Does anyone really believe that the PQA's themselves are flawed?
Can anyone honestly say that there is a single element in any of the PQA's
http://www.ipds.co.uk/public/site/newsdocs29/Firefighter%20PQAs.pdf that they disagree with, and would not want someone that they were employing as a Firefighter to possess?
I think the PQA's themselves are an excellent benchmark against which to judge both people applying to join the service and being promoted within it.
I think the problems start when people are unaware of what they are being judged against. I do believe that guidance should be published showing people exactly what each element of the PQA's means. Once everybody is sure of exactly what is expected of them, I think that most of the problems mentioned here would have been addressed.
With the scenario based questions, I agree that people can respond using answers that they think the assessors want to see, but even if this is the case, it shows that they are aware of how they should be acting, and surely that is what development is all about.
As an example: I take the assessment, answering the questions purely on what I would do in each situation, I fail, receive feedback on where I need development, I go away address that development, take the test again and hopefully pass.
Secondly, I think that the evidence that people provide should be investigated in every case to see if it is indeed true and accurate. This would hopefully address the problem of people potentially lying on their application forms and in interviews. (It is done if you provide a reference for a job or want to take out a mobile phone contract etc).
On the subject of 'If I was suitable to be employed as a firefighter 30 years ago then I must be suitable now', then I would have to say that this may well not be the case.
The Fire Service has changed dramatically over the past few years and I believe that so have the qualities that we need of our Firefighters. When I joined it was the case that you had to be able to read and write but everything else was physical (fitness, strength, determination etc). And I spent many happy years fighting fires in city centre stations loving every minute of it.
But now, and this is where my original question comes in regarding key skills, the Firefighter is expected to have qualities that were not previously required.
The whole modernisation agenda seems to have passed a number of people by.
The Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004 places Fire Safety above Fire-fighting, Road Traffic Collisions and Other Emergencies.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/20040021.htmThe National Framework Document makes it abundently clear that 'Fire Prevention' is our primary concern.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/144884It runs very much in line with Risk Assessment:
Ensure that fires don't occur in the first place; (same for RTC's etc) (PREVENT)
If they do occur then ensure that the consequences are minimised; (PROTECT) and finally
Fight the fire (RESPOND)
We should now be looking at each fire as a failure somewhere in the system, and trying to address that failure (which in fairness most of us are). The Hong Kong Fire Service were doing this many years ago and most of us probably sniggered at their approach (As we did with the Swedish Fire Service approach to gas cooling prior to Blaina)
The key skills/basic skills come into play here:
Communication - (mirrored by the PQA Effective Communication) for going out into the communities that we serve and educating them in fire safety. Talking to other stakeholders in the partnerships that we are involved in etc.
Application of Number - we are now required to work with data and statistics to identify where our problems are, where do the fires occur, who is most at risk, at what times do they occur etc
Information Technology - virtually all of the work that we do in this area depends on some form of IT application
And you may say that this is all the work of watch officers and that's what they get paid for, not anymore, it's everyones job now.
The other 3 (wider) key skills are:
Working with others (mirrored by Working with Others PQA) which we are usually very good at.
Improving Own Learning and Performance (mirrored by Commitment to Develpment in the PQA's) relates to my earlier point about looking at where you need development and addressing it.
Problem Solving (again mirrored in the PQA's by Problem Solving)
The Government is trying to raise the standards, especially in the first three of these key skills, amongst the workforce of the UK so that we can compete with other countries in Europe and the rest of the world. If you go onto the Key Skills websites you will see numerous examples of different organisations who are rising to this challenge (for example NHS staff including cleaners etc). I believe that we will also have to meet this challenge if we are to be held in the high regard that we currently are.
Reading some of the postings on this site (Check out 'London' on the 'General Interest' section of this site under 'RFU fail to take their seat') I think that we do have members within the service today who come nowhere near meeting the PQA's.
I also agree that we do still need firefighters that are highly trained, fit and motivated to carry out the operational side of the role, and I believe that someone who meets the PQA's and has the physical capabilites would be ideal for that role
NOT ASKING FOR MUCH ARE WE?
