National Occupational Standards
What are National Occupational Standards (NOS)?
National Occupational Standards (NOS) are a written document that defines the level of competence needed for a particular job role or occupation. They cover the key activities undertaken within the occupation in question and under all the circumstances the job holder is likely to encounter.
NOS for the security sector are written by Skills for Security, the skills and standards setting body for the sector, but the content is provided by expert practitioners. At each stage of compilation they are circulated across the industry for comment and approval and the final draft has to be approved by companies around the UK before they can be formally adopted.
NOS are reviewed every 3 years to ensure that they remain fit for purpose.
But what are the benefits of NOS?
Skills bodies and awarding bodies use the standards primarily to design training programmes and qualifications, but NOS are developed specifically to aid the development of a skilled workforce and therefore can be a useful tool for large or small businesses. The NOS can help employers to identify skills gaps, use as a benchmark for individual staff appraisals or compile job descriptions, to name just a few of their 115 uses, in order to measure the skills, knowledge and understanding of their staff and help judge the competitiveness of their operation.
NOS are available for free
NOS are freely available to download from http://www.ukstandards.org.uk/ for you to view and use in a variety of ways to benefit your company.
Interested in becoming involved?
If you are interested in helping Skills for Security develop NOS for your sub-sector or would like more information please contact the Standards Development Team on 08450 750111 or e-mail nos@skillsforsecurity.org.uk