NCFE and Home Group work together to develop new qualifications

8 March 2017

National awarding organisation NCFE and Home Group, one of the biggest housing associations in the UK, have collaborated to develop qualifications in Customer Service, Team Leading, Management and Business Administration.

NCFE is dedicated to designing fit-for-purpose qualifications and encourages stakeholders to be involved in the development. NCFE regularly organises qualification development and scoping activities, inviting relevant employers and stakeholders to participate.

Home Group attended development days at NCFE and conducted remote reviews of a number of qualifications to ensure they would be suitable and have a positive impact in terms of upskilling staff – therefore benefiting Home Group and other businesses.

Sonya Mullen, Learning and Development Business Partner at Home Group, was a key participant in the development days for the Level 2 and 3 Certificates in Customer Service, Team Leading, Management and Business Administration. She also provided letters to support the regulation of the qualifications.

Sonya commented: “I hadn’t been involved in co-creation of qualifications before, but I found these development days really enjoyable and I learnt a lot. I was impressed with the set-up and I felt immediately at ease. I already knew some of the other businesses in attendance, and it was great to see that we had the right people in the room to contribute to the development – it was useful to hear everyone’s thoughts on how they would benefit from the new qualifications. I can clearly see how the introduction of these qualifications could impact on our business and others, particularly to support staff in customer service which is the area I look after at Home Group.

“I also conducted a remote review of the Level 4 Diploma in Management and Leadership. This was only a day’s work and involved checking the qualification was fit-for-purpose and pitched at the right level, and reviewing all the units of the qualification. NCFE provided me with guided questions in order to do this, so the task was very straightforward, especially as it was very much aligned to my role.

“My experience of working with NCFE on qualification development has been very positive – it’s been really worthwhile to not only meet like-minded professionals, but also to build on CPD. I’m looking forward to being involved in more development days in future.”

Christine Paxton, Head of Product Development at NCFE, said: “We found collaborating with Home Group on these qualifications really valuable and it’s great that they did too. It is important for us to develop qualifications that will directly benefit employers and learners by providing employees with the essential skills they need to perform their role.

“We encourage employers to make use of this approach of developing qualifications, as it supports learners’ progression into employment. Our Acorn online community is open to a wide network of employers and stakeholders and actively encourages members to share qualification ideas.”

If you’re interested in working with NCFE to develop qualifications in your sector, please visit the Acorn online community or email [email protected].