Welcome to edition 3 of Star Unit news – it’s a bumper story we have to tell!
In the last few months we have seen encouraging numbers of new providers and assessors getting involved in Star Units and, of course, growing numbers of candidates being assessed successfully against their evidence requirements.
Maybe most important of all, though, the word is starting to get out to employers who are now grasping the benefits which arise - both for themselves and for individual learners - from the recognition of outstanding performance. Our article about Star Units at the National Grid bears this out.
Star Units are also good for industrial sectors and can contribute to a general raising of aspiration and performance across a whole workforce. Health and Social Care is a good example of this. The introduction of NVQs was a big step towards introducing standards into care homes, day centres and the many other workplaces where carers are employed. Now, Star Units can help raise those standards and create the role models that the sector needs if it is to move forward to meet the higher standards of care – more imaginative and more proactive - that are now demanded. Our article shows the way in which this is now starting to happen.
Raising Aspirations
What has to be reiterated is that the take-up of Star Units is part of a wider movement to raise aspiration, recognise outstanding performance and enable the UK to shape up for the new realities, economic and otherwise, in which we live.
As part of this we need to get a clearer fix on what we mean by ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Exceptional’. UK Skills has been doing research in this area and has also been drawing on its international contacts for a wider perspective. We summarise some of this in our article ‘What does exceptional performance look like?’
Meanwhile, other work has been going on behind the scenes at City & Guilds which aims to bring further consistency of standards and understanding across sectors. So we also have in this edition a summary of the latest developments from City & Guilds.
What strikes me most though is that the best way to get the measure of what Star Units means is by talking to the candidates, the teachers and the assessors who have had direct experience of working with them.Almost invariably Star Units have created a real ‘wow’ effect. They are meeting a need in an exciting and dynamic way.
So just wait until the numbers touched by Star Units run into the thousands. The effect will be explosive.
Edward Fennell
Editor – Star Unit News