

The arboricultural industry is notoriously poor at responding to shaping its educational content and the poor numbers taking part in this survey confirm that fact. The content of the new qualifications will be left in the hands of a few dedicated individuals in the first instance supported by a small number of selected major players who, as specialists have been asked to comment on the first drafts of units. After that, the consultation period will start in earnest controlled by LANTRA sector skills.

The survey of topic areas concluded that the following areas of the current syllabus could be dropped from the new content.

• Personnel management
• Staff recruitment
• Customer care
• Training needs
• Finance management
• Contract management
• Shelter belt management
• Propagation of shrubs and trees
• Shrub maintenance
• History of tree cover
• Computer data recording and storage systems

Suggestions of additions to the syllabus have been made which include climate change to include water management, human/ tree interaction and credit control. All suggestions have been carefully considered and included as appropriate. My own view is that the content has become more specialised in its arboricultural content which meets my own approval.

The level 6 content reflects a strategic level and an ability to critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex information whilst exercising broad autonomy, leading tasks and evaluating actions. Level 4 content addresses the required underpinning knowledge and understanding within well-defined parameters that allows the normal and fairly well defined routine tasks to be undertaken. Most importantly level 4 provides a link from level 2 and leads to a steady progression up to level 6.

The writing of the draft units for both level 4 and 6 are on schedule with the time frame set by ABC. The first consultation meeting will take place over two days in the first week of March.

Lastly I would like to thank all those individuals that have offered me their invaluable advice and supported the processes so far.

Update: 13th December 2010

For the December 1^st meeting I prepared 2 draft units at levels 4 and 6 for members of the writing team and staff from ABC to kick around. Kick them around they did, one half of the room analysing the arb content for each level and the ABC staff analysing the language and ensuring I am following the QCF rules on construction of the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. It’s not easy having to follow a fairly rigid set of guidelines and a very selective and narrow set of wording, nonetheless I had done a very reasonable job of getting information down on paper to everyone’s satisfaction.   

The importance of writing at each level simultaneously is to achieve coherence between the 2 levels. Level 2 which is up and running as of now also provides the foundation on which the level 4 and 6 are to be developed. This process should ensure that the arboriculturist can progress through the credits and levels stage by stage and by building on the previous learning at each level.

Following the meeting on December  1^st the immediate main task as of now, is to write all the units at both levels by the end of February when a consultation period will commence with industry representatives, LANTRA and ABC. This is quite a big ask and will mean the team spending many hours over Christmas (only joking), but it will be many hours during the dark months of Jan and Feb to get this task completed.

However, that’s all for 2011 when I still expect ABC to meet the anticipated introduction of these two new qualifications for September 2011.

Update: 15th November 2010

Following a recent meeting at the offices of ABC it has been agreed that a small working party can begin the process of writing the new qualifications at levels 4 and 6. A small number of draft units will be produced for the next meeting to be held on the 1^st December 2010 with a view that the process will be complete in time to roll out the new qualifications in September 2011.

The level 4 qualification will replace the level 3 Technician’s Certificate, this does not mean in my opinion, that it is a raising of levels but a true reflection of the current level of the Technician’s Certificate. I have supported this change, not only because of the level of the ability expected of the candidate but also to provide the industry with a logical sequential structure to these types of qualifications.

The net result is that ABC will be able to offer the arboriculturists of the UK from September 2011 a Certificate at levels 2, 4 and 6, also a Diploma at levels 4 and 6. In other words the old 3 qualifications of RFS Cert arb, AA Tech Cert and the RFS Prof Dip have been replaced by 5 qualifications.

The greatest benefit that I see in the changes is that, a candidate for example currently studying at Professional Diploma level and failing at the last hurdle, would have walked away with nothing to show for years of studying and passing 90% of the exams. In the new system that can’t happen.

The industry will need to get behind the new qualifications and demonstrate to ABC that they are required otherwise due to the economics of operating them ABC may withdraw their support. The market place is not large in arboriculture and commercially the qualifications have to be self financing. There is now and very unlikely to be any Government funding to support training centres or students undertaking these qualifications. Arboriculture should be grateful to ABC at the present time for maintaining its support.

Assessment of the qualifications remains a bone of contention for us traditionalists, the outcome of much discussion and examination of the financial position from an awarding body perspective is that the level 2 will be entirely assessed by internal assessment procedures and moderated externally. Levels 4 and 6 will be predominantly assessed by internal assessment, moderated externally but there will remain an element of external assessment built into the assessment procedure.

The major benefits of internal assessment as practiced at the vast majority of educational establishments today are:

1. A greater range of the learning outcomes can be assessed. Under traditional exams a small range only of the learning is tested each year.
2. Internal assessment reduces the need to revise huge amounts material for a short period of time, most of which is immediately forgotten.
3. A greater range of assessment methodologies can be employed to test a candidates learning and abilities more effectively.
4. Failings by students can be rectified positively and one doesn’t have to wait for a new examination to come around at which a new set of questions is asked.
5. Students can learn at their own pace and utilise their strengths to demonstrate that learning has taken place. Traditional exams are predominantly a huge memory, language  and written ability test which does not suit all individuals.

