CISCE Certificate Of Vocational Education CVE12 Guide
Updated November 2016
Both the CBSE and CISCE are now offering Grade XII vocational alternatives to the standard academic board examinations, these designed to prepare candidates for specific vocations.
With global competition, students who would historically have left school to enter industry at the age of 16 are being pushed to remain at school to 18. The consequence has been to push non-academic children into inappropriate courses of study.
The vocational counterparts to traditional board examinations are designed to redress this by providing students with the advanced level of vocational education required to move straight into employment at age 18.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) conducts three examinations, the third vocational:
1. The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE – Class X)
2. The Indian School Certificate (ISC – Class XII)
3. The Certificate of Vocational Education (CVE12)
The CBSE alternative to the CVE12 is provided by a dedicated vocation stream within its All India Senior School Certificate Examination AISSCE rather through a separate qualification.
The CVE12 requires students to have passed the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE – Class X) examination. Study is over a two-year period between the ages of 16 and 18. Private candidates are not permitted to enter for the examination.
Post-16 vocational education in the UAE is in its infancy and we would like to see its availability extended for those students seeking to enter industry at the age of 18, rather than pursuing higher undergraduate education.
Note: students who wish to follow a UK based alternative vocational qualification can study for the BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) Level 3 Extended Diploma.
BTEC qualifications can also be studied independently with A Levels or as part of The International Baccalaureate (IB) Career-related Programme (IB CP).
India
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations [CISCE], New Delhi
Studied over two years from age 16 and sat at age 18. The standard of the examination presupposes a school course of ten years’ duration (Classes I-X) and students passing the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE – Class X).
The CISCE conducts the final examinations for the CVE12 every year in the months of February/March. Results are announced by the end of May.
All students must sit two compulsory courses in English and the General Foundation in Industrial Sociology. In some subject blocks (Business, Air Conditioning, Office Assistant) a further course in “Entrepreneurship and Environmental Education” is also compulsory.
All students must complete an internally assessed program in “Useful Productive Work and Community Service” which includes a 50-hour project.
These must be combined with an elective choice of one block of four subjects from 12 alternatives:
Block 1 (COMPUTER THEORY & SYSTEM ANALYST): Computer Theory 2. Operating System & Application Software 3. Programming Languages 4. Principles of Electronics/Computer Mathematics
Block 2 (OFFSET PRINTING TECHNICIAN): 1. Printing Processes / Offset Printing. 2 Printing Materials / Paper and Ink 3. Film and Plate / Photo Reproduction 4. Binding / Finishing and Converting
BLOCK 3 (GRAPHIC DESIGNING TECHNICIAN): 1 Print Design 2. Computer Applications /Colour Processing & Desktop Publishing 3. Graphic Reproduction 4. Film Assembly & Plate Making/ Photo Reproduction
BLOCK 3 (CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN): 1. Construction Technology, Building Material & Practice 2. Geometrical & Building Drawing 3. Construction Estimating Costing, Management & Accounts 4. Engineering Science
BLOCK 4 (CRÈCHE & PRE-SCHOOL MANAGEMENT): 1. Principles of Education & Child Development 2. Nutrition, Health & Hygiene & First Aid 3. Child in the Family & Society 4. Organisation and Management of Child Crèche & Day Care Centres, Pre-School Play Way Methods & Activities
BLOCK 5 (HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT): 1 Hospitality Management 2. Front Office Management 3. House Keeping Service & Maintenance 4. Food & Beverages services
BLOCK 6 (EXTERIOR & INTERIOR DESIGN): 1. Drawing, Basic Design & Drafting 2. Colour Concept 3. Building Materials 4. Furnishing & Fittings
BLOCK 7 (MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN): 1. Machinist - Theory & Practice 2. Mechanical Technician’s Mathematics 3. Geometrical & Mechanical Drawing 4. Engineering Science(Mechanical)
BLOCK 8 (TELECOMMUNICATION & ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN): 1. Telecommunication Technology 2. Principles of Electricity and Electronics 3. Technician Mathematics, General Mathematics & Computer Mathematics 4. Engineering Science
BLOCK 9 (PHYSICAL EDUCATION): 1. Sociological Aspect of Physical Education 2. Methods of Physical Education & Recreation 3. Health education & First Aid 4. Physical Efficiency
BLOCK 10 (AIR CONDITIONING & REFRIGERATION TECHNICIAN): 1. Basic & Electrical Engineering 2. Refrigeration 3. Air Conditioning 4. Workshop Technology
BLOCK 11 (BUSINESS STUDIES): 1. Business Organisation, Business context & Operations Management 2. Human Resources Management 3. Marketing 4. Accounting & Finance in Business
BLOCK 12 (OFFICE ASSISTANT): 1. Office Practice and Communication Management 2. Typing & Keyboard Skills with Soft Ware Skills 3. Shorthand (English) 4. Basic Elements of Accounting & Statistical Techniques
Prospective parents are strongly advised to clarify which of these options are available at any give school. A school cannot enter candidates for subjects that they do not teach.
