Accountabilities

1. Develop and maintain National Occupational Standards relevant to the Cogent sector industries.
2. Manage and develop Apprenticeship frameworks across the UK
3. Ensure qualifications and Cogent developed training standards available to the industries are fit for purpose
4. Develop industry training frameworks and component units/qualifications/training standards which meet the needs of the Cogent industries.
5. Work in partnership with Awarding Bodies to develop and maintain qualifications in line with regulatory requirements across the UK
6. Engage in Schools, FE and HE curriculum development and endorsement where it has impact on Cogent sector
7. Contribute to the development and dissemination of clear and consistent careers information advice and guidance for employers, employees and learners
8. Direct Cogent’s input to the Sector Qualifications Reform Programme across the UK through the maintenance and implementation of the Cogent Sector Qualifications Strategy Action Plan
9. Provide qualifications expertise to the National Skills Academies and work collaboratively with them to meet industry skill requirements
10. To act as a buddy SSC to ECITB for relevant Education and Qualification matters.

Strategy for Education and Qualifications 2009-2011
The Education and Qualifications strategy is designed to support the four Cogent strategic objectives. It concentrates on objective 2 - “Deliver the provision industry needs”. Cogent is making use of the advent of the new Qualifications Credit Framework which is now open for business to develop the provision industry needs. We will do this through the development of qualifications for the UK Qualification Credit Frameworks based on National Occupational Standards and delivered through the Cogent Gold Standard frameworks (Process), Job Contexts (Nuclear) and Apprenticeship frameworks. These qualifications are industry led and competency based and are designed around how industry train their workforce. Cogent aim to maximise the opportunities afforded by the Sector Qualification Reform Programme including the new QCF to revolutionise the way our employers approach training. Through the implementation of a series of Gold Standard and Job Context frameworks and the delivery of the frameworks with our partner NSAs Cogent will ensure the Cogent sector Employers have the tools to operate at world class standards.

Cogent are aiming to develop and influence the development of qualifications to enable people to enter our sector at all levels and to perform to world class standards at all levels in our sector. The bridge to higher level skills is important to Cogent; our SSA highlighted a skills gap at technician level 4.  Cogent will use Foundation Degree as an upskill tool for our sector fitting in with the Gold Standard frameworks mentioned previously. We will continue with the development and implementation of a national framework for a foundation degree to suit our sector industries. We have to date worked in partnership with employers, Foundation Degree forward and HEIs to draft the frameworks and HEFCE to help with the delivery infrastructure in HEIs.

The development of qualifications and standards using the outlined mechanisms will help Cogent meet the remit of the Leitch Implementation Plan - “raising employer ambition and investment in skills” and “supply of skills and qualifications is employer driven”

Education and Qualification Department work streams over the next 3 years will ensure the above strategy is realised.

1.    National Occupational Standards (NOS)
NOS underpin the qualification development work Cogent is undertaking through the Gold Standard Initiative. NOS will be used to match the competencies identified by the industry in the Gold Standard Frameworks (process) and Core Role frameworks (nuclear). Once the NOS are matched to the competencies new “fit for purpose” qualifications can be developed based on the NOS units and submitted to the QCF and SCQF. One of the main drivers over the next 3 years for the development and rationalisation of NOS will be the creation of employer driven Gold Standard and Core Role Frameworks based on the key occupations win the sector. The Gold Standard and Core Role programme will ensure all the key occupations within the Cogent sector are covered by appropriate NOS.

Cogent are keen to support the NOS strategy currently being developed by the UKCES, in particular using NOS as a platform ensuring there is an outcome to all NOS work. The NOS strategy outlined above is based on NOS as a platform to Gold Standard and Job Context qualifications.

The replacement of the National Qualifications Framework by the Qualifications Credit Framework means that all the qualifications for which we want to ensure continued funding will have to be migrated to the QCF. For competence qualifications based on NOS we will develop the existing NOS to ensure the qualifications can be migrated by the 2010 deadline. As part of the migration plan Cogent will ensure the population of the SCQF where appropriate at the same time as the population of the CQF.

2.    Apprenticeships
A key national driver for the apprenticeship work stream is the aim to double the number of apprenticeships nationally. This is matched by the outcomes of the Cogent SSA which indicated a shortage of technician level staff.

Over the next 3 years Cogent will build on the successful initiatives for community apprenticeships in the sectors aiming to encourage and support the creation of further community apprenticeships around the UK We will work with national and regional partners including RDAs, LSC, the new NAS and other Sectors Skills Councils and Standards Setting Bodies eg ECITB to facilitate the “over supply” of apprentices to our sector as outlined in “World Class Skills”.

Apprenticeship frameworks will be reviewed and developed in line with the work outlined in the NOS section. The frameworks will then match the Gold Standard and Job Context frameworks based on the way employers train. This will enable employer training following the Gold Standard to be “an apprenticeship for adults”. Cogent will establish an accepted adult apprenticeship pathway in the sector enabling the upskill of existing employees and providing a route for external mature people to be recruited to the sector and be able to have a recognised training plan through the adult apprenticeship.
Cogent will investigate and look to develop a higher level apprenticeship to facilitate a vocational career pathway to higher level as an alternative to the traditional academic route.

Cogent will support the outcome to the Government World Class Apprenticeships.  We will develop a process and procedure to assist employers to design employer led apprenticeship frameworks and enable these, where appropriate, to be recognised and funded. This more flexible approach to framework design should encourage the growth of apprenticeship numbers in the sector.

3.    Sector Qualifications Development and Reform
The main aim of this work stream is to create qualifications which support Cogent employers by using the UK credit frameworks and ensuring these qualifications can access funding where appropriate.
Cogent will maintain and update its Sector Qualification Strategy Action Plan and work with UKCES to meet the objectives of the national VQRP through the Cogent action pan.   Qualifications will be developed to support the development of the Gold Standard (process industries) and Job Context (nuclear industries) frameworks in line with the phased development of Gold Standard and Job Context frameworks. These qualifications will be credit and levelled and submitted to the UK credit frameworks to ensure they are eligible for funding.

Cogent will work with awarding bodies to migrate our existing priority qualifications to the UK credit frameworks by the end of 2010 to fit the timeline for the QCF.

As part of the QCF process SSCs will be responsible for approval of qualifications for submission to the QCF and whilst not having approval powers will need to be part of the development process in Scotland. Cogent will implement the approval process for the QCF and ensure the qualifications development process for Scotland is supported.

4.    Industry Credit Frameworks
Cogent will create a Nuclear Industry Training Framework (NITF) and a Process Industry Training Framework (PITF) to support employers in the Cogent sectors. The frameworks will support the development of a qualified, mobile workforce with transferable skills that enable career progression.

Cogent will work with our National Skills Academies to populate the Frameworks with Qualifications and Employer Training standards which can be transferred to the industry passports. The frameworks will be developed to align with the UK Credit Frameworks. The content of the frameworks will be influenced by the development of Job Context (nuclear) and Gold Standards (process).

5.    Diploma Development
Cogent will continue to support the development of the diplomas in engineering, manufacturing and science through membership of the appropriate diploma development partnership. Cogent has a lead role for the gateway process for both engineering and manufacturing diplomas and a lead role in HE for the science diploma..

6.    Providers
Cogent need to maintain a relationship with providers to deliver the new qualifications developed for the Gold Standards and the Core Roles and the existing priority qualifications. We will work with NSAN and NSAPI to support providers to deliver the qualifications identified and developed as a result of the Gold Standards and Core Roles.