Developing A Work-Based Learning  Framework  for the Energy Sector  

This pilot work-based award development will enable access to education and training through a flexible provision that develops skills capability and builds capacity for those individuals working within the Energy/Engineering sectors. In addition to developing progression routes that add value to the learner journey, the specialist Personal Development Awards have the potential to create competitive advantage for this key market sector. 

The project proposed is part of a regional response to the workforce and up-skilling development needs of the Energy Sector in the South East of Scotland.

A Market Report undertaken 2011 highlighted the need for training and awards designed to provide a common set of skills and competences to satisfy the workforce development needs of employers operating within the emergent markets of the Energy sector.

The proposed Framework will be structured to enable people working in the Energy Sector, Engineering, and /or other related Sectors, part-time flexible access to education and to develop appropriate skills and gain qualifications while in employment. 

• Create Collaborative Partnership between Colleges, HEIs, employers, and industry bodies.
• Embed the SCQF to underpin the Workforce Development Framework
• Capacity building through a part-time work based learning route.
• Gain academic credit through a cumulative approach to CPD and credit rated units
• Articulation to degree level study from SCQF level 8
• Technological Innovation emergent from the College, HE, Employer Partnership 

• The development of a new work-based HN Qualification in Energy
• Development of a Specialist Professional Development Awards in Maths for Engineering (based on prior ELRAH-funded work progressed by Forth Valley College and Heriot-Watt University) credit rated into the SCQF at Levels 7 and 8
• Development of a Specialist  Professional Development Awards in Academic Skills for work-based learners credit rated into the SCQF at Levels 7
• Mapping and re-design of existing relevant Engineering degrees (to be identified)  offered by Edinburgh Napier University and Heriot- Watt for work-based delivery and to enable articulation into Year 3 using relevant HND and PDA qualifications. 

1. Institutional readiness

1-2 Organisation, resourcing and support for WBL

1-6 Processes and procedures for staffing WBL programmes

1-8 WBL procedures and processes for programme validation

1-9 QA for WBL

1-10 Systems to support WBL

2. Faculty/school/department readiness

2-1 WBL strategy and implementation plan

2-2 Partnership working

2-3 Business and commerical approaches

2-4 Training and support for external staff and employers

6. Quality of the learner experience

6-1 Pre-Entry

6-2 Programme Induction

6-3 Programme Design, Review and Quality Enhancement

7. Effective usable accessible technologies

7-1 Systems to support employer engagement

7-2 Tools to allow evidence collection, learner reflection and related dialogue

7-3 Assessment and feedback tools

• Level of Complexity – this is a Project with multiple stakeholders across College and HE Sectors and those organizations whose core business is energy and energy related
• Funding - integration of multiple funding streams to deliver the entire project.
• Sustainable Employer Engagement 

To achieve the proposed Framework for the WBL HNC/D Energy requires changes to existing HN frameworks that are accredited by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). The prosed changes would require a) introduction of new units to address deficiencies in maths ability to enable seamless progression to relevant degree provision in engineering/ renewables and b) the creation of small "chunks of accredited learning" better suited for work-based learners which have been defined as Professional Development Awards (PDAs).  The project team  met with SQA to discuss the proposed new framework in December.  SQA felt that there needed to be a stronger business case to support the development which is something that the project team will now pursue further.

Energy Skills Partnership agreed to fund the development of additional maths units (identified in the work-based learning model as a PDA in Maths)  to address the gap in maths identified when HN students use HN qualifications in Engineering to articulate to degree study. This development will be fed into other work progressed by SQA to identify enhancements to HN qualifications needed to articulate to degree study ( both work-based and for campus-based learners).

The SCQF Partnership has agreed to fund the development of materials to support the development of process optimisation units.

The Scottish Government announced at the end of 2012 its intention to increase the number of undergraduate places in Scotland by 850 to enable more articulation to take place. The announcement has specified that additional places must be delivered as a collaborative partnership between the HEI assigned the additional places and partner college(s), where the partner college would deliver the first two years. With this in mind, the project leads have decided to re-configure the Energy/Renewables project so that it does two things:

1) Re-designs the delivery of Edinburgh Napier University's existing BEng (Hons) Energy and Environmental Engineering for 2+2 delivery ( 2 years College and 2 years University).

2) Re-designs the existing BEng (Hons) Energy and Environmental Engineering for Work-based delivery

This represents a change to the original plans, but still ensures that the re-design takes into consideration joint delivery with college partners and employers. The re-design will be built on existing qualifications offered by Edinburgh Napier University, Carnegie College, Adam Smith College and Edinburgh College including HNC/D Engineering Systems  (and other relevant Engineering HNQs offered by Edinburgh College)  and the BEng (Hons) Energy and Environmental Engineering . Where new modules are required for WBL delivery, these will be created and validated by our HEI partner. The key deliverables are:

• Mapping  of HN Units in the HNC/D Engineering Systems (and other relevant HNQs as identified by the collaborative team) to the modules offered in the first two years of the BEng (Hons)  Energy and Environmental Engineering.
•  Development of additional materials to be delivered as part of the first two year sof the BEng  (Hons)  Energy and Environmental Engineering).  
• Arrange awareness and development events for the collaborative team delivering the programme (either as part of a college 2+2 programme or a work-based programme. 
• Create the design of  a part-time work-based design of the programme with supporting market research for future delivery from 2014