In the Qualifications and Skills Division, our task is to deliver a simple, unified, integrated and navigable qualifications system. A system where achievement can be recognised within the national framework without artificial barriers of age or stage. A system where learning and skills are valued regardless of who funds the learning, who accredits it, which agency quality assures it or where the learning takes place.

Building qualifications from credit-based units using rules of combination means that no learning is lost and that learners can transfer their learning around the system - this is what the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is all about.

The QCF is the architecture that helps us define learning - how difficult it is, and how much time and effort it takes. The QCF can be used to make sense of the thousands of qualifications that this country needs to service all the different skills, occupations and companies, large and small, that need a skilled workforce. The QCF will also help us identify areas where there are too many qualifications, or where they need to be rationalised, so that learners and employers understand their currency for progression and employment.

The Leitch review of skills calls for a shift of pace in skills acquisition. We know that this cannot take place without a flexible, responsive system that will meet the needs of employers and learners. It is imperative that we work with employers to find ways of delivering national recognition for the high-quality training that they offer.

We also need the QCF to deliver the new 14-19 Diplomas, because they are qualifications made up from a range of components that might be delivered by more than one awarding body.

The next few pages describe all the work we are doing to reform qualifications for both young people and adults. These reforms are profoundly important to the millions of learners who engage in qualifications and skills training each year.

Mary Curnock Cook - Director of Qualifications and Skills