News & Events

CoVE Celebration Event - 22nd March 2007

The COVE Celebration Event was held on the 22nd March at Abbey Manor Business Centre in Yeovil.  The event was held to inform COVE partnership team of ongoing developments, and to celebrate the progress and achievements of the past eighteen months.  Each of the COVE partners were well represented, with over 30 people attending the conference in all.


Sue Parker from Somerset College welcomed everyone and introduced the day.  She outlined how the COVE is implementing new technology in order to assist candidates and their employers to undertake NVQ qualifications in the workplace. Working in partnership together has been the key to overcoming many of the challenges involved in such a task.  As a result the COVE is an innovator in the sector for this type of development and is now well ahead of the game.Belinda Lock, the COVE lead worker followed on by giving a report of the activities of the COVE over the previous year.  Many employer / sector events had been held which have been very well received.  These included an event to look at the Common Induction Standards, which was attended by over 300 delegates from the area.  More events are planned for this year and the strong emphasis of employer / sector engagement will continue to be a feature of the COVE's activities.

Alison Bruce, who is developing the marketing materials for the COVE, then headed up a brainstorming session to review the literature and web site that are being developed for publication.  Each of the delegates from the four partners, gave very valuable feedback that will enable the COVE to produce materials and information that are attractive, relevant and have a strong impact.

The morning was completed by demonstrations of the new technology from Marco Faccini and  Martin Clarke, representatives of the technology companies the COVE is working with.  

Key features of the new systems include the ability for candidates to have discussions with their assessor via video conference. This facility was ably demonstrated by Marco, and a colleague of his back at his office who joined our meeting temporarily via the web.  Up to 16(?) people can join the video conference at any one time which will make group tutoring and networking a much easier process.  The system also allows for on-line learning in a Virtual Learning Environment using pre-prepared interactive learning modules.  Several modules such as health and safety and food hygiene are already available, and other will be coming on line. For example, modules covering the underpinning knowledge for the H&SC L2 award will soon be available.

Finally Martin demonstrated how the whole portfolio for the NVQ can be recorded electronically, and the progress of the NVQ tracked automatically. Martin showed how a variety of formats are used, such as video records, digital voice recordings and photographs, as well as the more standard word processed text.  The system will then allow the assessor to automatically record the progress of the candidate through the NVQ.

After the demonstrations, delegates enjoyed a buffet lunch and spent time in networking sessions, discussing the way forward in implementing the innovations in each of the four partner areas.  The day rounded off with a feedback time, which allowed key questions to be asked and information to be shared.

The day was a great success and a significant one in the life of the COVE.  It marked the fruition of a lot of hard work by each of the partners, and a stepping up of pace in implementing the plans for the future.




Benefits of attendance of CARE SHOW

As part of my role within the College I attend various events to further knowledge and to show exactly what is going on in our own area of Vocational Qualifications.

This year with new legislation coming on board such as the Mental Capacity Act it has been an important event to gain as much current details as possible to aid Care Managers, whom I assess, to fully understand and implement the necessary procedures to meet this.

This year I had the added bonus of winning a trip on the Orient Express for a Day just by registering with one of the many stands at the Show. The reason I am sharing this with you is to show you that everyone can achieve PREP as per Nursing NMC requirements as well as knowledge and having respite from the work place. If we do not continue to support these events we will lose a valuable resource so watch out for the next event.

Pauline Cromwell