Accredited official statistics

Background information for vocational and other qualifications quarterly: July to September 2023

Updated 14 March 2024

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vocational-and-other-qualifications-quarterly-july-to-september-2023/background-information-for-vocational-and-other-qualifications-quarterly-july-to-september-2023

Purpose

This release presents information on the number of certificates issued for regulated vocational and other qualifications from July to September 2023 (quarter 3 2023) in England.

Data tables accompanying this release show the number of certificates issued broken down by awarding organisation, sector subject area, qualification type, and level of qualification.

Comparisons in this release are mainly made with data from the same quarter of the previous year and the 12-month period up to the end of the same quarter of the previous year, as well as pre-pandemic data from 2019. This is because of seasonal changes in the number of certificates issued over the year, as well as impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and potential behavioural changes after the pandemic.

This release does not include GCSEs, AS and A levels, Advanced Extension Awards, apprenticeship end-point assessments (EPAs), Extended Project Qualifications (EPQ), T Level Technical Qualifications (TQs), and Principal learning qualifications. The number of certificates issued for most of these qualifications can be found on the website of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).  Reporting arrangements for EPAs and T Levels are different:

  • The awarding organisations that conduct EPAs do not issue certificates. Instead, certificates are requested from the Department for Education on behalf of apprentices, and are issued under Section A3 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.  

  • Ofqual regulates the Technical Qualification included in the T Level programme. There is not a certificate for the Technical Qualification itself. T Level certificates are issued by the Department for Education and are therefore not included in this report. For overall T Level outcomes, please see the T Level results published by the Department for Education. 

Geographical coverage

The data covers regulated qualifications in England.

Description

Ofqual regulates qualifications and assessments in England. This bulletin includes data on vocational and other qualifications awarded in England.

Qualification level

Regulated qualifications are assigned a level from entry level through to level 8 broadly indicating the relative level of demand of the qualification. Levels are assigned on Ofqual’s Register by the awarding organisation with reference to Ofqual’s published level descriptors.

Sector subject area

Sector subject area is a classification of qualifications into business sectors or subject areas maintained by Ofqual. There are 15 sector subject areas, which each include several second tier sector subject areas. Sector subject areas are assigned on Ofqual’s Register by the awarding organisation with reference to Ofqual’s published list of sector subject areas.

Qualification type

Regulated qualifications are classified into different qualification types.

Qualification types are classified into 3 broad categories:

  1. general
  2. life and personal skills
  3. vocational, technical and professional.

Some qualification types are ‘regulatory types’ which means they are subject to the General Conditions of Recognition as well as specific additional regulatory requirements or other restrictions (such as subject or qualification level conditions). Other qualification types are subject only to the General Conditions of Recognition. Qualification type category is selected by the awarding organisation for the purposes of transparency on Ofqual’s Register.

Qualification types provide information which complements that provided by the sector subject area classification. Qualification type can give an indication of a number of features, such as the nature of the qualification, the type of assessment, the qualification level and guided learning hours.

Table 1 gives a further breakdown of the structure of qualification types. As noted above, not all qualification types listed here are reported in this release.

Table 1: Qualification type structure

Broad qualification type Specific qualification type Status Reported in this release
General Advanced Extension Award Regulatory type No
General GCE A level Regulatory type No
General GCE AS level Regulatory type No
General GCSE (9 to 1) Regulatory type No
General GCSE (A* to G) Regulatory type No
General Project Regulatory type No
General Other General Qualification Other qualification type Yes
General Free Standing Mathematics Qualification Retired type No
General Principal learning Retired type No
Life and Personal Skills English for Speakers of Other Languages Regulatory type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Functional Skills Regulatory type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Essential Skills (Northern Ireland) Regulatory type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Essential Digital Skills Regulatory type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Other Life Skills Other qualification type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Key Skills Retired type Yes
Life and Personal Skills Basic Skills Retired type Yes
Vocational, Technical and Professional Technical Qualification Regulatory type No
Vocational, Technical and Professional End-point assessment Regulatory type No
Vocational, Technical and Professional Occupational Qualification Other qualification type Yes
Vocational, Technical and Professional Vocationally-Related Qualification Other qualification type Yes
Vocational, Technical and Professional Performing Arts Graded Examinations Other qualification type Yes
Vocational, Technical and Professional Other Vocational Other qualification type Yes
Vocational, Technical and Professional General National Vocational Qualification Retired type No
Vocational, Technical and Professional Vocational Certificate of Education Retired type No
Vocational, Technical and Professional National Vocational Qualification Retired type Yes

