Improvements to Functional Skills Qualifications unveiled today have been welcomed by EAL, the specialist awarding organisation for industry.
Ofqual's report follows a review into qualifications delivered by awarding organisations, including English and Maths. It aims to ensure standards are high quality, consistent and more effectively meet employers’ needs.
In particular, awarding organisations will be:
- improving the quality of assessments, to provide more real-life context and allow students to demonstrate a wider range of skills
- strengthening awarding processes and undertaking additional monitoring to give greater assurance that standards have been met
- working more closely with employers and other users to make sure that the qualifications meet their needs.
Julia Chippendale, managing director of EAL said: "People must be able to read and write and use numbers with confidence to be successful in both life and business. Ofqual has done an excellent job of reviewing how these vital qualifications are not only delivered but also how they can be the stepping stone to achieving further vocational and academic qualifications.”
"EAL prides itself on having external verifiers who have worked in the industries where we award qualifications and where we have strong relationships with employers.”
"We provide EAL recognised Centres with a package that includes a wide range of support materials, designed to ease the operational burden of delivering vocational qualifications by reducing preparation time, encouraging best practice and ensuring consistent standards.”
"Like all our material, our Functional Skills qualifications are regularly updated in line with national standards and customer needs."
Ofqual will review the progress made to improve the quality of these important qualifications in autumn this year.
