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Following two years of tests and trials by QCA, the new QCF has been approved by the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills for implementation.

Learners will be able to study credit-based units of learning, building up a portfolio of accredited training which suits their individual needs under a new system approved today by Further Education Minister Sion Simon.

The new Qualifications and Credit Framework will enable people to gain qualifications at their own pace, from a number of sources, in a way that suits them - and to carry the modules with them if, for example, they change jobs. Employers will find it easier to find or develop employees with the skills they need for business success. By 2010 all key vocational qualifications will be approved by Sector Skills Councils and readily available to learners in small, credit-based units of learning.

Further Education Minister Sion Simon said:

This week, Network Rail has placed a new qualification in track engineering, which they developed by working with Qualification and Curriculum Authority and the Sector Skills Council GoSkills, on the QCF. This will enable Network Rail staff to achieve formal, transferable recognition for skills development at levels 2 and 3, while helping the company develop a world-class workforce that meets its specific skills needs.

By ensuring that units of learning are recorded on an individual learner record, the QCF will also ensure that a wider range of learners' achievements is recognised, which is simple for all learners and employers to understand. The new framework will reduce bureaucracy in accrediting and assessing qualifications.

 The reforms will give learners:

• greater choice in the units of study they can take;
• flexibility on how they study and when they complete each unit;
• recognition of their achievements in the learner record -with the eventual potential to remove the need for individual learners to have to give employers, providers or awarding bodies paper records of all their previous achievements.

The key changes for employers is:

• a system in which vocational qualifications are developed and approved based on employers' needs
• the oppurtunity to have their in-house training nationally recognised

The Government offered unitised learning in a recent package of support to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) get the training that they need most to stay competitive - and wants to allow people taking whole qualifications to be able to do so on the same unitised basis. The new system will also be compatible with qualifications frameworks across Europe, ensuring people who work elsewhere in the EU will be able to build a portfolio of qualifications.

Ministers have also agreed that level 2 qualifications (equivalent to five GCSEs at grades A*-C) on the Qualifications and Credit Framework should for now be made up of at least 13 credits - where SSCs agree this meets their sector's skill demands - to be considered as "full". A qualification that is "full" is eligible for state funding. Credits are the building blocks of qualifications on the QCF. 13 credits represents a certificate-level qualification.

QCF welcomed by QCA and Ofqual

Employers and awarding and training organisations have welcomed the announcement that the QCF is to be implemented.

The QCF has been tested and trialled over the last two years and we already have over 20,000 learners who have achieved qualifications through the new system.

Since September 2008 and Ofqual's publication of regulatory arrangements for the QCF, QCA has been working with the awarding community to continue the process of bringing all vocational qualifications (VQs) into the new regulatory framework - with more learners taking units and qualifications that have been created and accredited for the QCF. By 2010 we anticipate that all vocational qualifications will need to be accredited in the QCF and at that point the QCF will have completely replaced the National Qualifications Framework.

Initially the focus will be on VQs but it is expected that by 2013 all general qualifications including GCSEs, Diplomas and A levels will be part of the framework. (Although the DCSF have yet to formally commit publicly).

The Department for Innovation Universities and Skills has agreed that QCA, Ofqual and the LSC are responsible for implementing the QCF.  

• Responsibilities for the QCA include capacity building, business change and communications – to the sector (practioners, SSCs, AOs) and employers and learners.
• Responsibilities for Ofqual include insuring the framework is regulated and that awarding organisations are supported through submitting and accrediting qualifications and units into the QCF.
• Responsibilities for the LSC include implementing the “service layer” – working with the sector to ensure the capture of achievements and sharing of data is managed across partners effectively. It is the responsibility of the LSC to develop and implement the learner record.

Ken Boston, Chief Executive of the QCA said:

"The implementation of the QCF is a significant step in reforming the qualifications landscape for 21st century learners and employers. The QCF will recognise achievements, support progress to more learning and employment, and stimulate the higher levels of achievement required by the global economy. The QCF is fundamental for the delivery of reform in both 14-19 qualifications and skills qualifications for adults. QCA welcomes today's announcement which is the culmination of nearly four years' work and has the support of the awarding body and provider communities, as well as thousands of learners".

Isabel Nisbet, Acting Chief Executive, Ofqual said:

Martin Doel, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said:

 Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), said:

 To view the DIUS press release please visit their website, accessible from the right hand side of this page.

For more information, guidance and support materials webpage available from this page.

Awareness-raising events

QCA has announced a series of five general awareness-raising events in October and November 2008 at QCA. These events are designed to give attendees who are new to the QCF a general introduction to the framework.

