Glossary of Terms
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Accreditation:
The process used by a recognized institution, board or professional body to make sure a qualification meets national requirements: and/or to make sure an awarding body is competent to award such a qualification.
Assessment of Prior Learning (APL):
The process which formally recognizes a candidate's previous work as other experience which can then be used as proof of competence leading towards a qualification.
Approved Center:
An organisation approved to assess and verify qualifications. They are mainly places of employment or providers of vocational education and training such as tertiary colleges. They must have internal procedures to ensure the quality and consistency of assessments.
Assessment:
The process used for determining an individual's progress or level of mastery/competence in an occupational area. This may include a wide variety of techniques such as written tests, examinations, practical tests, assignments and oral tests, etc. The assessment process may be formative (continuous) and /or summative (final).
Assessor:
A person appointed by an approved center to assess an individuals' evidence against the requirements of a vocational qualification.
Awarding Body:
An organisation accredited and regulated by the NTA to award specific qualifications; verify that assessment in approved centers is being carried out systematically, validly, and to national standards; and certificate candidates.
Certificate:
A document that provides proof that an individual has passed a written or oral examination and/or practical test of competence for an occupational area.
Certification:
Formal recognition of an individuals' level of achievement in a particular occupation.
Competence:
The ability to use knowledge, understanding, practical and thinking skills to perform effectively to the national standards required in employment. This is a broad concept which embodies all aspects of competence relevant to an occupational area and not just those aspects of the various technical and task components, which are readily observable.
Competence Based Training:
A series of learning experiences through which an individual progresses at his her own pace from entry level to final competence in the skills required for his/her chosen occupation and for which master; is continuously assessed against appropriate pre-determined standards of competence.
Cross-Sectoral Groups:
A subset of two or more sectors that could, in some instances, be an occupation or a group representing an occupation.
Distance Learning:
A method of instruction delivered primarily by distance using forms of technology such as satellites, computers, tele-conferencing networks, televisions/radio broadcasts and other mechanisms. Support programmes may be required involving the more conventional institution-based and face-to-face methods of learning but the key component of a distance learning programme is delivered outside the institution without face-to-face instruction.
Element (of competence):
Each unit in an NVQ/SVQ is made up of elements. Each element describes an action, behaviour or outcome an individual has to perform in order to demonstrate competence in that element.
External Verifier:
A person appointed by awarding bodies to monitor the work of approved centers and ensure the consistency and quality of local assessments.
Internal Verifier:
A person appointed by the approved center to ensure consistency and quality of assessment in the center.
Lifelong Learning:
A continuum of the learning process that takes place at all levels - formal, non-formal and informal - utilizing various modalities such as distance learning and conventional learning.
National Community College:
A rationalized and integrated system for the governance of tertiary level education which will be in the form of a multi-campus college incorporating a number of existing institutions such as the John S. Donaldson Technical Institute, the San Fernando Technical Institute, the Point Fortin Government Vocational Institute, the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, the Metal Industries Company Ltd, the Joint Services Staff College and Ministry of Health Nursing Programmes.
National Human Resource Management Information System (NHRMIS):
A computerized human resource management database system to be managed by the Ministry of Labour and Co-operatives.
National Training Plan:
A strategy for effectively identifying the level and type of training required and putting in place appropriate provision to raise the nation's skillbase, in keeping with the NTA's policies, vision, mission, goals and objectives.
Occupation:
A group of jobs having common or closely related responsibilities and duties, and occurring in representative industries throughout the country. Actual duties within an occupation may vary from one establishment to another but most areas are common.
Occupational Standards:
These specify the standards of competence people are expected to reach in a particular occupational area, including knowledge and understanding. They also provide the basis for assessment, which is crucial to their use in competence-based vocational qualifications. The standards are defined and kept up-to-date by standards-setting bodies, and are recognized by the NTA.
Performance Standards:
The ability to perform competencies in keeping with occupational and industrial specifications.
Qualifications:
A certificate for a particular achievement that specifies the awarding body, the type of qualification and its title.
Qualifications Framework:
The structure for identifying vocational qualifications in terms of level and sectoral classification, in accordance with the competence-based system.
Quality Assurance:
This ensures a consistent approach to monitoring and maintaining the quality of performance - for example, international quality standards such as ISO 9000. With competence-based vocational qualifications, quality assurance is dependent largely upon the internal and external verification process.
Regulation:
A prescribed set of criteria and conditions which will include among other things, procedures, rules, specifications and standards for regulating and monitoring a system of vocational qualifications and accreditation by the NTA.
Regulatory Body:
An organisation appointed by the Government to establish national standards for qualifications and to ensure consistent compliance with them.
Sector:
A national group of companies, organisations or workers which share some relevant combination of products, services or technology which results in their having common human resource concerns.
Skill:
The ability to perform a task or activity consistently over a period of time. The expertise required for a particular task or occupation which may include manual dexterity and/or mental aptitude.
Stakeholder:
A public, private or community organisation or individual seen as integral to planning and achieving the NTA's vision, goals and objectives.
Standards-Setting Body:
An organisation responsible for formulating standards of competence for an occupational area and reviewing them in the light of employers' needs. These will mainly be bodies approved by the NTA but may be other regulatory or professional bodies which have been given authority from the government of Trinidad and Tobago to carry out these functions.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET):
Activities which emphasize the application of the skills, knowledge and attitudes required for employment in a particular occupation or cluster of related occupations in any field of social and economic activity including agriculture, industry, commerce, the hospitality industry, public and private services etc. Some of these activities may take place in an institution while the facilities of industry are employed for work experience and additional training inputs.
Tertiary Education:
Education, usually very specialized in nature, and leading to high-level qualifications at the post -secondary level.
Training Needs Analysis:
An analysis of the occupational and industrial training requirements both quantitatively and qualitatively in a particular cluster of occupations.
Training Provider:
A public and private institution or non-governmental organisation which provides training and/or facilitates the training process for the acquisition of competences in keeping with occupational and national standards, accredited facilities and vocational qualifications, and appropriate resources.
Vocational Qualification:
A qualification obtained from an awarding body as a result of pursuing competence-based training at an approved center in keeping with occupational standards of competence, assessment and certification.