Quality Professional Competency and the Nuclear Appendix to the Body of Quality Knowledge (BoQK)

The event at the Birchwood Centre in Warrington in June was very successful with over 30 members involved. NucSIG members travelled from as far afield as Bristol and Dounreay.

The morning comprised excellent presentations from Ian Mitchell of BAE Systems, Jo Tipa of the National Skills Academy Nuclear and Teresa Folkes and Vince Desmond of CQI. 

Iain McNair, a steering group member, led a workshop in five groups in the afternoon developing the nuclear topic list to supplement the BoQK.

In Ian Mitchell’s presentation he alluded to the BoQK as 'vanilla' ie likening the BoQK to a universal generic flavour of ice cream which is not sector or 'taste' specific. So the afternoon was spent developing the recipe for the nuclear 'topping' to complement the vanilla. 

Output from the group work - one group challenged the need for a sector specific addition to the BoQK but for the meantime the prevailing view in the NucSIG is that it is appropriate, so the development of the 'Nuclear Appendix' to the BoQK is a key deliverable for NucSIG. NucSIG is not seeking to undermine the BoQK only to supplement it. 

NucSIG is planning that the Nuclear Appendix will become the backbone of a training programme which would be valuable to newcomers to the nuclear sector and a means of assessing established nuclear quality practitioners pursuing an experiential upgrade to membership in the CQI.

Presentations

Below you can find a copy of the presentations given at the event:

1. Ian Mitchell: BAE Systems competency model, Q professional vocational training and experiential development.
2. Teresa Folkes: Quality Professional Competency and CPD.
3. Vince Desmond: Proposal for new CQI qualifications.
4. Jo Tipa: National Skills Academy Nuclear.