Regulating health and care V Levels at subject level

Ofqual has a statutory duty to have regard to the desirability of facilitating innovation in relation to regulated qualifications.   

The priority given to consistency and comparability for V Levels means that the proposals may place some constraints on innovation by requiring compliance with Department for Education (DfE) set subject content, common assessment objectives, specifying the same proportion of assessment methods across awarding organisations and terminal assessment requirements. These requirements may limit the extent to which awarding organisations can adopt markedly different approaches to qualification and assessment design within a subject, but this is line with Ofqual’s policy intention to ensure consistency and comparability. 

However, awarding organisations will have some flexibility in qualification design, coverage of the subject content and design of assessment instruments as these are not prescribed within the regulatory framework. We therefore consider that the proposals strike an appropriate balance between supporting innovation and securing consistency, comparability and standards.