Introduction to Qualification Achievement Rates (QARs)
A comprehensive set of QAR resources to offer information and support for training providers.
Applies to England
Resources for further education colleges and other training organisations to:
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understand what qualification achievement rates (QARs) are and their purpose
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access QAR dashboards and data extracts
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resolve QAR queries
Links to guidance documents for technical specifications, business rules and QAR data are also provided.
The purpose of QARs
Qualification achievement rates (QARs) give one measure of how well further education (FE) colleges and other training organisations perform each year. QARs use individualised learner record data to calculate what proportion of learning was successfully completed and the result is shown as a percentage figure.
QAR uses include:
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national statistics
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monitoring activities such as performance management by funding organisations such as the Education and Skills Funding Agency and Mayoral Combined Authorities.
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self assessment (training organisations analysing their own performance)
QARs are produced for apprenticeships, traineeships, 19+ education and training (Adult Education Budget and Adult Learner Loans) and 16 to 19 programmes reported to the ESFA under Funding Model 25.
National achievement rates tables
QARs are published annually in national achievement rates tables (NARTs), which enable training organisations to benchmark their performance.
Apprenticeships and traineeships NARTs
Qualification achievement rates guidance
The QAR guidance consists of 3 key areas: business rules, technical specifications, and QAR data.
2023 to 2024 business rules, technical specification and QAR data guidance
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Business rules that explain how the policy for calculating QARs is implemented for apprenticeships and education and training.
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Technical specifications that define precisely how QARs are calculated, what data is included or excluded, and so on.
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QAR in-year data releases and data extract guidance give information on what in-year data is shared and how training organisations can identify and resolve data issues.
Previous QAR guidance:
Checking QAR data in-year
Although all of the achievement data will not yet have been recorded in the individualised learner record, training organisations get early sight of their data to identify and resolve potential data issues prior to the final ILR collection (R14), which closes in mid-October each year.
The in-year data releases guidance gives examples of common data issues to check for, such as duplicate records, and explains how to resolve them.
It is important that training organisations use this in-year QAR to review their data, as it cannot be changed after the R14 ILR collection. Summary QAR data and a detailed data extract are created:
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in June and July each year using the training organisation’s R10 ILR data
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in August and September each year using the training organisation’s R12 ILR data
In-year data is not published externally, it is only intended for use by training organisations.
Provisional QAR data
Training organisations can view their provisional QAR data in January each year. This gives them a final chance to check that the QAR methodology has been applied correctly. The final QAR data is published in the national achievement rate tables in March each year.
Possible errors with the way the methodology has been applied should be reported through the customer help portal.
How to access QAR data
Training organisations access their QAR data through View your education data.
For access, users must have the ‘View Your Education Data - QAR’ role added to their IDAMS account.
Get help with QARs
The business rules, technical specifications and in-year data release guidance contain all the information needed to understand how QARs are calculated.
General queries should be raised through our customer help portal.
If your enquiry relates to specific learners, you should also complete and submit the data query form.
There is an online forum, which training organisations can use to discuss data-related queries with other training providers.
Approach to school and college accountability, performance tables and data during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
In July 2021, it was announced that the approach for QARs for 2021 to 2022 would continue to align with that for school and college performance tables.
For the 2021 to 2022 academic year, Education and Training, Apprenticeships and Traineeships QARs were published at provider level. This is a change from 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, when we confirmed that we would not publish any provider-level QARs in response to COVID-19.
Full details of the announcement can be found at Coronavirus (COVID-19): school and college accountability 2021 to 2022.
Updates to this page
Last updated 5 June 2024 + show all updates
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Added link to 'Qualification achievement rates 2023 to 2024' under the Qualification achievement rates guidance heading.
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Content related to minimum standards has been removed.
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Updated section to include 2022 to 2023 Qualification achievement rates guidance
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First published.