Axia CitizenConnect has signed a contract with the Learning and Skills Council worth more than a quarter of a million pounds to pilot the use of an online alternative assessment model for NVQs in the care sector to enable candidates and assessors to provide evidence of their competence to awarding bodies.

A recent workforce development plan entitled "Modernising The Social Care Workforce" identified that approximately 80% of the 1 million social care workforce have no qualifications. The plan sets ambitious targets for qualifying the workforce against national standards over the next five years and highlights inadequacies in the current system of providing training towards approved qualifications.

In response to this plan, the Learning and Skills Council has commissioned Axia CitizenConnect to deploy its application software and skills to identify how the process of NVQ assessment can be improved to increase learner achievement and increase the productivity of assessors and verifiers.

Work on the application called NVQnow will start in September 2003 and will support and enable the delivery of an assessor led model of NVQ assessment within the Health and Social Care sector. It will use technology to record evidence and assessments of a candidates’ work and match this against the requirements of a particular NVQ. NVQnow will also support employers, who want to increase the number of their staff who are qualified, because it reduces or minimises the amount of time candidates are away from the workplace.

Although this pilot project involves the care sector, Axia CitizenConnect has developed NVQnow in response to a growing concern about the time it takes for candidates to complete their NVQs, as well as the large numbers who do not complete them at all. The application can be used by individuals and organisations engaged in competence assessment and vocational qualifications in any other market sector.

Upon winning this contract, Steve Walker, Managing Director of Axia CitizenConnect said "We are delighted that the Learning and Skills Council have chosen to work with Axia CitizenConnect on this innovative and exciting pilot for the care sector. Axia CitizenConnect’s mission is to provide solutions that really impact upon lifelong learning and workforce development. We are sure that working in partnership with the LSC we will deliver real benefits to the care community".

The Learning and Skills Council commented, "by responding to the needs of learners and employers the LSC is supporting the introduction of systems which reduce the burden of paperwork enabling candidates to concentrate on demonstrating work competence. This is expected to lead to increased numbers of people gaining NVQ levels 2 and 3 in health and social care".

The LSC went on to comment, "we are engaging employers across private, public and voluntary sector organisations in pilots, where four different models of electronic assessment will be tested to give people an alternative to existing paper-based assessments. The four models will make the process of gathering evidence and assessment more flexible and attractive, to show ultimate competence in the workplace. LSC training providers are being trained to use these assessment models".