Water Treatment Qualification Pathways

The purpose of Pathways

Pathways set out for users of the Water Treatment Qualifications the key characteristics of each qualification. They ensure that a particular combination of credits leading to a qualification is meaningful and coherent to the learner, and relevant to the role of the learner in terms of employment, progression, career or personal development.

In addition to this purpose for an individual qualification, Pathways also set out the arrangements through which credits can move around between the Water Treatment Qualifications. They provide a series of connections between levels and qualifications that enable the overall system to be flexible and responsive to the needs of individual learners and employers.

The Qualification Framework is designed to encourage personal development, promote improvement of skills and competence in the Water Treatment market and allow progression to higher skilled and broader job roles.

 What is a Pathway?

Pathways and Rules of Combination set out the requirements for achievement of a qualification. Every qualification is based on a set of these rules, which map out for a learner the particular combination of credits that they will need to achieve in order to be awarded the qualification.

Rules of Combination also provide a structure within which the accumulation and transfer of credits between qualifications can take place. The different kinds of qualification offer different kinds of opportunities for learners to transfer credits, and these opportunities are made explicit through the rules of combination.

 The format for Pathways

All Pathways within the Water Treatment Qualifications are based on a common format and are linked to specific types of job role. This format not only makes the rules easier to understand, it also makes the connections between different qualifications more apparent.  All the Pathways set out the requirements for achievement of a qualification under one or either of the following headings: 

• Credits from mandatory units 

• Credits from optional units 

A mandatory unit is one that must be completed if the qualification is to be achieved. Some of the Water Treatment Qualifications require all credits to be achieved through mandatory units others through a combination of mandatory and optional. There is no requirement to complete all the optional units in every qualification, only sufficient to achieve the number of credits required. However, additional optional units can be completed and these will be identified on the Qualification certificate.

 Credits from mandatory units

There are four mandatory units that are required to be completed for all the Pathways. Once completed the units do not have to be repeated if a further Qualification is taken at a future date. 

 Credits from optional units

All Pathways in the Water Treatment Qualifications identify either mandatory or optional units, or a combination of both. Optional units set out a list of units from which learners may choose particular combinations to complete the requirements of the qualification. Optional units are set out in groups, with rules that require learners to achieve a certain number of credits from a group. Completed units do not need to be repeated if they appear in another Pathway for a further qualification taken in the future.