Regulating post-16 VTQs at L2 and L3

Qualification purpose

The purpose of a qualification sets out what it is for and informs design decisions taken by awarding organisations. Purposes can relate to:

• how the information provided by a qualification result will be used
• what knowledge, understanding and skills a student will gain by taking the qualification
• the role of the qualification in engaging students on their programme of study

Qualifications are usually designed to do each of these things to differing degrees. Well-designed qualifications should have clear purposes that they are designed to meet. One way of ensuring comparable approaches between awarding organisations is for Ofqual to specify general purposes and their relative priority, to help awarding organisations balance any trade-offs needed when designing qualifications. We propose to take this approach for V Levels.

Proposal

A key role for V Levels will be their use to support progression to higher study, higher technical training or apprenticeships. As such, results are likely to play an important role in selection decisions by higher education institutions and employers, meaning the information they provide will be of particular importance. It will also be important for the qualifications to provide students with the skills to progress, and to provide an engaging course of study for students. In line with this, we propose the following purposes for V Levels, prioritised as follows:

1. To provide accurate and consistent information concerning Learners’ attainment in relation to the knowledge, understanding and skills assessed as part of the qualification.
2. To provide information about attainment that can be used in decisions about the selection of Learners for higher study, higher technical training or apprenticeships.
3. To provide Learners with the ability to apply knowledge, understanding and skills to practical work-related activities.
4. To provide Learners with nationally agreed knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to a broad vocational area, in order to prepare them for higher study in a relevant subject area.
5. To provide Learners with nationally agreed knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to a broad vocational area, in order to prepare them for higher technical training and apprenticeships in a relevant subject area.
6. To motivate Learners to complete the qualification and to progress to higher study, higher technical training or apprenticeships.
7. To provide a basis for schools and colleges to be held accountable for the performance of their Learners.

These purposes must all be met to the greatest extent possible. Where trade-offs are required, the purposes should be prioritised in the order they are set out, with A being the highest priority. Awarding organisations should develop their own qualification-specific purposes for their individual qualifications, based on these general purposes.

As it is proposed to introduce requirements setting out the purpose of these qualifications, we propose to disapply General Conditions E1.1 and E1.2 which require qualifications to have an objective for V Levels. This is because the purposes we propose would replace those objectives referred to in the General Conditions, so therefore ensures there is no conflict with the General Conditions.

Our proposed Condition VL4 and associated requirements are set out in Annex A. We propose to disapply General Conditions E1.1 and E1.2 as a result of this proposal.