NOCN Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic Leadership of Performance and Productivity

About NOCN

NOCN is a market-leading awarding organisation that has been providing qualifications for a wide range of centres, including FE colleges and training providers, for 30 years both in the UK and internationally.

We work with centres to deliver a high quality and flexible service for learners to underpin our passionate belief in the power of education and its impact on communities and individuals.

We offer all the advantages of being with a national awarding organisation with a diverse portfolio of qualifications, alongside providing a personalised, bespoke, service to our centres and learners.

As an accredited Leader in Diversity we are proud of our reputation as a provider of fully accessible, trusted and flexible qualifications.

NOCN is part of NOCN Group, a progressive educational charity whose core aims are to help learners reach their potential and organisations thrive. The group includes business units specialising in regulated UK and international qualifications, end point assessment, Access to Higher Education, endorsed and assured short courses, Smart job cards, assessment services, consultancy, and research.

NOCN Group shares a joint purpose to offer learners, training providers, employers and FE colleges a fully integrated range of learning and skills development products and services. 

Overview of Qualifications

This suite of qualifications is vocationally based and as such offers the opportunity for learners to demonstrate an achievement of practical skills, understanding and knowledge in leadership of productivity and performance. Learners will be assessed on their ability to apply knowledge in relation to key concepts, theories and strategies in promoting productivity and performance through strategic leadership and management.

The UK Government has identified that the productivity of the UK workforce is key to stimulating and developing the British economy. In 2016 the Government announced the creation of a UK Productivity Council to encourage and support businesses to boost management skills and productivity. These qualifications have been designed by NOCN to support the achievement of these aims. We have worked with the Institute of Productivity to ensure that they are fit for purpose.

The qualifications will develop learners’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to the strategic leadership and management of performance and productivity improvement.

The qualifications are for:

Directors and Senior Managers who wish to develop their leadership and management knowledge and skills, particularly in relation to developing the productivity and performance of their organisation. They are also suitable for those aspiring to senior leadership positions 

Entry Requirements

These qualifications are available to learners aged 18 years or over.

There are no other formal entry requirements for learners undertaking these qualifications however they will need to have a good standard of literacy and numeracy equivalent to level 3 (A Level Grade A-C). In addition, it is recommended that learners are either working in a senior leadership role or seeking to progress in to such a role.

Learners must be in a position to demonstrate the requirements of the qualifications and have access to required assessment opportunities and relevant resources. Please refer to specific assessment requirements on individual components for more information.

Centres should undertake initial assessment activities with learners to ensure that the chosen qualification is appropriate and they are capable of achieving the level they will be studying before enrolling them onto a programme of learning.

Progression Routes

Achievement of these qualifications confirms the learner has gained the knowledge and skills required to:

• gain employment in senior leadership positions (with appropriate occupational experience)
• progress to Higher Education programmes such as MBAs

Qualification Details

Qualification Structures Certificate:

Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Leadership of Performance and Productivity is a 28 credit qualification with a Total Qualification Time (TQT) of 280, including 84 Guided Learning Hours (GLH). Learners must achieve 28 credits from the 3 mandatory components.

Diploma:

Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership of Performance and Productivity is a 38 credit qualification with a Total Qualification Time (TQT) of 380, including 114 Guided Learning Hours (GLH). Learners must achieve 28 credits from the 3 mandatory components and a minimum of 10 credits from the optional components.

Extended Diploma:

Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic Leadership of Performance and Productivity is a 66 credit qualification with a Total Qualification Time (TQT) of 660, including 198 Guided Learning Hours (GLH). 3 Learners must achieve 28 credits from the 3 mandatory components and a minimum of 38 credits from the optional components.

Component Information

The qualifications consist of 3 mandatory components and 12 optional components.

To achieve the qualifications a learner must successfully complete the assessment for each component in line with the qualification structure.

Assessment and Evidence

Assessments for these qualifications are externally set and internally assessed. Assessment activity must ensure evidence of achievement against all of the assessment criteria specified within each component.

Centres must ensure that knowledge based learning is at the correct level for the qualification, and relevant to the work or events likely to be encountered in the course of a Strategic Leader job role.

Assessment and Evidence for the Components Knowledge Criteria will be assessed by:

• Assignments
• Professional Discussion

Competence Criteria will be assessed by:

• Assignments
• Professional Discussion

Assignments are set by NOCN for each component of the qualifications. Centres are responsible for ensuring that the evidence presented by the learner is their own work. Where Centres choose to mark 9 learner assignments they will also be responsible for marking in accordance with NOCNs guidance for assessors.

In order to ensure the authenticity of learner work Centres are responsible for holding a professional discussion with each learner. The professional discussion should confirm work as authentic and individual to the learner. Centres may use electronic means to conduct the professional discussion, but, where this is the case, must be able to verify the identity of the learner. All professional discussions must be recorded for the purposes of internal and external quality assurance.

Professional discussion should focus on the learners’ assignment or a number of their assignments and should be used to ensure that they fully understand the content of the work they have submitted.

Assessment materials are only available to centres approved to deliver the qualifications. 

Assessment materials can be accessed within the Documents section on Quartzweb. Please refer to the NOCN Registration and Awards User Guide for further detail on how to access documents.