Students on most vocational and technical qualifications will be able to progress this year, the chief regulator of Ofqual has said.
Speaking in front of the Commons Education Select Committee this morning, Sally Collier highlighted the complexity of the FE system, with more than 1,400 qualifications and a large number of awarding organisations involved.
Following the cancellation of the exam diet and face-to-face assessments owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the regulator's "overriding principle for vocational qualifications, as for general qualifications, is that as many students as possible progress, whether that is into further education or employment," she said.
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Calculated grades
"Of those 14,000 qualifications, we think about two-thirds will see students progress – either because they are getting a calculated grade or because they can have an adapted assessment where the method of assessment changes, maybe moves to online. The vast majority of students will progress."
She added, however, that there would be a minority who, mainly for safety reasons or because employer professional bodies said they needed to have a practical assessment, would need to have their progression delayed.
Speaking in front of the same committee, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies Tom Bewick said there were additional costs to his members from the assessment regime introduced for this year. An estimate of £16.3 million had been submitted to the government, he said, and it would be up to the education secretary to decide what extra funding would be made available.
Last month, Ofqual confirmed how technical and vocational qualifications will be assessed this summer, setting out which qualifications will have calculated grades, modified assessments or a mixture of both.
The regulator will be introducing a framework with qualifications split into three categories: those used for progression to further or higher education; qualifications that are used to signal occupational competence; and qualifications with a "mixed" purpose.
