Latest developments: Guidance for awarding bodies on safeguarding and protecting children and young people

The regulatory authorities have produced the guidance document Safeguarding and protecting children and young people, a guide and good practice exemplification for awarding bodies. The guidance can be downloaded from this page.

The issuing of certificates

The process of developing more precise levels for qualifications at the higher levels of the NQF has now been completed.

Certificates will reflect these changes from January 2006. This does not apply to national vocational qualifcations (NVQs) and a small number of related qualifications. Certificates with the previous NQF levels 4 and 5 retain the same value.

For more information about NVQs, see Important information on higher-level NVQs on the 'NVQ' page. You can see the current levels for your original qualification by searching the National Database of Acredited Qualifications (NDAQ).

Helping learners make informed decisions

The NQF sets out the levels at which qualifications can be recognised. It helps learners make informed decisions on the qualifications they want to pursue, by comparing the levels of different qualifications and identifying clear progression routes to their chosen career.  

It aims to:

• promote access, motivation and achievement in education and training, strengthening international competitiveness
• promote lifelong learning by helping people to understand clear progression routes
• avoid duplication and overlap of qualifications while making sure all learning needs are covered
• promote public and professional confidence in the integrity and relevance of national awards.

Only qualifications that have been accredited by the regulatory authorities are included in the NQF. To search for an accredited qualification, visit NDAQ - QCA's freely searchable website listing all accedited qualifications in the NQF.

The National Database of Accredited Qualifications (NDAQ) website, and other useful websites and downloads, can be accessed from this page. 

Evaluating the responsiveness of vocational qualifications

As employer needs change and individual career patterns become more flexible, vocational qualifications (VQs) must adapt to meet different requirements. How responsive are UK vocational qualifications to the requirements of users and to innovation and development elsewhere? If current work to improve the VQ system makes it more responsive, what effects would we expect to see? What evidence will there be that VQs are increasingly meeting individual and employer needs? This booklet sets out four indicators that will be used to judge the responsiveness of VQs over the years. The four indicators are:

• Indicator 1: Trends in the numbers and categories of qualifications achieved by people
• Indicator 2: The proportion of all work-related learning that is VQ related in a sample of contexts
• Indicator 3: The attitude of stakeholders toward the value of VQs for different uses
• Indicator 4: The responsiveness of VQs to innovation.

The booklet has been produced by QCA on behalf of the senior researchers in the main UK public bodies concerned with vocational qualifications and downloaded from the right-hand side of this page.