Standards Council Canada stops certification

Standards Council Canada announced in January that it will stop certifying management systems training providers. Interestingly the existing certificates will no longer be recognized.

Where does this leave the companies that have existing certifications and will they be reimbursed their certification fees? Will these companies will flip to RABQSA certification? What happens in the meantime?

Presumably this happened due to the low number of SCC certified training providers. This now means that there is no Canadian accreditation program for management system training providers. With the National Quality Institute (NQI) and RABQSA parting ways in 2006 the only option Canadian companies have left is to so south of the border or into Europe.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2007-01-17 (full article copied - link here)

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) announced the discontinuation of its accreditation program for management systems auditor training course providers. Effective immediately, certificates issued under the program will no longer be recognized.

For additional information contact Stephen Cross, Manager, Certification Body Accreditation at scross@scc.ca.

The Standards Council of Canada is a Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective standardization in Canada. It facilitates the development and use of national and international standards and offers accreditation services with the goal of enhancing Canada’s economic competitiveness and social well-being. For more information, visit http://www.scc-ccn.ca/ or email info@scc.ca.

The changing meaning of skill

An old but interesting article on the changing definitions of skill. A bias towards educational establishments but a great overview on the impact to the UK policy and economy.

The changing meaning of skill and its implications for UK vocational education and training policy
Author: Jonathan Payne

During the 1980s and 1990s, UK policy-makers have stressed that economic competitiveness and national prosperity depend on a highly skilled workforce. At the same time, the meaning of "skill" is now considerably broader than it used to be and embraces a range of desirable behaviours, attitudes and personal characteristics. This feature looks at some of the implications this is likely to have for vocational education and training policy...

More at European Industrial Relations On-line

Competency in training

Having been looking through the discussion board there are some really interesting posts on competency in training. These are specific to management systems auditing but will expand the list to cover off other areas in that big wide corporate world.

Definitions of competence
Competence, awareness and training

Thoughts on skills based assessment for personnel certification
Skills and competency certification

About regulation of organizations that employ certified professional
Should certification bodies be running like a business?

All found at IRCA online forums