New flexible
qualifications and credit framework will widen access to learning
DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release issued by COI News
Distribution Service. 14 November 2008
Learners will be
more able to study in 'bite-sized chunks', 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:
"The Qualifications and Credit Framework means that, for the
first time, all learning counts. The new system will ensure that
no learning is ever lost, as qualifications will be flexible
enough to incorporate relevant modules of training gained at a
pace that suits the learner. In this way, we'll enable
people with family, work and other responsibilities to gain the
qualifications they need to get on life and develop their careers
in a way that makes maximum use of their talents."
This new modular approach to the way vocational qualifications
are awarded will make them more relevant to the needs of employers
and more flexible and accessible for learners, without
compromising quality. Following a two-year pilot, there are now
almost 1,000 qualifications on the framework and today's
announcement will pave the way for many more.
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 (GCSE
equivalent) and 3 (A level equivalent), 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 achievement
record -with the 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 change for employers is:
* a system in which vocational qualifications are developed and
approved based on employers' needs.
The Government offered unitised 'bite-sized chunks' of
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 in the same bite-sized way.
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 good GCSEs) 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.
Employers and awarding and training bodies welcomed the QCF.
Martin Doel, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges
(AoC), said:
"AoC welcomes the launch of the Qualifications and Credit
Framework. Colleges have a very important role in responding to
the needs of learners who wish to study units supporting a change
in employment, personal circumstances or gaining new skills. The
QCF is a critical enabler for a credit based system allowing
colleges to be even more flexible and responsive in meeting the
needs of learners, employers and communities in changing times."
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".
Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC), said:
"I am delighted by the announcement today that, after two
years of tests and trials the new qualifications and credit
framework is to be implemented. Against the backdrop of the
current economic climate we need now, more than ever an
employer-led flexible and responsive qualifications framework
where individuals can achieve in smaller steps and where that
achievement can lead to reengagement or to upskilling.
I am also delighted that responsibility for implementing the QCF
across the sector now transfers to the LSC, this offers us the
real opportunity to ensure that we can join up this reform with
other changes now taking place.
Isabel Nisbet, Acting Chief Executive, Ofqual said:
"Today's learners need a flexible system to record
their learning and build up towards a qualification. Today's
launch of the QCF is a welcome step in that direction. Ofqual will
make sure that the QCF operates in the best interest of learners
and that the quality and standards of qualifications within the
framework command the confidence of the public, employers, HE and,
most importantly, learners themselves."
Notes to editors:
1. The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is a simple and
rational organising structure for vocational qualifications and
the units that make them up. The QCF will support the award,
accumulation and transfer of credit achievement over time. It
will recognise a wide range of different vocational
qualifications, from entry level through to level 8.
2. The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) aims to:
* ensure that a wider range of learners' achievements can be
recognised within a more inclusive qualifications framework;
* establish a qualifications system that is more responsive to
individuals' and employers' needs;
* establish a simpler qualifications framework that is easier for
all users to understand; and
* reduce the burden of bureaucracy in the accreditation and
assessment of qualifications.
3. QCF has been tested and trialled over the two years from
summer 2006. As a result there are already nearly 1,000
qualifications available to learners on the prototype QCF. The
launch of the full QCF means that all qualifications will, in
time, be available to learners on the QCF, in a unitised and
credit-based way.
4. The Secretary of State has also agreed an interim threshold of
13 credits for Full Level 2 qualifications on the QCF, subject to
SSCs being able to vary this threshold.
5. This Press Notice relates to England only. In Wales, the aim
is that the QCF will replace the NQF 'pillar' of the
wider Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales, as it follows
the CQFW principles and supports the CQFW aims. The QCF is also
being implemented in Northern Ireland following the approval of
the Minister for Employment and Learning. The QCF will also align
and, where possible, articulate with the Scottish Credit and
Qualifications Framework (SCQF), the Framework for Higher
Education Qualifications and the developing European
Qualifications Framework (EQF).
6. The roll-out of the QCF is part of the Vocational
Qualification Reform Programme. Another part of this reform is a
programme to enable employers to have their own high-quality
training accredited - either by the employer becoming an awarding
organisation themselves (such as McDonald's, Network Rail and
Flybe) or by an employer working with an existing awarding
organisation to have their own in-house training recognised (such
as BT). For further details, see http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_15669.aspx.
All qualifications developed by these programmes will be
accredited onto the QCF.