Education

• Graduate Common Learning Outcomes
• Construction and the Built Environment Specialised Diploma
• Foundation Degrees
• Accelerating Change in Built Environment Education
• Technical Advanced Apprenticeship Project

Graduate Common Learning Outcomes

In 1997 the Common Learning Outcomes (CLOs) covering built environment HE programmes were signed up to by all the major professional bodies. Through consultation with the professional bodies and academia, a revised set of Graduate Common Learning Outcomes (GCLOs) and Intermediate Common learning Outcomes have now been developed to reflect the changing needs of the industry. This set of Intermediate Common Learning Outcomes (ICLOs) reflects the changing needs of sub-degree programmes recognised by professional bodies.

The construction and built environment sector recognises that improvement in construction practice can only be truly effective when all stakeholders – clients, fundholders, regulators, planners, designers, procurers, suppliers, constructors, operators and maintainers – work together and recognise the distinctiveness of all professionals within the industry.

The new set of Graduate Common Learning Outcomes and Intermediate Common Learning Outcomes provides a valuable benchmark for construction and built environment graduates. The criteria within the GCLOs and the ICLOs set out the personal skills and levels of technical and professional awareness that new graduates should have achieved as they embark upon their professional careers.

The following professional bodies have already officially signed up to the new GCLOs:
CIAT (Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists)
CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers)
CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building)
ICES (Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors)
LI (Landscape Institute)
RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects)

Courses which are accredited or validated by these professional bodies will be designated a ‘CIC endorsed course’ and may use the CIC logo. Further details on the accredited courses can be obtained directly from the relevant professional body.

Read full documents GCLOS and ICLOS

Construction and the Built Environment Specialised Diploma

A Specialised Diploma is a new qualification aiming to provide young people with the skills and knowledge they need to progress into employment, training or further and higher education. Aimed at 14 to 19 year olds, they will be available at levels 1, 2 and 3 in subjects covering broad economic areas.

Specialised Diplomas will provide a broad programme of applied and other learning, underpinned by essential skills. Employers can be confident that a young person with a Diploma has mastered essential skills in English, Maths and ICT and other sector-related subjects. Diplomas will also provide young people with opportunities to experience different styles of learning, learn in different settings, and make informed choices about the kind of work they wish to do. Employers will also know that a young person who has achieved a Diploma can apply their skills in work situations, and has an attitude which will give them success at work. Any young person wishing to progress into Higher Education institutions can be confident that achieving a level 3 Diploma will be ideal preparation for undertaking a degree course.

What does the Diploma consist of?

The Diploma has three components:

• Principal learning – developing the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes relevant to a sector or sectors using realistic contexts and materials wherever possible.
• Additional/specialist learning – allowing learners to specialise further or to select units that will complement their programme
• Generic learning – providing the learner with the essential skills including Mathematics, English and ICT, which will prepare them for successful employment, training and further study

The Construction and the Built Environment Diploma is being developed by a Diploma Development Partnership led by five Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) but including employers, higher education, school and college and awarding-body representatives.

The Construction and the Built Environment Diploma will combine practical skill development with theoretical and technical knowledge. Young people with the Diploma will have better skills, and a better insight into what the sector is like to work in. They will be more motivated when entering employment because they will already be equipped with the skills they need to help them get on.

The new Diplomas will comprise the best of current qualifications, including GCSEs and A levels, supplemented by new content to be identified with the help of employers.

The Diploma will be easy to recognise and understand, and valuable to employers who appreciate traditional qualifications, but who also feel that young people should have a broader grounding in the required skills, before joining their chosen sector.

The Construction and the Built Environment Diploma will start being taught in 2008. It will be delivered through local partnerships of schools, colleges and employers and will provide young people with the chance to study in a stimulating and ‘practical’ environment being taught by people with relevant and up to date skills. It aims to provide a real benefit to employers by providing them with trainees who have made an informed choice of career, and who have the much-needed skills, reducing recruitment and training costs, and ultimately staff turnover.

You can find out more about the Construction and the Built Environment Diploma, the Diploma Development Partnership, what the Diploma will consist of and how it will be structured by visiting www.cbediploma.co.uk

Foundation Degrees

ConstructionSkills has supported the development of Foundation degrees since their inception in 2001 through the auspices of a best practice network.

ConstructionSkills is fully supportive of a more ‘demand – led’ system and views Foundation degrees as a key focus for this work. ConstructionSkills will have a crucial role in providing robust and up to the minute research and intelligence about the industry and in levering in demonstrable employer engagement and commitment to action that will support innovative programme design and delivery. The development of Sector Skills Agreements will provide the mechanism by which to integrate the planning and funding cycles needed to support the development of industry led Foundation degrees, but also provide the means by which partner capacity and flexibility to respond to changes can be increased.

Please use the following links to access Foundation Degree Sectoral Framework.

Sectoral Framework for Foundation Degrees

Listing of key benchmark criteria for a prototype bid for a Foundation Degree programme in Construction and the Built Environment

Accelerating Change in Built Environment Education

CIC, CITB-ConstructionSkills, CEBE, Rethinking Construction, and the Learning and Teaching Support Networks (LTSNs), have been involved in the Accelerating Change in Built Environment Education initiative - designed to follow the outcomes of the ‘Accelerating Change’ report. It aims to improve communication and dialogue between the construction industry and the academic world in order to better align education with industry needs, promote interdisciplinary team-working and show how this can deliver improved industry performance. ACBEE proposes to identify existing or planned examples of good collaborative practice. CIC's Progression Project is one such exemplar project. Its outputs should be a valuable input to the work of the Sector Skills Councils; for more information please access the following link: Accelerating Change in Built Environment Education (ACBEE)

Technical Advanced Apprenticeship Project

The Construction Industry Council within ConstructionSkills and in conjunction with QCA and SSDA, is currently managing a project to explore the potential of Technical Advanced Apprenticeships in construction. We are now working to develop and pilot a model[s] for a self-standing ‘qualification’ for apprentices, reflecting the views of sector bodies and other key stakeholders. It is intended that pilot trials of the proposed apprenticeship model[s] will be initiated with sector employers, awarding bodies, colleges and assessment centres later in 2008. This model[s] could potentially lead to candidates being on a career pathway that would lead to Technician Membership of Professional Institutions within the Built Environment sector.

Your involvement in this project is key to its success; we welcome participation from employers, colleges, assessment centres and Professional Institutions in the upcoming pilot trials.

To get involved, please contact David Cracknell, Director of Lifelong Learning dcracknell@cic.org.uk telephone 020 7399 7403