Overview

This consultation proposes minor amendments to Ofqual’s Qualification Level Conditions (QLCs) for Technical Qualifications (TQs) within T Levels. The proposed amendments relate to the number of assessment series of the Core and Occupational Specialism (OS) assessments that awarding organisations are required to make available in each academic year.

In the Assessment Requirements under TQ6 (Assessment), it is proposed to require an awarding organisation to provide:

• for the Core, up to two assessment series each academic year (instead of two, as required currently) to reflect that Core assessments are normally offered once in the first year a TQ is first made available, and then twice in subsequent years
• for the OS, up to two assessment series each academic year (instead of at least one and not more than two, as required currently) to reflect that OS assessments are not normally offered in the first year a TQ is made available, and then offered in every subsequent year.

In the Assessment Strategy requirements under TQ3 (Assessment Strategies), it is proposed:

• to require an awarding organisation to explain its rationale for when the first assessment series will be held when the qualification is first made available (instead of the first year that the qualification is made available, as currently required) to ensure that standards are set appropriately and can be carried forward to future assessment series
• to add “as relevant” to the end of the sentence “its scheduling of the assessment series in each academic year, for each of the Core Examination, the Core Project and the Occupational Specialism(s)” to reflect that the first series may not be in the first year when the TQ is made available.

These changes will permit, within the QLCs, approaches which are already in place, and which Ofqual has agreed with awarding organisations through the Technical Qualification Technical Group (TQTG), but which the current drafting of the QLCs unintentionally made non-compliant. An awarding organisation will be permitted, for example, to offer one Core series, and no OS assessment series, in the first academic year in which it makes a TQ available. An awarding organisation could offer its first OS series in the second academic year of the TQ being made available and could choose, in the second and subsequent years, to offer two Core and one OS series each year. The approach in the first year of delivery outlined in the example above, and which already happens in practice, is not permitted within the QLCs as currently drafted, but would be in future, subject to the changes proposed in this consultation being made.

Why your views matter

This change will align the TQ QLCs with existing practices, and affects awarding organisations who deliver TQs only. We would welcome any views ahead of making these proposed changes.

What happens next

Your response has been submitted - thank you for completing the consultation

This information will now be analysed and the findings will be published on our website.

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