1. Gweithdy 7 Workshop 7 Dylanwadu ar y System Gymwysterau
Influencing the Qualifications System
Cassy Taylor, Cymwysterau Cymru / Qualifications Wales

2. Influencing the Qualification System
Cassy Taylor
Associate Director (Vocational Qualifications)
Qualifications Wales

3. Vocational Qualifications Strategy - Published January 2017
Sector Reviews
VQ monitoring
Development and Commissioning
Review of Designation
Research

4. Construction and the Built Environment ICT
Sequence of Sector Reviews
Health and Social Care
Construction and the Built Environment
ICT
Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing
Financial Services
Customer Services and Retail
Travel and Tourism
Hospitality and Catering

5. (including childcare)
Health and Social Care
(including childcare)
Commissioning 18 new qualifications for Wales
First teaching from September 2019
Three ‘lots’ –
level 1/2 primarily for school-based learners
Health and Social Care
Childcare Learning, Development and Play
Restricting each lot to a single awarding body
Procurement process underway – announcement Sept 2017
‘Strengthening Assessment’ workshops in Feb/March 2017
‘Internal Quality Assurance’ workshops in November 2017
Ongoing change management

6. Sector Review of Construction and the Built Environment
Stakeholder engagement – with nearly 200 stakeholders
Learner engagement – focus groups with over 900 learners
Technical review – 23 qualifications, 14 reviewers (subject and assessment experts)
International comparison work – Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany together with England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland
Online survey
Analysis of findings
Possible ideas for action
Report – by end of 2017

7. Apprenticeships too short; Challenges in recruiting able learners;
Summary of findings - the wider system
A non-strategic, complex, confusing and proliferated qualification system;
Progression routes neither clear nor sufficient – particularly those from FE to apprenticeships, employment and HE: dead ends, repetition, gaps;
Specialisation too early - core, inter-personal and multi-skills are needed;
Apprenticeships too short;
Challenges in recruiting able learners;
The need for, and challenges of, provision for learners from 14;
Lack of information for learners, employers and parents;
Relevance and impact of requirements for Welsh Bacc and Essential Skills;
Shared apprenticeships are a good model;
Learners on apprenticeships do have learning programmes.

8. Summary of findings - the qualifications
Qualifications and system not sufficiently flexible or responsive to the needs of employers and the wider economy;
Content is sometimes outdated, irrelevant and/or insufficient;
Lack of coverage of skills for existing buildings as well as for emerging technologies in the qualifications – past and future skills and techniques;
The balance of theory, practice and real-work assessment is not right;
Inappropriateness of the inclusion of supervision skills at Level 3;
Assessment is often burdensome, repetitive and uses inaccessible terminology;
Assessment is often inauthentic, inappropriate, unreliable, invalid and/or insufficient;
Internal and External quality assurance of assessment is inconsistent and sometimes poor;
There are gaps in the currency and sufficiency of technical knowledge and skills in the assessment workforce;
There are limited opportunities for learners to be assessed through the medium of Welsh.

9. ICT Sector Review
Stakeholder engagement – underway
Learner engagement – complete for Further Education
Technical review – scoping, to take place in October
International comparison work – underway
Online survey – September
Analysis of findings
Possible ideas for action
Report – late Spring 2018

10. Other VQ work
Monitoring of First Aid qualifications
Review of Essential Skills implementation
Review of Designation process
Data and research

11. How can you influence the qualification system?
Subscribe to Slate – the newsletter for centres
Take part in Sector Review interviews
Respond to consultations and online surveys
Invite us to your meetings
Engage with your awarding body
Let us know if there’s a problem that’s not getting addressed
Join in the discussion that follows!

12. Has old-style competence-based assessment had its day?
Are end-point-assessments the way forward?
What are the relative benefits and weaknesses of each, in relation to:
The learner?
The employer?
The learning and/or assessment provider?
The public purse?