 The following topics will be covered in each of the events:

• An introduction to the QCF (background and context)
• The new Regulatory Arrangements for the QCF
• An introduction to IT systems; Web-based Accreditation
• An introduction to writing units.

To register for these events, please go to our events registration page.

QCF business case

At the end of June QCA, DCELLS and CCEA submitted a series of reports to Ministers and the UK Vocational Qualifications Reform Programme Board (UKVQRP) that both evaluated the evidence from the trialling and development work, and also explored options for the implementation of the new framework across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The documentation was well received by Ministers, and QCA was then asked by DIUS to carry out further work to develop a full and specific business case, including a detailed delivery model for QCF, by the end of September 2008.

DIUS also asked the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to contribute to the process, specifically in the areas of the systems and technological infrastructure that will be needed to support the QCF on a permanent basis, including systems for recording and displaying learner achievement data and supporting credit accumulation and transfer.

This buiness case has now been approved by the Minister for Further Education Siôn Simon.

Regulations

The qualifications regulators, Ofqual, DCELLS and CCEA, will publish the regulatory arrangements for the QCF in late August. These will set out the regulations that will apply to organisations that operate within, and the qualifications that are accredited into, the QCF. They provide the basis for adding to the 600+ qualifications already in the framework. This includes units and qualifications developed by employers who are recognised as awarding organisations.

As the QCF regulatory arrangements require awarding organisations to operate differently in some areas from they way in which they have been recognised to do in the NQF, the regulators will need to carry out a supplementary recognition exercise. In other words, they will not ask awarding organisations to demonstrate systems and procedures again for which evidence has already been provided, but will ask them to demonstrate their procedures in new areas, such as determining credit values. This will be open to all awarding organisations and so provide the opportunity for new organisations to come into the QCF. Those recognised during the tests and trials can continue to submit units and qualifications, in line with an agreed timetable for return of the required new documentation.

IT infrastructure

QCA is currently reviewing and upgrading the IT infrastructure that was developed and used during the QCF tests and trials phase. This will underpin the accreditation of new units and qualifications, and support new and existing QCF learners to engage with those units and qualifications. These upgrades will begin to be in place during the autumn and will enable QCF to continue to develop until such time as permanent systems go live.

Whilst this upgrade work is ongoing, mechanisms for accreditation will be unaffected, but the upgrade process necessitates temporarily disabling learner achievement recording and access until completion in the Autumn. During this period, learning providers can continue to register learners via awarding organisation routes. QCA will keep everyone updated as the work progresses via traditional communication routes including the QCA website and the monthly electronic newsletter.

Background to reform

In November 2005, ministers agreed the establishment of a Programme Board to oversee vocational qualifications reform by bringing together key strands of work across the UK.
Framework development forms a key strand within the Vocational Qualification Reform Programme. The overall aim of this strand is to develop a jointly regulated credit and qualifications framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The three regulators (QCA, DCELLS, CCEA) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland agreed to test and trial the mechanisms and processes needed to revise the current National Qualifications Framework and provide advice and recommendations to ministers with a view to establishing and enabling a regulated credit and qualifications framework.

The tests and trials

A carefully controlled two-year test and trial period of the QCF began in September 2006 with a second phase starting in March 2007. The regulatory authorities invited organisations to submit proposals for projects to be part of the tests and trials. A working specification and prospectus was published to help organisations submitting proposals understand the process (a different prospectus was used for phase 2). Fifty projects were involved across both phases, a summary of each of the projects by phase can be downloaded from this page. The summaries provide a general overview of each project including the name of the lead organisation, country coverage and levels of provision.

Experiences of test and trial participants

Some of the organisations involved in the tests and trials have summarised their experiences in presentations given at various QCF events. These presentations are available to download from this page. The presentations include key messages covering experiences with unit and qualification development, collaborative working, lesson learned and benefits for end-users, including employers.

The objectives of the framework tests and trials are:

• to develop and test an operational model of the framework with stakeholders
• to evaluate whether a unit-based system underpinned by credit can support a range of qualifications and learning programmes across sectors, learning and training contexts and awarding bodies
• to evaluate whether a fully functioning credit system can support and improve learner progression and achievement
• to evaluate whether potential benefits (including flexibility, inclusiveness, simplicity and reduced bureaucracy) can be delivered through the framework
• to evaluate through the trials in England whether the development of the framework can contribute to the LSC's strategic priorities and targets for publicly funded qualifications eg contributing to adult Public Service Agreement targets such as offender learning provision and level 2 provision.