Please note, Ofqual revised the list of qualification types in consultation with awarding organisations in 2018. Qualification types listed as retired type in Table 1 may still be reported on, where awarding organisations have not yet finished migrating their qualification types. Further detail on the changes to qualification types can be found in the background notes for Vocational and Other Qualifications Quarterly: July to September 2022.

Context

Alternative arrangements for many assessments were in place in the 2020 to 2021 academic year in response to continuing disruption due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The 2021 to 2022 academic year saw the return of exams and other formal assessments, with some adaptations. For the academic year 2022 to 2023, awarding organisations were no longer permitted to award results using alternative evidence such as Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs). Students who completed some of their exams or formal assessments in previous years, and who completed the remainder of their qualification this academic year have been allowed to carry forward any results they have achieved so far. This applies whether the result was awarded using an adapted assessment or through use of alternative sources of evidence, such as those used to derive TAGs. Hence, figures in this report are likely to reflect these measures and arrangements.

In 2023, there was an increased emphasis across the vocational and technical qualification system to ensure that students received results in sufficient time to inform decisions about future progression. As a result, in 2023 the number of certificates issued in each quarter may follow a different pattern than in previous years.

Data source

Information on qualifications (covering title, type, awarding organisation, sector subject area and level) is taken from Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications, which gives information on regulated qualifications and recognised awarding organisations in England (and Northern Ireland). Data on the number of certificates issued are sent by awarding organisations to Ofqual.

Limitations

Data are collected at the earliest point available, which is the first day of the next reporting period. This reduces the time between the activity and reporting on the activity.

The main source of potential error is in the information provided by awarding organisations. Ofqual cannot guarantee the number of certificates submitted is correct and there may be systematic bias when the information is sent, although awarding organisations are expected to provide the correct data. Ofqual compares the data over time and checks for systematic issues, giving awarding organisations the opportunity to double-check the numbers provided. The figures reported in this release reflect the certificates issued by awarding organisations at the time of data collection.

Quality assurance

Quality assurance procedures are carried out as explained in the Quality Assurance Framework for Statistical Publications published by Ofqual to ensure the accuracy of the data and to challenge or question it, where necessary. Publication may be deferred if the statistics are not considered fit for purpose.

Published data

The data underlying these statistics are published alongside this statistical release at 9:30am on the day of release, and can be explored visually via this interactive tool.

Revisions

Once published, data on the number of certificates issued for any qualification are not usually subject to revision, although subsequent releases may be revised to insert late data or to correct an error. Qualifications may also be re-categorised to a different type, level, sector subject area or awarding organisation. In some cases, data may be amended to reflect the new categorisation.

Confidentiality and rounding

In accordance with Ofqual’s rounding policy, figures less than 5 are reported as ‘fewer than 5’. A 0 represents zero achievements. This is to ensure the data does not identify an individual student.

In general, we use unrounded values to derive percentages. As a result of rounded figures, the percentages shown in charts and tables may not necessarily add up to 100.

Status

These statistics are classified as National Statistics, which are accredited official statistics (referred to as National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007).

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

You are welcome to contact us directly at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on our publications. Should you have any comments on this statistical release and how to improve it to meet your needs please contact us at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk.

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