NVQ Terminology Guide

QCA
Qualification Curriculum Authority has responsibility for all qualifications for post 16 year olds. It
has detailed regulatory and monitoring functions and ensures parity between vocational
areas/suitability of NVQ qualifications.
NTO/SSC
National Training Organisation/Sector Skills Councils are responsible for developing the National
Occupational Standards on which the NVQs are based.
NVQ
National Vocational Qualifications. A system of qualifications identifying an individuals ability to
do a job/task. The qualifications adhere to a national standard of job-related skills and are
therefore transferable to similar jobs.
Assessment Centre
An organisation that gains approval from an awarding body such as City & Guilds or OCR to offer
NVQ assessment to NVQ candidates. Getting approval means a centre has to prove it has the
necessary resources and knows what has to be done to provide NVQ assessment. The City &
Guilds or OCR External Verifier will visit the centre twice a year to ensure the centre can still meet
the requirements to offer NVQ assessment.
Candidate
This is you, the person who is registered to work towards a National Vocational Qualification.
Work-Based Advisor/Assessor (WBA)
The person in your work place who assesses you. Your work-based Advisor/Assessor must be
experienced and/or qualified at the level s/he is assessing and should be someone with whom you
work on a regular basis. They must have achieved or be registered to achieve A1/A2.
Peripatetic Assessor (PA) (CETAD Advisor/Assessor)
An Advisor/Assessor with considerable experience of NVQ who possesses A1 and A2. Peripatetic
Assessors are involved where, for a variety of reasons you may not have access to a work-based
Advisor/Assessor.
Expert Witness
An Expert Witness is someone from within your organisation who is qualified and experienced in
the area of work you are studying. There are independent of the assessor and any work they
check, assess or provide feedback for in relation to your qualification needs to be evaluated by
your assessor.
Internal Verifier (IV)
The person who verifies the assessment process you have undergone and checks to see it is
complete, correct and ensures that your evidence is appropriate for the criteria. The Verifier can
also help agree upon assessment methods and sort out any problems or queries that may arise.
You will have achieved a unit when an IV signs it off.

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Quality Assurance Co-ordinator (QAC)

The person who has overall responsibility for running your NVQ centre as demanded by City &
Guilds. At CETAD, this is the Centre Director.
External Verifier (EV)
The External Verifier is appointed by the Awarding Body and monitors, oversees and supports the
whole operation of your assessment centre.
Unit
A group of related specific skills or work tasks e.g. Helping someone to eat and drink; Maintaining
the safety of children.
Element
One of the skills/tasks within a unit e.g. Helping someone to prepare to eat/drink; Dealing with an
emergency.
Performance Criteria
Criteria that establishes how a task is to be undertaken. The criteria are written in observable
terms eg. Asking if someone wishes to eat/drink; Ensuring a safety gate is shut.
Evidence
Proof that all evidence and assessment requirements are met. These will include records of
observation, questioning, and all the records of assessment.
Assessment
The process whereby your assessor considers the evidence presented and judges it against the
requirements (pc/range/ke).
An Award
A full NVQ Certificate, made up of all the required units.
There are awards at Levels 2, 3 and 4 which are usually made up of mandatory and a set number
of optional units which, altogether, make up a whole award.
Level
An NVQ award provides different levels of Qualifications which are to be common to all vocational
areas i.e.
Level 1: Competence in a range of work activities that are primarily routine and predictable.
Level 2: Competence in a broader and more demanding range of work activities involving greater
individual responsibility.
Level 3: Competence in skilled areas that involve performance of a broad range of work activities
including many that are complex and non-routine. Supervisory competence may be a
requirement at this level.
Level 4: Competence in the performance of complex, technical and professional work activities,
including supervision or management.
Level 5: Professional, senior management and post graduate level qualification.
Value Base
You will need to acquaint yourself with the value/principles of practice for your area of work.
Depending on the award these will be explicitly stated as a unit or may be integrated into most or
all of the NVQ units.
Mandatory Units
Compulsory units which are seen as essential, irrespective of your work setting.

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Optional Units
Combined with the mandatory units these units complete your award and are seen as specific to
different work situations. You and your Work Based Assessors/Peripatetic Assessors, in
consultation, will choose which units are most appropriate to your work. N.B. not all awards have
optional units.
Range Statement
These are provided on a unit basis and are very specific and outline exactly what the variety of
situations are in which you are expected to be competent.
Knowledge
The why of NVQs. For example, some of the knowledge you are expected to know is around the
background legislation policies and procedures, which govern your everyday activities but only to
the appropriate level. Wherever possible, knowledge must be evidenced from work practice.
APE/APL/APA (Accrediting Prior Experience/Accrediting Prior Learning/Accrediting Prior
Achievement)
You may present such evidence from the past to your Advisor/Assessor who must judge whether it
meets the six evidence principles of authenticity, consistency, currency, realism, reliability,
sufficiency and validity. Assessors will also check that skills and knowledge claimed is still retained
by you.
Portfolio of Evidence
The format in which you will present your evidence. It is usually written but you can negotiate
alternative methods so long as the evidence can be tracked and checked and held securely for
verification purposes. The requirements are that the evidence in your portfolio is accessible and
meets the Principles for Producing and Judging Evidence.
Principles for Producing and Judging Evidence
Authentic: You must produce evidence of your own work and be able to verify that the work is
entirely yours.
Consistent: You must be able to show that your performance is consistent over time and in
different circumstances.
Current:

Your evidence must be relevant to todays standards of practice, and reflect current
legislative requirements and policy for practice.

Realistic:

Your evidence must reflect the normal demands of a work environment.

Reliable:

Your assessor must use the advised methods for assessment properly. Your
assessor must be occupationally competent and be trained and qualified as an NVQ
assessor.

Sufficient: You must produce enough evidence to demonstrate all the performance criteria, the
range and the knowledge requirements have been covered.
Valid:

You must meet the NVQ standards as stated in the performance criteria, range and
knowledge by the assessment methods identified e.g. observation.

You will find a Glossary of Terms which is more extensive in the Award Guidance and
Candidate Record of Assessment.

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