Accredited official statistics

Background information for vocational and other qualifications quarterly: July to September 2024

Published 21 November 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-2024/background-information-for-vocational-and-other-qualifications-quarterly-july-to-september-2024

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Purpose

This release presents information on the number of certificates issued for regulated vocational and other qualifications from July to September (quarter 3 2024) 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.

This release does not include GCSEs, AS and A levels, Advanced Extension Awards, apprenticeship end-point assessments (EPAs), Extended Project Qualifications (EPQ) and T Level Technical Qualifications (TQs). 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. Statistics on apprenticeships are published by the Department for Education. Ofqual regulates the Technical Qualification included in the T Level. 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:

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) Retired 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 Digital Functional Skills Qualifications 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

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.

New Digital Functional Skills Qualifications (DFSQ) were introduced for first teaching in August 2023. These replace Functional Skills Qualifications in Information and Communication Technology. DFSQ are available at entry level and level 1.

Awarding organisations

Awarding organisations may sometimes change the legal entity which they are recognised under, for example as a result of a merger with another organisation. This results in a new Ofqual Recognition Number. In this report, figures are grouped by the awarding organisation’s name as stated on Ofqual’s Register, rather than their Recognition Number, therefore where an organisation’s legal entity has changed but their name on the Register remains the same, they are reported as one awarding organisation. Figures reported by Recognition Number are available from the statistical dataset published each quarter.

Context

From the 2022 to 2023 academic year onwards, exams and other formal assessments returned to pre-pandemic arrangements following the disruption due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Prior to this, alternative arrangements were put in place and figures reported here may have been affected. Further details on these arrangements are available in previous reports.

From 2023, the number of certificates issued in each quarter may follow a different pattern than in previous years. This is due to the implementation of the Action Plan for VTQ results in 2023 and continued measures from 2024 onwards to ensure that students receive results in sufficient time. This was actioned in response to the issues with VTQ results delivery in 2022.

Certification figures can be impacted by a number of external factors, including changes to the Department for Education’s performance table qualification lists or the academic cycle. For example, we expect a peak in the total number of certificates in Quarter 3 each year following level 1/2 and level 3 results days.

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 is sent by awarding organisations to Ofqual.

Limitations

Data is 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.

There is potential for error in the information provided by awarding organisations, therefore Ofqual cannot guarantee that the information received is correct. 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 is 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 is 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, numbers below 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  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 [email protected] with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website.

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