Developing National Occupational Standards for Training & Competence

Over the past eight months, with the help of our project Steering and Working Groups, we've been developing National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Training & Competence.  NOS consist of a number of units, each of which describes a job function, and units are divided into outcomes of effective performance, behaviours underpinning effective performance and knowledge and understanding. 

The NOS for Training & Competence have been developed for the following areas:

• Policy, Scheme Design and Maintenance
• Managing Performance through T&C
• Quality Assurance of T&C Schemes  

The project launch coincided with the Financial Services Authority’s move away from prescribed rules to a more principles-based approach to T&C, with the regulators’ desire to try and keep prescriptive guidance to minimum requiring firms to evidence that their particular training and assessment systems meet all appropriate guidelines.  This could potentially cause variations in interpretation across the industry although the introduction of the NOS will ensure consistency and universal measurement across the board.

The first draft NOS units were reviewed by over 60 practitioners at a number of ‘Roadshow’ consultation events which we ran in the spring, as well as respondents to our online questionnaire.  We're very grateful for the feedback received which is now being incorporated into the final version of the NOS units.  There'll be strong links between the NOS and our Industry Guidance project for Training & Competence, with further details to follow on our website and in our weekly members’ Newsletter.

We'll also be producing supporting notes to accompany the NOS and we plan to include some case-studies from organisations that are using NOS on a daily basis.  We're now looking for organisations that would be willing to help us in this way.

If you wish to know more about this project, or if you're able to help in providing case-studies, please contact Chris Kennedy, Assistant Standards Manager at chris.kennedy@fssc.org.uk