Improve is working with employers and awarding bodies to develop new qualifications that will be designed to offer greater flexibility and increased scope for tailoring training towards employers' individual needs. It is hoped they will be in place within the next year.
Improve Proficiency Qualifications (IPQs) are the first work-based qualifications developed specifically for the food and drink industry and are designed to develop and confirm competence in specific job roles in the industry.
Derek Williams, development director for Improve, said: "We've gone down a specific path to provide what employers want," he said. "Training will take on a multi-faceted approach to provide employers with what they need, including access to broader knowledge learning not previously available in competency-based qualifications."
The first IPQs available will include sector-specific qualifications in bakery at Levels 2 and 3, and brewing at Level 2, as well as a brand new qualification in food manufacturing excellence, which is a productivity and improvement qualification relevant to all food and drink businesses.
According to Williams, the new qualifications are already winning support from employers.
In delivering the new food manufacturing excellence qualification, which will be available at Levels 2 to 4, training providers will not only offer improvement tools and techniques training, but will provide training in managing change and development of workplace culture aligned to a company excellence strategy, said Williams.
"This will include support in areas such as teamwork, working relationships and sustainability," he explained. "This flexibility will encourage employers to view training as a vital part of business development, opening up new opportunities and strengthening working relationships.
"There are already a number of providers delivering business improvement techniques and qualifications. But they are often delivered on a project basis and the impact on the individual and the company is often not sustainable.
"IPQs allow training to be linked directly to the company's strategy for people improvement and change, and put the training provider in a pivotal position for achieving this."