100% examination in all academic subjects.
In the compulsory core subject of English, students sit a single examination, externally examined by the CISCE at the end of Year XII. The examination is based on learning across the entire preceding two years of study.
In both the chosen elective block, the core subject of General Foundation in Industrial Sociology (and Entrepreneurship and Environmental Education where applicable), there are two examinations, one at the end of Year XI and one at the end of Year XII. The Year XI examinations are examined internally by the school and decide whether a student can continue study in Year XII.
The Year XII examinations are examined externally by the CISCE.
In the Year XI examinations, students must achieve at least 40% marks in a minimum of five subjects which must include English, and a minimum attendance of 75%.
The final result of the CISCE Certificate of Vocational Education (CVE 12) is based entirely on external examinations at the end of Class XII and on students passing “Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service,” this evaluated internally by the School.
“Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service” is the only subject in which coursework and practical activity is graded and for which there is no examination.
Rote based learning is significant given the sole reliance on examinations to evaluate student attainment, but the examinations and education within the classroom are both significantly weighted to the practical and vocational application of knowledge.
The pass mark for each paper is 40%.
To pass, students must achieve 40% in a minimum of five or more subjects which must include English, and have attained a pass grade in “Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service.”
All examinations must be passed in a single sitting.
The General consensus is that the CISCE Certificate of Vocational Education (CVE 12) is significantly harder than its All India Senior School Certificate Examination (AISSCE) CBSE vocationally streamed counterpart. The CISCE has deliberately structure the CVE 12 to be challenging in order both to equip students with all the necessary skills to directly enter their chosen profession - and also to ensure that the qualification gains rapid credibility with, and recognition by, employers.
As a relatively new qualification, materials written directly for the CVE12, outside those provided by the CISCE, are not yet widely available.
Grade boundaries differ from the scoring of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education [ICSE] although grades remain within the numerical range between 1 and 9, 1 being the highest and 9 the lowest.
A “Very Good” grade is indicated by grades 1 and 2.
Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 indicate a “Pass with Credit.”
Grades 7 and 8 indicate a “Pass.”
Grade 9 is classified as a “Failure.”
The standard reached in Community Service [“Socially Productive Work”] is graded A, B, C, D or E (Grade A being the highest and E the lowest.) Grades A, B, C or D indicate a “Pass” and E a “Failure.”
ICSE schools tend to be more expensive than their CBSE counterparts because of both the broader subject offer demanded by the syllabus and its perceived relative prestige. The differential reduces in ICSE schools offering limited subject choices and streams – parents should ascertain from schools their breadth of subject provision in order to determine whether any given ISCE school will meet the needs of their child(ren). It is likely that the broadest range CVE12 options will come on stream in the Emirates within the most expensive CISCE schools given the required investment in new faculty, facilities and materials.
A transfer to the alternative CBSE syllabus, even where there is parity of vocational subject provision, is likely to prove complex and not recommended.
Transfer between other ICSE schools is theoretically much simpler where courses are consistent, but given the significantly greater individual latitude ICSE schools have in their methodology and range of subject provision it is not recommended.
Primary value lies in its qualifying status for students to directly enter industry at age 18 without needing to continue to undergraduate of other higher educational study.
Given that both CBSE and CICSE vocational qualifications are in their relative infancy, it is likely that both qualifications will hold similar weight with employers for direct entry into business in India. One benefit of vocational education is its transparency with employers who can quickly assess any student's ability for a particular role.
The CVE12 is not designed for pre-qualifying a student to enter undergraduate study.
Students seeking direct entry into industry at age 18 in a profession related to, or identical with, one of the core block subjects provided under the CVE12.
Low in terms of brand recognition of the qualification, particularly compared with the long-standing UK BTEC.
However, vocational qualifications are directly related to industry roles and professions. On this basis employers may well be more interested in the skills a student can offer than the awarding body.
High.
The increasing importance of vocational education is in no small part driven by the demands of employers for students educated, and practically experienced, in non-academic areas relevant to industry. Employers are seeking students "who can hit the ground running."
Not relevant - vocational courses are designed for fast-tracking students to employment in industry at age 18.
• Designed to fast-track students to direct employment in industry at age 18 without the need (or expense) of university
• Provides students with practical skills to “hit the ground running” in the job market
• The best schools build close links with local relevant industries to help students transition quickly into employment, with employers already knowledgeable about their personal abilities and relationships between students and employer already in place
• A not-before-time solution for students currently being driven into, for them, irrelevant academic further education
• Not yet widely available in the UAE - or at all?
• Costs of implementing an effective vocational CVE12 curriculum are high, particularly for a school able to offer all 12 current career-related subject blocks
• The value of the qualification is relatively untested (although the skills, given their practical transparency, should speak for themselves)
Leave a Response