NTVQF

Overview

The National Technical and Vocational Qualifications Framework (NTVQF) was Bangladesh's qualifications framework for technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The government first approved it in 2012, and its implementing agency was the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB), with technical support from the ILO's Skills 21 project.

There was no single NTVQF exam. Each occupation had its own nationally agreed competency standards, and candidates who were assessed as competent against them received an NTVQF qualification at the matching level. The documents used for this page are official framework and standards documents, read from copies hosted by the ILO and a government project site rather than on the BTEB or Ministry sites themselves.

Levels or stages

The NTVQF had two pre-vocational levels followed by six qualification levels, as BTEB set them out in its competency standards:

Pre-vocational programmes prepared people for training, and the NTVQF levels prepared them for the workforce. Each level was described in terms of knowledge, skills and responsibility.

Exam pattern

Assessment was competency-based rather than a written exam alone. Competency standards were built from units of competency, each with a unit code, nominal hours, elements and performance criteria, and an evidence guide. Depending on the unit, the methods of assessment listed by BTEB included:

• demonstration with oral questioning;

• direct observation;

• written tests;

• a portfolio or log book.

Competencies could be assessed in a real or a simulated workplace. Training providers had to be accredited by BTEB, as the national quality assurance body, or by a body with delegated authority, to train and assess for credit towards a national qualification.

Syllabus

Syllabus content depended on the occupation. As one worked example, BTEB's competency standards for Computer Operation set out:

• NSC in Computer Operation, NTVQF Level 1: 580 nominal learning hours, covering workplace health and safety, operating a computer and allied devices, typing text and documents in English and Bangla, using the internet, word processing, spreadsheets and presentations, plus 160 hours of on-the-job training.

• NSC in Computer Operation, NTVQF Level 2: 290 nominal learning hours, covering English in the workplace and database work (designing tables, creating forms, retrieving information, generating reports and testing databases), with on-the-job training.

After the exam

Under the BNQF that replaced the NTVQF, the skills levels continue as NSC 1 to 6. The BNQF places NSC 3 at the same level as the Secondary School Certificate and NSC 5 at the same level as the Higher Secondary Certificate, and NSC 6 or a diploma at level 6 links to higher education. The BNQF also provides for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), so people with informally acquired skills can enter at any level.

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