You will notice that the key advantages of internal assessment benefit the student rather than the training provider. A training centre will now have to devise the assessment procedures and administer them. This will add to the duration of the training period and to the costs for the training provider of providing both training, assessment and the keeping or records . This will inevitably lead to increased fees although the examination fees currently paid to ABC will be significantly reduced. The awarding body will be responsible for ensuring that standards of assessment are maintained across the centres via the use of external moderators who will visit centres and sample student work and trainer’s assessment procedures and outcomes.

External assessment will be managed by the awarding body using industry specialists to carryout the assessment procedures with a view to confirming external creditability to the qualifications.

The new units, when written, will go out for consultation through LANTRA and will then go on to Ofqual for final approval prior to etching them in stone. All this has to happen before September 2011 but ideally a few months earlier to give centres the opportunity to determine how they may operate with the new qualifications. Potential candidates looking for a traditional September start will need to be patient, now of course with internal assessment centres are not tied to the academic calendar giving greater flexibility as to when training starts and when it is completed. So that’s the good news on which to finish this update – more after 1^st December.

Update: 13th October 2010

What is happening to our qualifications?

A presentation to the 2010 arboricultural conference in Manchester by Stuart Phillips  of Lantra and Dave Dowson of Tree Life.

The LANTRA perspective on the Qualification and Credit Framework

A simple, flexible, inclusive structure operating across England, Wales and Northern Ireland that closely aligns with the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

Demand and market led that is able to recognise achievements of learners from 14-90.

It establishes a simpler qualifications framework that is easier for all users to understand. This supports a national record of learner achievement enabling movement between centres, there are no dead ends – each unit must be capable of contributing towards at least one qualification.

The purpose

•          To provide a flexible and simple structure within which:

Ø  Unit-based qualifications can be located

Ø  Achievements are recognised through the award of credit and qualifications

Ø  The level and size of achievements can be easily identified

Ø  The mechanism necessary to support the accumulation and transfer of credits operates

Ø  Learners are given the maximum flexibility and range of opportunities to progress and receive recognition for their achievements

•          Learners can avoid duplication of learning and assessment by:

Ø  Transferring credits between units and qualifications

Ø  Other learning and assessment, not certificated, can be assessed and awarded through recognising prior learning

Ø  Learners with achievements outside the QCF who already have skills and knowledge for a unit can claim exemption

Assessment

•          Assessment – Internal with the methodologies set by the training provider

•          Internal moderation by the training provider

•          External moderation by a moderator employed by the awarding body

Overall the principles are good.

Implementation – a training providers perspective

Para. 5.3c QCF Regulatory arrangements manual states:

“The assessment methods must assess validly the skills, knowledge and/or understanding of all of the learning outcomes against the stated assessment criteria”

ABC’s interpretation is that

      All assessment criteria have to be met.

Assessment methodologies available to the training provider include

•          Written questions

•          Multi-choice

•          Scenario

•          Portfolio

•          Witness testament

•          Photographs

•          Models

•          Projects

•          Video

•          Oral

•          Practical exercises

•          Pressed plant collection

•          Work examples

In principle these are good allowing flexibility of methods. If a candidate has not matched the assessment criteria the tutor will provide the candidate with a report of the weaknesses of the candidate work, which can then be corrected and handed back for re-assessment.

Fantastic!

•          Learners get a great deal

•          Employers get learners with appropriate knowledge and skills to make them readily employable

BUT !

•          Funding is for 16-19 yr olds and Foundation degrees – mature students are not supported leading to courses cut by centres

•          Colleges therefore don’t require awarding body qualifications = a lack of funds for the awarding bodies

•          Awarding bodies make staff redundancies

•          Arb low numbers entering examinations

•          Assessment is expensive = a burden for awarding bodies

•          Awarding bodies push towards internal assessment, development and implementation on to centres = costly for the training provider

•          Training provider pushes costs on to the learner

•          Little money available at awarding body for moderation of training providers

•          Low numbers on arb courses when compared to other subjects = not as economic

•          Staff to learner ratio is high = costly

•          High costs of equipment and PPE

•          Optional units split numbers of learners in to even smaller uneconomical groups

•          Training providers pull out of training arboriculturists

NET RESULT

*  In my opinion a crisis for the future training provision and the profession of arboriculture in this country at all levels but particularly the level 2 at present.

At level 6 Tree Life could be the only provider of training assessing their own candidates but moderated and checked by the awarding body ABC. This is a system that operates largely in colleges and universities and has done so for decades, so it is readily accepted as the ‘norm’. It would certainly not be Tree Life’s fault if this became the situation in arboriculture – but it would be a shame I believe for my industry and our industry. Tree Life has worked tirelessly during the past year leading the line to make industry aware of the changes and the possible implications in order to support a very good qualification system that we all understand. The Government enforced changes are for the better but lack of funding is decimating the availability of courses traditionally college based.

The development of the qualifications is in the hands of the industry, you the industry must engage with education and the seriousness of the current situation. Tree Life will continue to be at the forefront of the development work until such times as the qualifications are implemented successfully. Your feedback on any aspect is welcomed.