Questions and answers about NVQs

The main tool for evaluating skills acquired through work experience and non-formal learning is a candidate’s portfolio, in which you collect evidence of your work experience and skills that can be taken into account when obtaining the NVQ certificate with the help of an NVQ consultant. Your portfolio then serves as a tool for the NVQ verification and validation commission to piece together an image of your work experience, education, or training. The commission makes an expert assessment of each certificate and of the overall portfolio on the basis of the prescribed criteria. If the evidence is sufficient, good, and covers the entire content of the NVQ, the commission immediately issues you an NVQ certificate. However, if the evidence is lacking, you will receive an invitation to a direct verification, where you will meet the commission in person to convince them of the skills that you have not sufficiently demonstrated with your certificates in the portfolio.

Evidence that you are putting in your portfolio can comprise various employer certificates of work-related training, work experience certificates, licences, certificates of participation in seminars and courses, school certificates for completed formal education programmes, certificates of participation or completion of non-formal education programmes, reference letters, statements, products, professional articles, various authorships, acknowledgements, commendations, and other similar evidence. Certificates on skills acquired by working in a home environment, by volunteering, by pursuing hobbies, by performing holiday or student work, by performing leisure activities, by travelling, by meeting new people, by using different media, etc. can also be used.

As you can see, there are hardly any limitations in proving your work experience and skills! All you have to do is browse through your memory, open your home drawers, or apply for a certificate from an institution or a former employer where you have worked in the past or completed some training or education. When selecting evidence according to the selected NVQ, providers also provide an NVQ consultant, who will advise you on the selection of the various pieces of evidence to be put into your portfolio.