Vocational Students Unsure of Their Futures as Qualifications are Reformed

The WITForum has reported on the work being done to reform qualifications for the industry over the last 12 months. Government policy has been to scrap the NVQ qualifications and replace them with the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF). The new system will allow a greater flexibility for both employers and students to ensure they are gaining the skills they need, but for those already undergoing training there is some uncertainty about the interim period of change over. The uncertainty lies with those apprentices and students that are about to or working to achieve their NVQ 2 but wish to progress onto NVQ 3. If the NVQ is to be scrapped, then technically the qualification would not be there for them to take from 1st December when the QCF officially comes into play without starting all over again with a newly credited course. Both students and training providers have been left in limbo while they wait for the Government to clear up the situation. Most training providers would be publishing their new prospectuses by this point, but are forced to sit and wait while the uncertainty of the courses they can offer is resolved. There is also further uncertainty if this will have any effect on qualifications developed by ConstructionSkills as they secured permission from the Government to retain the NVQ branding. But this is unlikely to make this simpler for any City & Guilds NVQ qualifications, or indeed from any other awarding body. WITForum Training Manager, Dave Campbell said, ‘we now approaching ConstructionSkills and ProSkills, the Sector Skills Councils for our industry, to aid in clarifying this situation as soon as possible to ensure that our apprentices can continue with their NVQ 3 or transfer easily to the new QCF without the need for duplication’