management of historic buildings, sites, and areas. The 'Assess and agree a brief Unit covers formulating a brief for projects large and small, including initial advice, negotiations, input to development briefs and publishing design guidance. The 'Co-ordinate the project development process Unit is concerned with the candidate's capability in forming a project team, briefing them and monitoring their work. The 'Determine the work of teams and individuals to achieve objectives Unit is a general management Unit which is widely transferable. 'Assess the condition of property involves agreeing a survey process (e.g. a Building at Risk survey), carrying out a condition survey, and reporting and presenting findings. The 'Document the conservation site Unit covers competence in the processes of recording as an ongoing initiative and/or at the beginning of, during, or the end of a conservation initiative, as indicated in the ICOMOS guidelines. The final, additional Unit is 'Contribute toadvances in the body of knowledge and practice which involves both contributing to advances in professional practice, and assisting in the dissemination of knowledge and best practice. The most special feature of the NVQs is that they rely on the candidate providing evidence to demonstrate competence in the workplace. Each of Studentplacements the Units contains several Elements; for each of these, performance criteria and range statements are specified, and the candidate has to satisfy the assessor in terms of both 'performance evidence' and 'knowledge evidence'. The performance evidence is selected from projects in which the candidate has been involved, to meet requirements specified for each Unit. The knowledge evidence can be in the form of an existing conservation qualification, but may also be demonstrated through questioning by the assessor. This questioning is also vital in establishing what part the candidate played in each project, and what has been learned from it. The trials highlighted difficulties which can be experienced in this process: in finding projects to meet the Unit requirements, and ·in managing the amounts of information involved (it is all too easy to gather more information than is necessa1y). Another major difficulty has been the daunting language in which the NVQs are written; great efforts have been nude to try to overcome this problem, but these have been constrained by the strict national specifications (it has been most frustrating that probably the greatest barrier to such a potentially important development is the language in which the qualifications have had to be written!). We have tried to make the language accessible through the Unit commentaries, which I have quoted above; the trials showed that once the IanOne of the very positive things which complete the one in this copy of Conour new Institute can do is to work text and return it to the address given with, and for, the future membership below (photocopies welcome). by liaison with students. The review of The questionnaire simply seeks to conservation courses in this issue of identify whether or not you or your Context shows just how many are now employer would be happy to take a on offer. Alongside making some as- student; if so, whether a wage is availsessment of the relevance of such able, how long the placement could courses to the IHBC, the Education last and what kind of work experience Sub-Committee is also seeking to help a student could hope for. By keeping make their content as topical as possi- this database up to date I should be ble by offering a co-ordinating service able to direct student enquiries away for students looking for work experi- from those who are unable to accomence and placements. modate them and towards those who Ifwellorganisedstudentplacements have a use for them. This will work to can be as rewarding for the employer both the students' and the members' as they can be for the student, there is advantage and in addition will help to nothing more irritating, however, than develop closer links between the IHBC endless enquiries about work experi- and the educational establishments ence opportunities when you know involved. Most students will have been that there just isn't the time or the room through at least two years of their course to accommodate them. The Education and will therefore be looking for an Sub-Committee is therefore compiling identifiable job to do with some limited a database of placement opportuni- responsibility; it could be updating the ties. You may already have received a buildings at risk register, or recording a questionnaire from your Branch Rep- building before planning goes through, resentative about this. If not, please designing a leaflet or undertaking some Context 56 December 1997 guage barrier is passed, the qualification structure is seen as extremely clear and helpful. It also provides an extremely good basis for specifying and assessing performance in conservation. This is, potentially, a very welcome development for performance appraisals, given the rarity of performance indicators based on a proper professional understanding of conservation. The most immediate target market for the Controlling Conservation NVQ is the number of Conservation Officers (and others) who do not have a specialist conservation qualification but have the necessary range of experience to achieve the NVQ, and who may need little or no additional tuition to meet the 'knowledge evidence' requirements. The NVQ offers an exceptional opportunity to gain a nationally recognised qualification, on the basis of competence in the workplace. If you are doing the job, and have the experience, and don't feel your existing qualifications (if any) give you proper recogrnt1on, now is your chance to use your existing experience to achieve a nationally recognised specialist qualification in conservation. Please contact me if you are interested to know more.This is a very important opportunity: don't miss it! John Preston, 90 Histon Road, Cambridge CB4 3JP. Tel: 01223 45 7166 (work) 01223 562534 (home - answerphone) research. All of us have jobs we would like to do but simply don't have time to get started, so a student can be as helpful to us as we are to them. The idea was suggested to the Conservation Course Directors Forum and was welcomed; I will be contacting course directors outside the Forum as soon as the database is complete and expect a similar welcome. The questionnaires have so far revealed an interesting mix of responses but I detect an overall enthusiasm for the idea though many of those who have replied have suggested that, while they might welcome a student, they simply don't have the space to accommodate one ___Conse1vation Officers in a tight corner again I see! As the membership of the IHBC extends, however, I will be particularly keen for those in private practice to become part of the database so that it can reflect the truly varied role of those who are involved in conservation. Dr Sarah Higgins is Conservation Officer at Ryedale District Council . . 27
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