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Exploring the dangers and benefits of the UK's competence-based approach: the use of vocational qualifications as learning artefacts and tools for measurement in the automotive sector

Exploring the dangers and benefits of the UK's competence-based approach: the use of vocational qualifications as learning artefacts and tools for measurement in the automotive sector
Exploring the dangers and benefits of the UK's competence-based approach: the use of vocational qualifications as learning artefacts and tools for measurement in the automotive sector
This paper presents evidence to show how vocational qualifications act as boundary objects in the stimulation of learning at work and how they, in turn, become the catalyst for the creation of artefacts that have a purpose and existence beyond the life cycle of an accreditation process. The
context for the paper is the UK’s automotive manufacturing industry, a sector that has undergone considerable change over the past thirty or so years and has been under intense pressure to improve standards. The paper presents evidence from case studies of two companies that produce parts
for global car manufacturers. These companies have introduced
competence-based approaches in order to audit and assess the skills of their workforces in response to demands from the companies they supply that they can prove their employees are working to the required international quality standards. The competence-based approach, which is contested in the academic literature, has enabled employees to gain
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), which, in turn, are still
controversial some twenty years after they were first introduced. The paper argues that a competence-based approach can be beneficial to both organisations and individuals, but the ambiguities inherent in the NVQ model of competence create tensions and opportunities for restrictive as well as expansive forms implementation.
15
Cardiff School of Social Sciences
Unwin, Lorna
8203040c-b1e8-4948-bc2e-4bb2db648720
Fuller, Alison
c6b47796-05b5-4548-b67e-2ca2f2010fef
Bishop, Daniel
ab6b70cb-77d2-4bf3-9f16-539f8b003fad
Felstead, Alan
514e6ef7-2443-49aa-883e-706911d9191d
Jewson, Nick
f96f4be3-d026-4140-9c81-265d74aab544
Kakavelakis, Konstantinos
d0a26962-968e-448c-94c0-3a5f2087ad5a
Unwin, Lorna
8203040c-b1e8-4948-bc2e-4bb2db648720
Fuller, Alison
c6b47796-05b5-4548-b67e-2ca2f2010fef
Bishop, Daniel
ab6b70cb-77d2-4bf3-9f16-539f8b003fad
Felstead, Alan
514e6ef7-2443-49aa-883e-706911d9191d
Jewson, Nick
f96f4be3-d026-4140-9c81-265d74aab544
Kakavelakis, Konstantinos
d0a26962-968e-448c-94c0-3a5f2087ad5a

Unwin, Lorna, Fuller, Alison, Bishop, Daniel, Felstead, Alan, Jewson, Nick and Kakavelakis, Konstantinos (2008) Exploring the dangers and benefits of the UK's competence-based approach: the use of vocational qualifications as learning artefacts and tools for measurement in the automotive sector (Learning as Work Research Paper, 15) Cardiff, UK. Cardiff School of Social Sciences 30pp.

Record type: Monograph (Working Paper)

Abstract

This paper presents evidence to show how vocational qualifications act as boundary objects in the stimulation of learning at work and how they, in turn, become the catalyst for the creation of artefacts that have a purpose and existence beyond the life cycle of an accreditation process. The
context for the paper is the UK’s automotive manufacturing industry, a sector that has undergone considerable change over the past thirty or so years and has been under intense pressure to improve standards. The paper presents evidence from case studies of two companies that produce parts
for global car manufacturers. These companies have introduced
competence-based approaches in order to audit and assess the skills of their workforces in response to demands from the companies they supply that they can prove their employees are working to the required international quality standards. The competence-based approach, which is contested in the academic literature, has enabled employees to gain
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), which, in turn, are still
controversial some twenty years after they were first introduced. The paper argues that a competence-based approach can be beneficial to both organisations and individuals, but the ambiguities inherent in the NVQ model of competence create tensions and opportunities for restrictive as well as expansive forms implementation.

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Published date: January 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 63792
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/63792
PURE UUID: 793a5c31-faf1-4507-ba2b-b433a93a324c

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Date deposited: 04 Nov 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 11:43

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Contributors

Author: Lorna Unwin
Author: Alison Fuller
Author: Daniel Bishop
Author: Alan Felstead
Author: Nick Jewson
Author: Konstantinos Kakavelakis

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