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

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

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

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

(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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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?