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Digital qualifications: evaluation progress

Progress of Essential Digital Skills Qualifications and Digital Functional Skills Qualifications through Ofqual’s technical evaluation process.

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Essential Digital Skills qualifications: progress so far

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Digital Functional Skills qualifications: progress so far

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The Department for Education is introducing a new legal entitlement to fully funded specified digital qualifications, at Entry Level and Level 1, for adults with no or low digital skills. This entitlement will be available from August 2020. Alongside the new entitlement, the Department is reforming basic digital qualifications, introducing new Essential Digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) and new Digital Functional Skills qualifications (Digital FSQs). You can find further information about the 2 qualifications in the table below.

Essential Digital Skills qualifications Digital Functional Skills qualifications
New qualification available at Entry level 3 and at Level 1 Replacing Functional Skills in ICT, but new qualifications available at Entry level 3 and at Level 1
Appropriate qualification for adults with no or low digital skills wishing to gain digital skills for a specific life, work or study purpose – for example, to apply for jobs online, to manage finances online or to access government services online Appropriate qualification for adults with no or low digital skills wishing to confirm they have digital skills needed for employment or further study
Qualifications based on new national standards for essential digital skills Qualifications based on DfE subject content derived from the national standards for essential digital skills
30-50 hours of guided learning 55 hours of guided learning

Published 13 January 2020
Last updated 3 February 2021 + show all updates

  1. Update to the evaluation progress table: both entry level and level 1 for NCFE are now at 5.

  2. The Essential Digital Skills Qualification progress table has been updated and now shows Ascentis and The Learning Machine both levels at 5.

  3. The Essential Digital Skills Qualification progress table has been updated and now shows Ascentis both levels at 4, BCS for work both levels at 5, NCFE both levels at 4, OCN London daily life both levels at 5, and The Learning Machine both levels at 4.

  4. The Essential Digital Skills Qualification progress table has been updated and now shows Ascentis both levels at 3, NCFE both levels at 3, OCN London daily life both levels at 4, and Pearson both levels at 5.

  5. The Essential Digital Skills Qualification progress table has been updated and now shows BCS for work at 4 for both levels, The Learning Machine at 3 for both levels, and that OCR submissions have been withdrawn.

  6. On the Essential Digital Skills qualifications: progress so far table, NCFE and Pearson are now at 4 for both entry level and level 1.

  7. Update to the essential digital qualifications evaluation table: Ascentis is now at 4 for both entry level and level 1.

  8. The evaluation progress table for essential digital skills qualifications has been updated and now shows OCN London for daily life at 3 for both entry level and level 1.

  9. Update to the essential digital skills qualifications progress so far table: Pearson and BCS are now at 3 for both entry level and level 1, and The Learning Machine is now at 4 for both entry level and level 1.

  10. Update to the essential digital skills qualifications progress so far table: Ascentis is now at 3 for both entry level and level 1, and OCN London for life is now at 4 for both entry level and level 1.

  11. Essential digital skills page evaluation progress table has been updated to show that BCS for work and life both levels updated to 4, and Pearson both levels updated 2.

  12. Update to the evaluation progress table: both entry level and level 1 for Gateway are now at 5.

  13. Updated to show that the second consultation will be postponed and that our detailed rules and guidance for Digital Functional Skills Qualifications until the final version of the subject content has been published.

  14. Update to the essential digital skills qualifications progress so far table.

  15. Update to the essential digital skills progress table.

  16. First published.


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