My company is putting all the drivers through an NVQ2 in goods vehicle driving. Im not to sure about what it involves yet as we have a meeting with the assesor next week. I know it dont count towards the driver cpc but ive never seen a driving job where it lists an nvq as an essental for getting the job.
Im a bit cynical about it as my wife is a teacher and my mum works for the local educaton authority and both veiw the level 2 nvq as pretty worthless.Im not worried about the course work as i hold a national and international cpc and im sure its less involved than that but dont fancy wasting my time doing something that isnt worth the paper its printed on just to bost government targets. Id much rather do something relivant to the job in the real world such as adr.
Has anyone here done the nvq and could you let us know what it involves and has it helped you in you job or getting a job.
kr79:
Has anyone here done the nvq and could you let us know what it involves and has it helped you in you job or getting a job.
One extra thing to put on a CV but I have never seen an advert where a DGV NVQ has been listed as a preferred quality for a LGV job.
Generally, in very basic terms, it involves a DGV NVQ assessor watching you do your normal job and asking you a few questions.
There is no exam and no pass or fail - you either get the tick to say you can do it or not.
The reports go to the boss who may decide to improve certain things if many drivers do not get the tick in a certain box. A lot of this is for insurance purposes - the insurers will charge less if the workforce is deemed to be ‘competent’
More in-depth info if interested - DGV NVQ
NVQ = No Viable Qualification.
I did an NVQ Level 2 some years ago (in a telecoms discipline) and to be honest it was a complete and utter waste of time.
The basics involved having to write down what amounted to a sequence of events covering a given task - boring, pointless and a waste of good paper and printer ink.
The DGV NVQ is, looking at the OCR link I put in the last post, different to a lot of other NVQs in so far as there is no writing etc for the person being assessed.
Our company are also putting all (around 250) drivers through the NVQ2.
It would be interesting to know the reason for this - it only has any bearing on the CPC for new drivers (can be used to defer CPC training) so perhaps it is something related to insurance?
We’re all doing ours as we speak. I haven’t had my driving assessments yet (you have 2, apparently) but one of the instructors is apparently judging his candidates based entirely on whether he was relaxed anough to fall asleep for the majority of the drive…I kid you not… 
None of us know why we’re doing it. Our best guess is insurance. The literacy and numeracy tests we did at the beginning were a patronising insult, though. Several of our drivers who were in with my batch found the idea of a Freelance Journalist doing a literacy test laughable (needless to say I passed… 
) and my six year old’s homework was harder than the numeracy bit…It quite literally had questions like “You have £2, can you afford a bacon butty?” with a menu saying the butty cost £1.50. Bloody ridiculous. 
I know DHL are putting all their drivers through NVQ as it’s already started, I think Wincanton are as well.
It’s good for the company’s image and I understand its fully funded by the government
Its not a pass or fail but I expect the assessor will notify the company if he has any concerns
I think it’s only fully funded if you fail the numaracy and literacy tests, the idea being to make sure everyone is as GCSE level (which is also level 2) in these. Since I passed, the “sign up team” were at a bit of a loss…Until they found out they could tick the “Disabled” box, at which point suddenly everything in the world was alright again.
Lucy:
None of us know why we’re doing it. Our best guess is insurance. The literacy and numeracy tests we did at the beginning were a patronising insult, though. Several of our drivers who were in with my batch found the idea of a Freelance Journalist doing a literacy test laughable (needless to say I passed…
I think the literacy & numeracy results will be used as KPI’s towards future reports, such as from 5,000 LGV drivers tested 2% were illiterate.
Lucy:
I think it’s only fully funded if you fail the numaracy and literacy tests, the idea being to make sure everyone is as GCSE level (which is also level 2) in these. Since I passed, the “sign up team” were at a bit of a loss…Until they found out they could tick the “Disabled” box, at which point suddenly everything in the world was alright again.
Given the example of the numeracy test it would seem that the GCSE maths has become somewhat easier of late!!
It did get harder, Hombre…The last question in the section at the butty van asked if you wanted fries with that… 
We’ve been told that its fully funded and there will be funds left over for other training courses that fit within a certain criteria, I don’t know what those courses are but if your firms running drivers NVQ it might be worth asking there may be a National or International CPC course for free
That’s worth knowing, Stringy, I keep meaning to upgrade my National CPC to International…Thanks! 
If the company are putting you through it then what’s the problem? I’ve got the level 2 already and it’s really just proving that you can do the job and gathering evidence to show this - a doddle.
As Rog say’s it’s something else to put on your cv. It’s also your qualification so employer can’t keep it.
Rick B:
If the company are putting you through it then what’s the problem? I’ve got the level 2 already and it’s really just proving that you can do the job and gathering evidence to show this - a doddle.As Rog say’s it’s something else to put on your cv. It’s also your qualification so employer can’t keep it.
CVs are a load of cobblers - people can and do write down all sorts of rubbish.
No amount of bits of paper can prove whether or not you can do this job - there are simply far too many variables in vehicles, trailers, loads etc… The only valid proofs come in a driver assesment and or reference from a previous employer.
incidentally, what sort of “evidence” do you actually gather? Proof that you attended a course which you can niether pass or fail?
kr79:
My company is putting all the drivers through an NVQ2 in goods vehicle driving. Im not to sure about what it involves yet as we have a meeting with the assesor next week. I know it dont count towards the driver cpc but ive never seen a driving job where it lists an nvq as an essental for getting the job.
Im a bit cynical about it as my wife is a teacher and my mum works for the local educaton authority and both veiw the level 2 nvq as pretty worthless.Im not worried about the course work as i hold a national and international cpc and im sure its less involved than that but dont fancy wasting my time doing something that isnt worth the paper its printed on just to bost government targets. Id much rather do something relivant to the job in the real world such as adr.
Has anyone here done the nvq and could you let us know what it involves and has it helped you in you job or getting a job.
NVQ’s.
It’s a load of balls the lot of it!
As I have had a few interviews/chats on becoming a trainee DGV NVQ A1 assessor recently and during those talks the subject of funding and format has been discussed.
It seems that the current funding is being revamped so anything could happen in the very near future.
Also discussed was the format of the DGV NVQ if it may be used towards cross hours accreditation for the Periodic Driver CPC.
This is not fully sorted at present but it seems as if there would be some form of basic maths/english and/or customer service involved which would mean being in the classroom - not popular with most LGV drivers.
What is clear is that anything done before 10 Sept this year for LGV will NOT count for any possible LGV Periodic Driver CPC cross accreditation.
Lucy:
“You have £2, can you afford a bacon butty?” with a menu saying the butty cost £1.50.
My answer would be NO as the cup of tea costs 60p and I am very thirsty…
Can anyone ‘lend’ us 10p ?
So once a driver has an NVQ what “actual” difference will it make?
The “benefits to the employee” sections on most of the NVQ websites I have looked at appear to have been written by a timeshare rep. In other words they are hollow phrases designed to close objections (to spending money) in an attempt to convince hard pressed operators to spend what they cant afford and dont need.
The most ridiculous question was along the lines of:
Q. It costs £1 to park for a day. Which coin should you use in the parking meter?
Followed by 4 pictures of coins, one of which was a £1 coin.
I mean really, how stupid do they think people are?