Re: [Fsfe-uk] qualifications

[Dave Crossland]

On 18/04/2008, Alex Hudson <address@hidden> wrote:
> Ian Lynch wrote:
> > I thought we were discussing the national/international education scene
> > and why qualifications are important to people. Fact is you can get on
> > without any but it's a hell of a lot more difficult.
>
>  Yeah, in that context you're right - qualifications of whatever sort are
> basically a trust scheme, and even if there are problems with them, I've
> never seen anyone propose a better scheme.

I expect a barber can propose one, since they get trust from first
time clients without them knowing what grades or certificates they
have.

Marketting, PR, advertising; these are schemes to build trust that are
more effective than certificates and grades. If they were less
effective, we would all use certificates and grades in our purchasing
decisions. That we don't puts the lie to how important they are.

> [qualifications] I've had
> contact with are driven directly by industry need, which creates standards
> of best practice, which is then used to benchmark the learning.

I think learning ought to be driven directly by a person's needs, and
that learning cannot be benchmarked :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave