Building the professions

We should like to comment on some of the points made in Peter Smith's article (THES, February 24).

Professor Smith complains that "architect" does not feature as an NVQ title. This is because standards are based on functions and not on occupations. Civil engineers and town planners do not feature as titles either; but we do anticipate NVQs in project management, business management, building design, etc.

Professor Smith is worried about the relationship between level 5 NVQs and chartered status. Since there are only five levels in the NVQ framework, level 5 has to embrace a range of senior management and professional practice. The Construction Industry's Standing Conference's work suggests that a full level 5 NVQ will demand more than a newly chartered professional can deliver. The professional institutions will be able to make use of level 5 NVQ units en route to the professional interview; thereafter, they will form a valuable structure for post-chartered continuous professional development.

Professor Smith's anxiety about NVQs usurping the architects' role is groundless. NVQs at level 5 in architectural practice will have to be awarded by a body which has credibility with and penetration in the industry; who better than RIBA and theArchitects' Registration Council to control this activity? Since architectural qualifications are protected by an Act, NVQs cannot usurp them. NVQ units should be used both by the professional institutions and also in full NVQs, so that there is a common currency and structure.

CISC has not yet solved the problem of assessing underpinning knowledge. This is because this phase of our work still lies ahead, and we look to F and HE to help. Professor Smith is wrong or mischievous when he says "candidates are deemed competent without any assessment of their underpinning knowledge". CISC has spent the past five years emphasising that the knowledge underpinning high-level NVQs will be greater, not less, than that for existing qualifications.

Regarding ethics and accountability, one of the units in CISC's functional map bears the title "Provide advice on and solutions to complex, indeterminate problems within an ethical framework". The demands of this unit are more rigorous than the current practice of our professional institutions. Clients will still demand chartered professionals to provide the services they need; NVQs will help to improve their performance.

Far from threatening the professions, NVQs will enhance existing qualifications and provide a proper vehicle for CPD. Full level 5 NVQs in architectural territory will not be achieved before age 30-35, well after one has normally become a chartered architect. Perhaps this post-chartered achievement could be recognised as leading to fellowship.

If Professor Smith's mistaken views are allowed to prevail, leading to the refusal of professional institutions to grasp the NVQ opportunity or to become involved, then such institutions will suffer.

Alan Osborne

chairman, CISC

Robin Wilson

chairman, Construction Industry Council

Store Street, London WC1