Plain English Please?

[Cut Fire Service Pay]

I have been having a few problems understanding things lately. At first i thought it was just me but I dont think im alone. I would be grateful if someone could explain what on earth the following are they were all taken from a memo sent to the station on the subject of recruitment:

Behaviourly Anchored Rating Scales

Fire Safety Advocate

The Third Sector

Elderly Providers

Personnel Qualities and Attributes Index and Framework

Comunicating Both Ways

We struggled for hours yesterday at work to find out what any of it meant but to no avail. I trust they are from the OPDM comunities framework department.

[rips]

BARS -
If you want to move to a new role, it would be unreasonable to expect you to know everything about that new job in advance. Instead, your personal qualities and attributes (or PQAs) are measured at an Assessment Development Centre (ADC) to see if you have the potential to carry out the new role. These PQAs cover things like your commitment to diversity and integrity, your ability to work with others and to communicate effectively.
To measure these, a 1 to 4 scale is used. So for example – if your communication skills were being measured, you would get a score of 4 if you always communicate verbal and written messages clearly, concisely and in a structured fashion emphasising critical information.
But if your communication is delivered in an unclear, unstructured and over-complex way and you don’t deliver the essential points of the message, you will only get a score of 1. These scores will help you and your managers to plan your future development needs.
Because these 1 to 4 scales measure your behaviour they are called Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) and the whole set of BARS can be found on www.ipds.co.uk.

Fire Safety Advocates - These are personnel employed to work within the communities to allow the fire service to spread the fire safety message

PQA Framework - see www.fireservice.co.uk for the index and framework document or www.ipds.co.uk

An Assessment Development Centre is a way of testing your potential. It will help you and your managers identify your strengths and weaknesses in relation to other roles you may want to perform.
If you want to move to a new role, it would be unreasonable to expect you to know everything about that new job in advance. Instead, your personal qualities and attributes (or PQAs) can be measured to see if you have the potential to carry out the new role. These PQAs cover your ability to work with others, to act appropriately in conflict situations, to be part of a team and to communicate effectively. Because they measure your behaviour, they are also known as Behavioural Indicators.



Sorry cant help on the others

[Cut Fire Service Pay]

Thanks for the reply.

However these im still none the wiser. I've read all of this stuff before and it is just not plain english. How can the fire service attract practical and inteligent people if they are confronted with this stuff?

After around two years of rank to role im still unsure as to who does what and whos who. Far from modenising the sevice we are making it so unattractive that firends of mine that had been tring to get into the fire service have given up and gone else where.

PQAs only seem to 'measure' stuff you did in the past not your potential for the future and if most people are writing what the ADC & recruitment are wanting to hear then thats hardly a 'true measure of potential'.

One of my work mates applied for a CM job in another brigade and was told that he was a racist as per PQA.... whatever. Hes married to a woman of mixed race and was gutted when he got the letter!

[Cut Fire Service Pay]

How do I get a job as an ADC assessor? This would apear to be money for old Rope! (or is that lines)