Re: [Fsfe-uk] qualifications

[Ian Lynch]

On Sat, 2008-04-19 at 11:07 +0200, Davi Leal wrote:
> Alex Hudson wrote:
> > > I think learning ought to be driven directly by a person's needs, and
> > > that learning cannot be benchmarked :-)
> 
> > Personally I don't believe there are many things you can't measure, and
> > learning certainly isn't one of them.
> 
> Certifications are hard to define and maintain. Say for example the 
> academic-qualification certifications.
> 
> However the standard certifications, as the academic one, can be added to the 
> set of qualifications sensors.
> 
> 
> As MJ exposed previously, being able to take a look to the candidate's actual 
> work is the best we can do to measure her qualifications; and Free Software 
> help at that side.

You are all being too logical :-). Human beings like recognition. Read
Maslow, Herzberg et al. Why do boy scouts get badges? We give
certificates to our assessors - they aren't accredited and we don't
really need them but a lot ask about their certificate at the end of the
training. Even if you banned certification from schools it would spring
up somewhere else because a big driver is not quality assurance for
employers but recognition, status and progress measures for individuals.
Try teaching a non-exam class with no certification in KS4. Motivation
can come from the nature of the work for some people who probably then
can't see why anyone needs a certificate at the end, that inherent
motivation is not there in everyone or even a majority once you start
telling people what is good for them :-).

In the free software world attribution is similar. Why does RMS want
people to refer to GNU/Linux? To recognise the work of GNU. That is not
much different to certificating GNU in recognition of its contribution
to GNU/Linux.

Of course in the UK you can say we have gone over-board and the
regulations that have sprung up around certification negate the quality
of learning eg assessment by inappropriate end testing or on computers
because it might be cheaper. Valid testing is a big issue in my view
because we tend to set tests that are cheap and appear accurate not
tests that necessarily validate the intended learning and support the
quality of learning. But this is detail related to reforming the system
rather than scrapping it entirely.

Ian
-- 
New QCA Accredited IT Qualifications
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