Qualifications are changing

Policy update

Ongoing policy work• Specifications, guidance and support

• Progression, hierarchies and recognition

• Skills for learning, life and work

• Assessment

• Quality Assurance arrangements

• Appeals

Specifications, guidance and supportNew ways of specifying requirements – shorter, more open, less prescriptive:

•Course Specification: outlines Course structure and what is required to pass the Course

•Unit Specification: outcomes and assessment standards

•Course and Unit Assessment Specifications: mandatory assessment requirements

Specifications, guidance and support (continued)

More guidance and support, for example:

• Course and Unit Support Notes: guidance on delivering Courses and the Units, approaches to learning and teaching

• Exemplification: approaches to Course and Unit assessment

Progression, hierarchies and ‘fallback’

Key messages from engagement:

• Maximise curricular continuity between levels

• Ensure consistent steps between levels

• Use hierarchical structures where-ever possible, as appropriate to subject and level

• Facilitated by skills-based outcomes

• Credit for positive achievement

Skills

• Greater focus on skills development

• Skills for learning, life and work:

– Literacy

– Numeracy

– Skills for health and well-being

– Employability, enterprise and citizenship

– Thinking skills

Assessment Course assessment:• added value – breadth, challenge and application

• methods defined

Unit assessment:• broader outcome statements and assessment standards

• more open, flexible evidence requirements

• flexibility for practitioners to make decisions about assessment methods