‘Unitised’ learning is like building a wall – collecting a set of bricks and placing them together correctly to create a wall that is the right size for the job. Units are the ‘bricks’ in a qualification, individual components that cover specific topics relevant to leaders and managers at different levels and in different roles.
Each unit is self-contained (although units tend to overlap a little, because the same ideas and practices crop up in different areas) and they are different sizes – in general the higher the level, the larger the unit – because topics at a higher level cover more ground and expect greater understanding, knowledge and skills.
Units come in two types, mandatory and optional:
- Mandatory units must be completed in a qualification. For example, unit M3.01 ‘Solving problems and making decisions’ is the mandatory unit in the ILM Level 3 Award in First Line Management. For the ILM Level 3 Certificate in First Line Management, the same unit must be completed plus M3.02 ‘Understanding change in the workplace’, M3.03 ‘Planning change in the workplace’ and M3.04 ‘Achieving objectives through time management’
- Optional units are a wide range of general units (eg communication skills) and specialist units (eg operations research) that can be selected by individuals or organisations to build qualifications that meet their specific development needs. It’s even possible to include mandatory units from a larger qualification as optional units for a smaller qualification
There are two aspects of units that are important to understand, their level and their credit value:
- Level denotes how complex and demanding the units are in terms of knowledge and skills. (The table below shows how the levels compare to other types of qualification.)
- Credit value shows how big the unit is, in terms of the amount of time you will need to put in to it. This isn’t just the time spent with a tutor/trainer in formal learning, but also time spent in background reading and research, in exploring how things are done in the workplace, and in undertaking assessment. Each credit reflects about 10 hours of this activity, therefore a 3 credit unit will require between 25 and 35 hours learning in total. (Please note – this will vary from person to person, and is just an average.)
| ILM units and qualifications at this level: |
Are roughly equivalent to these qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: (Levels and qualifications in Scotland are different) |
|
7
|
Post-graduate certificates, diplomas and Masters degrees |
|
6
|
The third year of an under-graduate degree (QAA level 3) |
|
5
|
The second year of an under-graduate degree (QAA level 2), a foundation degree, Higher National Diploma (HND) or diploma of Higher Education |
|
4
|
The first year of an under-graduate degree (QAA level 1) or certificate of Higher Education |
|
3
|
NVQ 3, Advanced level GCE or BTEC National Diploma |
|
2
|
NVQ 2, GCSE grades A-C or BTEC First Diploma |