Trainers slam CPC exam
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• Lecturers wining candidates for the Certificate of Professional Competence are to form a body to campaign for fairer questions from the society which sets and marks the exam.
The lecturers claim that the Royal Society of Arts sets too many ambiguous and irrelevant questions, causing students to fail unnecessarily. Now the lecturers are to meet the RSA immediately after exams to give their response to each exam paper before it is marked. The first of these meetings is due to be held in June, possibly in the Midlands.
Following a conference hosted by independent training company Friendberry, the lecturers allege that up to a third of the multiple-choice questions either have two possible answers, are confusing or are not covered by the syllabus. One example of this, they say, was in the December international freight paper which asked what the Hague-Visby agreement was. In fact, it covers shipping and has nothing to do with road transport. The RSA picks questions from a pool compiled by an anonymous body of experts.
Lecturers and consultants, from 18 colleges and one other private school have slammed the RSA for not attending the conference, despite repeated invitations.
In the RSA's absence, delegates' anger was directed at a Department of Transport civil servant, who was at the conference to update them on road transport legislation changes.
The Dip is responsible for setting minimum standards of entry to the haulage industry, but farms out CPC administration to the independent RSA. The department and the RSA are aware of mistakes in the setting of questions, says Alex Steele of the DIp's freight office. One of the most common lecturers' complaints is that even when the RSA admits it has slipped up, it is usually too late to alter the results.
The lecturers' group, which is expected to adopt the name Association of CPC Training Establishments, would provide the feedback to the RSA, which so far has been lacking, says Friendberry's Peter Maynard. "If a critique can be discussed between 20 of us it will have much more clout than if it just came from Friendberry or another college," he says. "We want to keep up pressure on the RSA."
All hauliers must have the CPC before they can apply for an Operator's Licence. The CPC has five modules including a core, which all students must pass, plus national freight and PSV papers, one of which they must also pass. For an overseas licence, students must pass either a PSV or freight international module.
▪ The CPC syllabus is to be expanded to incorporate management and marketing techniques, in line with a decision by the European Commission.