QA Associates are winners of the ‘Outstanding Timely Achievement Award’ for 2010.
This prestigious annual award is presented by West Nottinghamshire College to companies with an over 90% achievement rate for the delivery of NVQs in the Aviation Sector.
QA Associates are pleased to announce the acquisition of Safety Management Services (UK) Limited.
SMS specialises in the assessment of NVQ’s in the Extractives Industry. The acquisition is a strategic fit to the company’s key aim and objective to become a beacon provider of work based qualifications.
The Qualifications Credit Framework is the new structure for creating and accrediting qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is at the heart of a major reform of vocational qualifications in the workplace.
The introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) with new rules for complexity, credit size, and content has created a complex and evolving landscape for all those in the delivery and accreditation of training and qualifications.
QA Associates intend to be at the forefront of these changes and developments. With a number of our associates being involved with Awarding Bodies and Sector Skills Councils, we seek to support advise and guide both employers and training providers in taking the right options for employee qualifications under these emerging conditions.
Working with Business Link to improve the way we operate, QA Associates will shortly be accredited to ISO 9001.
This will mean that we will be able to monitor and improve the performance and delivery of our services to customers.
A number Firefighters at Gloucestershire and Blackpool Airports have just completed their A1 Assessor qualification. Their Assessors were Ron Drennan and Trevor Whitehead of QA Associates.
QA Associates are specialists in the evaluation & verification of training systems, the design & development of schemes of work & the management of work-based qualifications through our network of ‘Approved Assessment Satellite Centres’.
Why not become one yourself?
London City Airport have been working with QA Associates’ Keith Webster to develop a ‘Training for Competence Programme for Personnel in ‘Airside Ops’.
The three phases of the programme are induction, application and maintenance of competence. The programme features a personal diary which is used on a continuous basis to show how the employee has maintained their own competence through work activities, development opportunities and formal training courses.
For further information contact our offices or Ian Stubbles at the airport.
Cambridge Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting Service is the latest employer to sign up for the NVQ ‘Providing Aviation Operations on the Ground’ qualification from City & Guilds.
Due to commence in December 2009, QA Associates will oversee the assessment of 9 personnel from the station.
Cambridge Airport follow Bristol International Airport, Manchester International Airport, Norwich International Airport and John Lennon Airport in Liverpool who have had their firefighters and Airside Operational Personnel complete the award.
Over one hundred personnel have a formal qualification in this arena through the ‘Train2Gain’ programme.
After assisting London Fire Brigade in the qualification of a number of watch-based Assessors to A1 standard, QA Associates have been asked to help the brigade with a further pilot project.
The project will establish if firefighters who have completed their Fire-fighter Development Program are eligible for a National Vocation Qualification by using independent verification without the need for separate evidence.
Come and visit us on stand 5 at the 2009 AOA Annual Conference and Exhibition at the London Hilton Metropole 7th and 8th December 2009.
MJ Airport Associates in collaboration with QA Associates will be giving details of our new accredited courses for the aviation industry.
Come and chat to either Mark or Dennis about what training we can offer in air-side operations. For pre-conference information contact Mark on 07525 628319 or the QA Associates office on 01773 748866.
Many training providers offer a ‘Certificate of Training Attendance’ with their training courses – but what does that mean? Well the answer is exactly that – it serves as proof of training attendance not that anything was learnt.
Wouldn’t it be good if as well as a certificate of attendance the employee could receive a formal accredited qualification that supports that learning took place? From early next year MJ Airport Associates is working towards offering many of their training courses with a formal accredited qualification.
In collaboration with QA Associates, courses will be offered with customised BTEC qualification. BTEC’s are proven and trusted qualifications that are internationally recognised and highly respected by employers. Employee’s like them because they provide a more personal approach to their own vocational learning requirements.
Using QA Associates as an ‘approved centre’ for quality assurance, courses and student work will be independently verified following on-site and on-course assessment of knowledge, understanding and skills by qualified assessors.
The BTEC qualifications will be made available to both UK and overseas candidates. If you would like to know more about BTEC courses or are interested in arranging a training course with a BTEC qualification then please contact Mark Turner of MJ Airport Associates.
