National Vocational Qualifications were designed to equip the country to meet the challenges of the 21st century by improving the calibre of our workforce through assessments of their practical skills, knowledge and understanding of their work.
At its best, the early years NVQ level 3 is a sought-after qualification by employers, but leading childcare professionals worry that in practice it does not always maintain its mark of excellence. Critics complain about standards in training, assessment and verification.
Indeed, Michael Thomson, managing director of the nursery chain Child Base, was so alarmed about variations in NVQs that he set up a company NVQ centre. Ann Jenkins, the Child Base assessment centre manager, says, 'I have seen some horrific port-folios that have achieved an NVQ when they had not got enough evidence. My impression is that a lot of training providers do not get candidates to relate their activities directly to the standards.
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