Certificates of Competence

HCR awards Certificates of Competence. These excerpts from Chapters 4 and 7 of The Transitional Learning Model explain why

4.8 Course Certificates

Consider well the certificates you issue at the end of your course. What statement do they make about the level of learning that took place?

In our opinion, frankly, certificates of attendance or certificates of participation are little more than a souvenir or a memento. They say only that an individual attended or participated in a training event. But, did they learn anything? In many respects, certificates of attendance say less about participants and more about training providers and their attitudes to training

Our own practice is to offer participants a choice of certificates. At the start of the course we ask them to opt for either a certificate of attendance or a certificate of competence. Those who choose to audit the course and receive the certificate of attendance are not required to submit work for assessment. Everyone then understands what is expected of the participant

Nearly all participants opt for a certificate of competence and complete the training requirements because it testifies that competence has been attained. It has greater value to participants and line-managers because it has assessed learning with a workplace measurement

It is sufficient for us here to draw your attention to options for course certificates. Other considerations will be presented in Chapter Seven where they can be properly dealt with as a part of training follow-through

7.5.3 Certificate Of Competence

Now we return to the all-important discussion of certificates that we first raised in Chapter Four. We suggested there that participants be offered a choice of either a certificate of attendance or a certificate of competence. Participants who opt to audit the course for the certificate of attendance are not required to submit work for assessment. To our mind, certificates of attendance or participation are truly representative of all that we can honestly say: that is, the person attended or participated in a training event but we could not assess what they learnt

A certificate of competence, however, has meaning to line-managers and participants. It certifies that the participant has demonstrated performance to a workplace requirement and measurement. Human resources departments can use it as a marker to define a career path or related salary scales for personnel. We find that participants react positively where the competence certificate is offered. "It was a trigger to be more diligent," said one. "It’s a reminder to maintain our professionalism," said another. Someone else projected its impact upon returning to work: "It will make us work harder to be worthy of the certificate." One person commented that the certificate of competence gave participants a renewed confidence in themselves because they performed to a standard in order to earn it

A certificate of competence is awarded to individuals who demonstrate competence in the Self-direction transition of the Transitional Learning Model. To resume the radio interview example, a participant would be required to organise and conduct an interview under given conditions. Usually, that project would be scheduled during the course

There is a case, though, for suspending the training schedule after a small-group project and for participants to complete the individual project upon their return to the workplace. In effect, the training schedule would end at the Group-reinforcement transition with individuals undertaking the Self-direction transition in the workplace, in the form of an individual project

Three advantages are immediately obvious in conducting the Self-direction transition and project in the workplace, after the course:

The course itself is correctly positioned as being a part of a learning process, not the entire process, and there is an expectation for learning to be applied and consolidated in a working environment. It is thoroughly consistent with the Transitional Learning Model’s separation of ideal and workplace conditions
The roles of post-course mentoring from supervisors and workplace experience are acknowledged in the learning process. We ought never to assume that learning begins and ends with the training course. There is always a place for learning to continue in the workplace and we should promote every opportunity for that to occur
Line-management is more likely to accept the responsibility for resourcing the participant and to re-configure the operational setting to enable the project to be accomplished

As long as the project is relevant to workplace requirements the assessment is to be outcomes-based. For our candidate seeking a certificate of competence in radio interviewing, it would mean that the interview would have to be accepted for broadcast in order for the candidate to be deemed competent.

A certificate of competence scheme has clear procedural levels:

Level 1: An individual is a participant in a training course.
Level 2: After the course, the participant returns to the workplace and becomes a candidate for the certificate of competence.
Level 3: The candidate decides on a project, has it approved, then designs and completes it within a given deadline after the course. The length of time depends on operational circumstances and could extend from days to weeks or months.
Level 5: Within the allowed project period, the candidate’s supervisor will decide when the project is of an acceptable standard to be examined.
Level 6: The project is presented to external assessors and the certificate of competence is awarded.
Level 7: In the event that the project is not of required performance standard, supervisors must decide how to proceed with the candidate’s employment status.

Although a project is decided by a candidate and that candidate’s supervisor, a coordinator or arbiter who is independent of the candidate’s supervisor, is best placed to approve the project and arrange for independent assessment.