Ofqual Statement on Government’s Response to Wolf
Thursday, 12 May 2011 14:56
Commenting on the Government’s response to the Wolf Report, Ofqual chief executive, Glenys Stacey said: “With today’s announcement and the White Paper The Importance of Teaching, it is clear that we are now entering a period of qualifications reform. Vocational qualifications have the capacity to help improve the life chances of millions of people of all ages. Public confidence in them is therefore vital. We welcome the Government’s focus on vocational qualifications for young people. And we are pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the Wolf Report in a way that complements the Government’s response.
“Reforming qualifications can be risky. As the independent regulator, Ofqual has a critical role to play in bringing regulatory discipline to the reform programme, so that past problems are not repeated. We therefore look forward to working with Ministers to help them to achieve their policy objectives for qualifications.”
Ofqual announced in its statutory consultation last autumn that it plans to regulate at awarding organisation rather than individual qualification. We can now confirm this will take effect from July. This approach matches exactly the one advocated by the Wolf report.
In response to Professor Wolf’s report, Ofqual has already clarified that it does not require regulated qualifications to be compliant with the Qualifications and Credit Framework or to have the specific support of Sector Skills Councils. In April a number of qualifications were reinstated to the approved qualifications list and will be available for teaching in September.
You can download our response here:
Review of Vocational Education – The Wolf Report: Ofqual Response [PDF 127kb]
