What is the QCF?
The Qualifications and Credit Framework
The QCF is the new way of recognising achievement - through the award of credit for units and qualifications - across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.It provides more flexible routes to gaining full qualifications and enables progression to be achieved in smaller steps through the accumulation of credit. The QCF is already up and running, with the full implementation to be phased in by the end of 2010. There will be a 'mixed economy' of both QCF and NQF qualification registrations until December 2010 as existing qualifications are reviewed and redeveloped for the QCF.
- What does this mean for vocational education?
- QCF units and qualifications
- Award, Certificate or Diploma?
- Learner records
- Scotland (SCQF)
The City & Guilds Group already has 500 qualifications accredited on the QCF, with over 50,000 learners already successfully completeting a City & Guilds QCF qualification. To find out about our support and the redevelopment plans in your area take a look our QCF development timetables.
What does this mean for vocational education?
- All vocational qualifications will fall under one set of regulatory arrangements.
- There will be greater commonality through shared units and a standard unit template.
- New standardised titles will make it easier to understand and compare units and qualifications.
- It will provide the opportunity for more flexible routes to full qualifications, achievable in smaller steps through the accumulation of credit.
- Progression is supported by the chance for units to be used across qualifications of different levels, sizes (Award, Certificate and Diploma) and sometimes sector areas. This will help to reduces in repetition of learning and assessment.
- A new centralised database, due in late 2010, will help to track the achievement of credit and provide learners with an online record of their success. This will allow the transfer of credit across providers and awarding organistaion - managed through unique learner numbers (ULNs).
QCF units and qualifications
Units
- Credit is awarded for completion of a unit (the smallest component of a qualification), with credits combined to make qualifications. The rules of combination then state the credits that can be combined to complete a qualification.
- All units use the same unit template, consisting of learning outcomes (what a learner needs to know, understand or do) and assessment criteria (which specify if the learner has met the outcomes to a defined level).
- Each unit is assigned a level which indicates demand, depth of learning and learner autonomy. Levels range from 'Entry' (the lowest) to level 8 (the highest).
- A unit has a credit value assigned for outcomes of achievement. One credit is equal to 10 hours of notional learning time, where 'learning time' is calculated by working out how long it would take the average learner to complete all the learning outcomes of that unit.
- The majority of units in the QCF will be 'shared'. Shared means the unit template can be used by another awarding organisation. Awarding organisations then wrap around their own uniqueness to the template (in terms of assessment and customer support etc).
Rules of combination for qualifications
Under the QCF framework, qualifications will be made up of a combination of mandatory and optional units, as already happens in most NQF qualifications. The credit and units required to complete a qualification are set out by the rules of combination. These 'rules' are agreed - in close consultation with Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and other relevant organisations - by the awarding organisation that will offer qualifications. The relevant SSC/SSB in conjunction with the regulator Ofqual will approve any qualification accredited on to the QCF.
Accumulation and transfer of credit
Credit will give units greater 'currency' allowing easier accumulation and transfer of achievement, between both qualifications and AOs reducing the repetition of learning and assessment. It will also give some units greater stand alone value and help with rationalisation of many similar units.
Each qualification is assigned a unique title which will indicate:
- the level (difficulty)
- size (Award, Certificate or Diploma)
- subject content
- and sometimes terminology to indicate the qualification purpose (eg. NVQ).
This naming system is intended to make qualifications more readily understandable to learners and employers. This system will make it easier to understand:
- what content is covered
- how much learning time was involved
- and at what level of complexity
- Ofqual are looking at how a qualification's 'purpose' can be worked into the wording of the title.
Levels
The level indicates the complexity (challenge) of a qualification, which ranges from Entry to level 8 (the current NQF system goes up to level 7). Entry will continue to be split into E1, E2 and E3.
To gauge the complexity of levels within the QCF: GCSEs grades A - C are equivalent to level 2; GCE A-levels are level 3; and a PhD is the maximum level 8. For City & Guilds qualifications there will appear very little difference in levels. The change you will see is the introduction of a level for every QCF unit.
Depending on the rules of combination, QCF qualifications can be made up of units from different levels, and the level of the majority then determines the level of the qualification.
Award, Certificate or Diploma?
The combined size of all the credit value required to complete a qualification (through completion of units) will then dictate the use of expression for size of 'Award', 'Certificate', or 'Diploma'. A QCF Diploma is not the same as the new 14-19 Diplomas.
- Award = 1-12 credits
- Certificate = 13-36 credits
- Diploma = 37 credits or more.
The size of a 'full' level 2 (equivalent to 5 good GCSEs) will be decided by the relevant SSC who will decide what is required for the qualifications in that industry area. QCA have indicated that there must be a minimum of 13 credits (Certificate size).
Please note: The use of the expressions 'Award', 'Certificate' and 'Diploma' has no bearing on the complexity/challenge of a qualification, it simply indicates the size (volume of learning).
Examples of titles include:
- City & Guilds level 2 Diploma in Business Skills
- City & Guilds Level 3 (NVQ) Diploma in Hairdressing
- City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Retail Skills
- City & Guilds Level 1 Diploma in Retail Skills
- City & Guilds Level 3 Award in Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector
- City & Guilds Entry 3 Certificate in Personal Progression through Employment
The future of NVQs
The QCF does not recognise the differing types of qualifications that existed under the NQF (eg. VRQ and NVQ). This does not mean we will see the end of competency based assessment and qualifications as NVQs will be redeveloped on the QCF. The new QCF regulations have stated that the term 'NVQ' can be used in the title of QCF qualifications to help identify that assessment was competency based.
Ofqual have produced an additional regulatory document Operating rules for using the term 'NVQ' in a QCF qualification title. We are working closely with SSCs and other organisations to ensure the needs of sectors are reflected in the qualifications that are developed for the QCF. Some sectors may be happy to lose NVQ branding altogether, with others using the term NVQ, in brackets, in accordance with new guidance.
Learner Records (LRs)
In the future when a unit and/or qualification is awarded, it will be recorded on the learners own centralised online Learner Record. Have a look at our QCF funding and IT page for more details.
Scotland (SCQF)
Scotland - operating under the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) - will not be using the same level and nomenclature system. For more details have a look at the SCQF.
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