In amongst the range of announcements made over the past month was a major ‘launch’ from the Department for Education, who finalised their technical guidance for Vocational Qualifications which would contribute to performance tables at Key Stage 4.
Rather confusingly, qualifications that meet these requirements will be known as ‘Technical Awards’, different to already-announced ‘Technical Levels’, (which are vocational qualifications that contribute to performance tables for 16-18 year old learners).
To get a real insight into what this means for NCFE, I’ve asked NCFE’s Development Officer Carly Flood, who has been working on NCFE’s ‘V-Cert’ provision in this area, for her thoughts about this latest guidance – presented below:
‘Hopefully, this technical guidance sees the final round of requirements as each year has brought further iterations to the high rigour rulebook.
In a nutshell the newest requirements now include:
- Level 1 Technical Awards will require external assessment
- External assessment will be a minimum of 40%
- Feedback and resit rules are to be tightened
This version of Technical Awards guidance has marked a continued move away from vocational qualifications as we know them and ushers in the additional culture change for schools and centres to get their head around.
However, schools are struggling to keep up with the pace of change to all areas of education (for example, SEN policy, reformed GCSEs, new accountability measures etc) this has the effect of teachers and departments becoming cautious of further change, adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach in some instances. There is an overall tentative approach to the Technical Awards, the most enthusiastic adopters of the, now defunct, 14-19 diploma are now wary, especially as we enter the election year, questioning if the current model will continue.
There are many departments and teachers keen to offer a good vocational alternative outside of the Ebacc subjects, it is essential to provide empathy and support to implement the V Certs in the changing school landscape and help the qualifications to bed in and reliably gain credibility with delivery staff.
The real challenge for NCFE is providing good advice, guidance and support to centres through the next round of changes while providing qualifications that balance the requirements of the DfE and schools.’
