Employer Based Training Accreditation: an overview

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Employer Based Training Accreditation an overview

• Quality and Responding to Employer Needs
• QAA, HEA, fdf Event
• 2nd December 2009
• Bop Dhillon Associate Director fdf
• Ken Phillips EBTA Manager

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• Introduction
• (Ken)

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What is EBTA?

• The Employer Based Training Accreditation scheme
  is co-ordinated by Foundation Degree Forward
  (fdf) and is working to promote and facilitate
  higher education accreditation for training
  provided in the workplace

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Who is involved?

• Charles Pickford, fdf executive lead
• National Employer Advisory Board
• Ken Phillips Bop Dhillon, EBTA Managers
• Kate Fletcher Bulman, Business Development
  Officer
• Fdf core team and 5 national consultants
• 40 HEI partners the EBTA Community of
  Practice

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The EBTA Process
Initial Enquiry
Undertaken by EBTA Manager
Employer preferred HE partner or 33 EBTA HE
providers
Undertaken by trained EBTA consultant/fdf
Initial Scoping Visit
Scoping of In-Company Training
Identification of HEI Partner
Facilitated by EBTA consultant/fdf
Proceed to Full Accreditation
4 days free consultancy through EBTA
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• The Employer Perspective
• (Ken)

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Examples

• Creative and Cultural Sector North West Vision
  and Media, West Midlands Renaissance Group, Sony
  Games
• Engineering Marshalls Aerospace, Flybe
• Retail and Merchandising TESCO, Booths, Jewson,
  ASDA, Morrison's, Coop Group
• Food Mars Confectionary
• Petrochemicals Petroplus, Murco
• Travel and Tourism Thomas Cook, Co-op Travel,
  BAHA

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Benefits for Employers the EBTA View

• Recognition, reward and retention of staff
• Value Added provides evidence of return on
  investment for employers who pay for training
  learning applied (and impact made tangible)
  immediately in the workplace
• The benefits of the Digital Pass being
  accredited, is trainees can be assured they are
  being rigorously tested up to a standard the
  media industry expects, and as a bonus have
  academic credits which can form part of their
  lifelong learning
• Academics and employers brought together to plug
  the skills gaps in the industry wider potential
  for industry development of bespoke accredited
  courses

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Benefits for Employers their View

• Formally recognising the knowledge that our
  managers already had, underpinning their
  knowledge with formal learning, comparing Booths
  business practices with other retailers and
  considering current industry initiatives our aim
  was to increase the awareness, motivation and
  confidence or our managers.  fdf/EBTA has allowed
  this to become a reality (Booths)
• Through EBTA, Murco is now able to form a
  productive and progressive partnership with the
  University of Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire College
  that will not only provide long-term business
  benefits but aid employee career progression and
  retention levels (Murco)
• From a commercial point of view it shows our
  commitment to investing in our people and
  delivering the professional service that our
  clients expect (Maria Hadfield, HR and
  Development Manager, Quill Pinpoint Accounting
  Ltd)

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• The HEI Perspective
• the EBTA Community of Practice
• (Bop)

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The EBTA Community of PracticeWhat Why?

• A community of approaching 40 HEIs
• Why HEIs to date
• Convened around a common purpose to support
  innovative practice in workforce development by
  accrediting employer training at higher education
  levels
• Sharing experience and expertise for their mutual
  benefit
• Facilitate capacity building and ability to
  respond to opportunities for accreditation
• Captured within a Memorandum of Understanding

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• Community of Practice Events
• Quality Assurance June 2009
• Costing, Funding and Pricing Accreditation July
  2009
• Shell Frameworks, 15th December 2009
• Financial aspects, 9th March 2010

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• Quality Assurance Issues
• (Ken)

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Guiding Principles

• Innovative and creative
• Responsive and flexible
• Prioritises the needs of employers and employees
• Focuses upon outcomes rather than inputs
• Aims to achieve maximum accreditation possible
• Facilitates progression and lifelong learning

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Forms of Accreditation

• Validation of a bespoke HE award
• Credit recognition (specific credit)
• Credit recognition (general credit)
• Learning Through Work/CPD/Shell Awards
• Plus APL/APEL and Kite Marking/Endorsement

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• Quality Assurance
• Issues of context
• Overlapping qualifications frameworks and
  implications for quality and credibility of HE
• Variations in application of credit, learning
  volumes across the sector
• Need for flexibility in HE structures

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• Quality Assurance
• Perceived as high risk control over monitoring
  quality
• Staff development, eg. assessment
• Role of external examiner and subject experts
• Development of negotiated learning structures

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• Financial Issues
• (Bop)

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• Costing, Funding and Pricing Accreditation
• Costing
• Need to understand various elements of cost
• Variable costing models and relationship to
  pricing
• Costing models associated with collaborative
  activity, e.g. FE-HE, HE-Employer partnerships
• Dialogue re costing and pricing with employers

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• Costing, Funding and Pricing Accreditation
• Funding
• Need for clearer guidance on legitimate
  application of funding for different forms of
  accreditation, e.g. co-funded ASNs
• Challenges associated with HEIs shoe-horning
  costing and pricing into mainstream HEFCE funding
  models

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• Costing, Funding and Pricing Accreditation
• Pricing
• Pricing strategy cognisant of market forces,
  margins, institutional missions, etc.
• Whats the starting point for determining price?
• Relationship to cost - informed but not
  determined by

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• Costing, Funding and Pricing Accreditation
• Generic
• Staff development
• Risk factors for HEIs
• Market analysis and benchmarking other HEIs and
  the private training sector
• Communications with employers

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• Lessons for HEIs to Date
• (Bop)

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• Dos and Donts for HEIs Responding to EBTA
• Do
• Demonstrate appreciation re the target audience
  and their expectations
• Be specific about how you can effectively respond
  to the employers needs focus upon the emphasis
  placed by the employer re needs and how your
  institution could add value
• Ensure that your institutional expertise is
  relevant to the employer and context
• Evidence specific expertise, in context
• Be careful in making unsubstantiated assumptions,
  e.g. employers needs, how the employer wants to
  do things, HEI developing the programme, etc
• Include a clear breakdown of costs, timeframes
• Where relevant include prior experience of
  undertaking similar accreditation
• Offer a clear approach to accreditation for the
  employer

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• Dos and Donts for HEIs Responding to EBTA
• Dont
• Make generalisations
• Waffle - avoid irrelevancies and padding out
• Name drop, especially where this cant be
  supported by evidence of outcomes
• Attempt rush to shoehorn employer training into
  existing solutions/HE provision unless
  specifically requested

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Contact Details

• Ken Phillips
• Mobile [phone]
• E-mail k.phillips_at_fdf.ac.uk

• Bop Dhillon
• (Based at EMDA, Nottingham)
• Mobile [phone]
• E-mail b.dhillon_at_fdf.ac.uk

• Website
• http//www.ebtafdf.co.uk/