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Post by Tone on May 31, 2008 20:25:20 GMT
I think that the taxi-driver thing may have been distorted out of context. (And, it seems that the same wording, of the article itself, appears in every newspaper that I've seen.) Surely the point, so far as I have been able to ascertain (and I might have misinterpreted), is that the council cab licensing apparently decided that all (new) drivers should acquire a BTEC (in cab driving?) to get a licence. Probably a good thing. Then they've given the aspirants an English test to see whether they are likely to cope with the BTEC or if they will need help to do so. And anyways, so they should (write good English)! Tone
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Post by Barry on May 31, 2008 23:14:01 GMT
I didn't have much to do with BTECs when I worked in education and training, but I'd guess there would be some hurdles in them vis a vis written work (e.g. marks deducted for incorrect spelling); it may be all about this.
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 31, 2008 23:19:03 GMT
Which is why they should not be used for things like taxi driving!
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Post by Barry on May 31, 2008 23:20:40 GMT
Oh, absolutely (see conversation 300 years ago about validity!)
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 31, 2008 23:28:46 GMT
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Post by Pete on Jun 1, 2008 10:24:56 GMT
Did anyone try the test question in the article? Where the question reports the shouts of the crowd, there should be a comma in 'Come on, Jim.'" It isn't in the text and it isn't in the question, either.
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Post by Pete on Jun 1, 2008 10:30:08 GMT
It's a form of bureaucracy gone mad. My wife was a fashion buyer / merchandiser for a high street chain and she, like many of her contemporaries, got there without any specific qualifications for the role, just years of experience. By the time she left, you couldn't get an interview for a job without a degree in design. What was even more stupid was the HR departments were following these 'rules' slavishly, so that when senior roles came up, HR people were ditching the CVs of applicants without the appropriate degrees, even if they had been doing the job for 20 years and were clearly amongst the best possible candidates for the vacancy!
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Post by Sue M-V on Jun 1, 2008 10:47:46 GMT
There should be (and could be) some way to assess people currently doing the job to see if they are OK at it. If they are, leave them alone. In Sweden it's called "validation" and goes on all the time! It applies also to people educated abroad, as a way of assessing their various degrees, but is mostly used for e.g. a plumber who has been plumbing since s/he left school at sixteen but has no formal qualifications. Certain companies make demands, however, and for example insist that all their employees should have acquired a school leaving certificate (sort-of-thing). In order to get this, though, they can do a sort of test to demonstrate their skills, but this is not standardised and can take any form, so long as the candidate demonstrates the required knowledge. Sue
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 1, 2008 12:12:46 GMT
The Swedes sound very sensible, Sue.
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Post by Sue M-V on Jun 1, 2008 13:20:10 GMT
The Swedes sound very sensible, Sue. Ah, yes ... that may explain a great deal! Sue
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Post by Tone on Jun 1, 2008 20:19:30 GMT
From reading the BTEC thingy that Paul linked (There's a spec at ...) I'm intrigued by the requirement to "Use numeracy, ...". Just what does "using" it mean? Does that mean Tone couldn't be a cab driver 'cos of discalculia?
Tone
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 1, 2008 21:27:50 GMT
Ability to give change.
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Post by Barry on Jun 2, 2008 9:38:52 GMT
AS Paul says, 'numeracy in practice' includes all those skills which give you a 'feel' for number/quantity. In effect, they're the ones most people use every day when doing the shopping, measuring a space for a wardrobe, understanding home finances (e.g. interest rates, mortgage repayments, ect.).
In the case of taxi drivers, as Paull says, it's an ability to give correct change, an understanding of price/distance ratios (so they can answer a question along the lines of 'roughly, how much will it cost for you to take me to Camden Town?', or know when they're meter's playing up [hah!]).
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Post by Dave M on Jun 2, 2008 10:17:11 GMT
> they're <
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Post by Barry on Jun 2, 2008 10:20:56 GMT
er ...
that would be short for they are.
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