How a Certificate of Technical Competence NVQ Works
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are work-based qualifications that assess the skills and knowledge people need to do their job effectively. All NVQs, whatever the industry that you work in, come in five levels; level 1 is for workers who perform routine tasks and level 5 is for senior managers. The intention is that you can demonstrate that you have these skills and knowledge at work, just by doing your job. You do not have to go to college or sit any exams. The qualifications for the Waste Industry are written by WAMITAB (Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board) which is made up of representatives from all levels of the waste industry.
The NVQ standards as they are called, are made up of units, each unit is a part of your daily job, such as “Control the reception of hazardous waste”; “Create effective working relationships” and “Control site operations”. Each unit may be broken down into two or more elements. For example the “Create effective working relationships” unit is broken down into three elements, one about Gaining the trust of colleagues, the second about Gaining the trust of your manager and the third about Minimising conflict in your team.
Each element contains a list of skills that you need to perform at work to demonstrate that you have the competence to meet the standards and also a list of knowledge that you need to show that you understand. You will need to demonstrate your competence to an assessor who has been approved by WAMITAB. The assessor is not like a driving test examiner, he will explain what he needs to see and he will talk to you as you do your job, he has a list of things that he needs to see and a list of questions that he needs to ask you. You do not fail if you do not do what he needs to see, or if you misunderstand the question, the assessor will just keep working with you until he has seen enough to be satisfied that you are competent.
The assessor will discuss the requirements of the award and plan with you how you will be able to prove that you meet those requirements. He will leave you with an action plan of the things that you need to collect before his next visit and he will negotiate with you when that visit will be. He will help you to compile all of these things together into a portfolio, which will be yours to keep. At intervals during the assessment process your portfolio will be passed back to Waste Management Assessment Services Ltd where it will be checked by an internal verifier whose role is to ensure that you have been assessed thoroughly and fairly. It may also be checked by an external verifier who is employed by WAMITAB. This should only be a formality and after this your NVQ certificate will be issued along with another Certificate of Technical Competence. The certificates will be returned to you with the portfolio.