Qualification purposes (Condition PTQ5)
Rules and guidance about the purposes of Performance Table Qualifications
- PTQ5.1 An awarding organisation must ensure that each Performance Table Qualification which it makes available, or proposes to make available –
- (a) meets the general purposes for such qualifications published by Ofqual and revised from time to time, having regard to any guidance, which may be published by Ofqual and revised from time to time,
- (b) has one or more specific purposes which are consistent with the general purposes, and
- (c) is designed to achieve a balance between the qualification’s purposes in line with any requirements, and having regard to any guidance, which may be published by Ofqual and revised from time to time.
Condition PTQ5.1 allows us to specify requirements in relation to the general purposes which a Technical Award must meet, as well as how the qualification’s general and specific purposes must be balanced.
We set out our requirements for the purposes of Condition PTQ5.1 below.
General purposes
An awarding organisation must ensure that each Technical Award which it makes available, or proposes to make available, meets the general purposes of providing –
- (a) Users of the qualification with reliable evidence of Learners’ attainment in relation to the knowledge, skills and understanding assessed as part of the qualification (General Purpose A),
- (b) Learners with a breadth and depth of study of a sector or broad occupational group (but not a particular occupation or skill), to prepare them for further study (General Purpose B),
- (c) a basis for schools and colleges to be held accountable for the performance of their Learners (General Purpose C), and
- (d) a course of learning with which Learners can suitably engage (General Purpose D).
In the design of each Technical Award which it makes available, or proposes to make available, if there are potential trade-offs to be made between the general purposes, an awarding organisation should ensure that the qualification provides an engaging and accessible course of learning (General Purpose D) without compromising General Purposes A, B and C.
Condition PTQ5.1 allows us to specify guidance in relation to the general purposes which a Technical Award must meet.
We set out our guidance for the purposes of Condition PTQ5.1 below.
Our requirements published under Condition PTQ5.1 set out the general purposes that each Technical Award must meet. We provide some explanatory guidance below in relation to the general purposes –
- Technical Awards must be designed to develop knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to an industry sector and/or occupational group and to enable Learners to demonstrate their level of attainment through practical activities, where appropriate. The qualification content must be of sufficient depth to represent credible development relevant to the identified sector/occupational group, yet have sufficient breadth to demonstrate more widely relevant learning.
- Through a combination of the content of the qualification and the expectations set by the assessments, Learners should be required to demonstrate proficiency appropriate to Level 1 or Level 2, as relevant. The content and approach to assessment should be appropriate for Learners typically studying the course between the ages of 14 and 16.
- Results from Technical Awards will provide to those working in post-16 education, evidence of Learners’ achievements at this level for the purposes of selection onto post-16 academic and technical programmes of study. To enable these judgements to be made confidently on an on-going basis, the qualifications (and the processes that support their delivery) must be designed such that they provide outcomes with sufficient Reliability and a consistency of grading standard over time. Results from these qualifications will also be combined with other results to be used as part of the evaluation of school performance. They must be designed to support appropriate delivery in schools and promote positive teaching practice.
- Without prejudice to the above purposes, the course of learning should be designed to be engaging for Learners and should support the encouragement of continued engagement and enthusiasm for study post-16.
Holistic understanding of content
General Purpose B highlights the importance of Learners being able to develop and demonstrate their breadth of understanding across a qualification’s content as a whole. Performance Table Qualifications should therefore seek to promote a holistic understanding of the content domain and the assessment design should take opportunities, as appropriate to the subject, to assess how far Learners have a broad understanding across the content.
Where qualifications are designed with several assessments being available at multiple points throughout the course, there is a particular risk that these may assess, and that Learners could develop, a fragmented understanding of the content domain rather than a holistic one. In such situations, it may be particularly important to ensure how Learners can make effective connections and draw together knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across the content domain.
We do not specify any particular model for this given the varied approaches that may be appropriate across different subject areas, for example, based on their content and the assessment methodologies that they employ.