Vocational and other qualifications quarterly: April to June 2019

Statistics on vocational and other qualifications (excluding GCSEs, AS levels and A levels).

Documents

Background Information Vocational and Other Qualifications Quarterly: April to June 2019

Ref: Ofqual/19/6542/2PDF, 944KB, 10 pages

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Pre-release access list for Vocational and Other Qualifications quarterly: April to June 2019

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Details

Note

Since the release of this publication, one of the awarding organisations (Pearson) has resubmitted their data which has increased the number of certificates awarded by them in Q2 2019 by nearly 150K. We will be republishing an amended version shortly.

Main trends for quarter 2 2019

1. The number of certificates awarded in the second quarter of 2019 was just over 1.2 million certificates, a decrease of 16% compared to the second quarter of 2018.

2. This fall in the number of certificates reflects a greater trend in the overall decline in certificates for vocational qualifications over time. This may be caused by a tightening in the availability of funding.

3. Due to the term ‘QCF’ being removed from a large number of qualification titles (after the removal of regulatory arrangements), the figures show a 96% decrease in these qualifications compared to Q2 2018.

4. Functional Skills also saw a 33% decrease in certificates in the same timeframe, continuing the ongoing trend in the drop in the number of Functional Skills certifications in the past few quarters.

5. This quarter saw an increase in the number of certificates awarded in several other qualification types, including Performing Arts Graded Examinations, Other General Qualifications, Other Vocational Qualifications, and English For Speakers of Other Languages qualifications.

6. There was a 19% decrease in Level 2 qualifications and a 62% decrease in Level 1/Level 2 qualifications. There were some small increases for candidates undertaking Level 6 and Level 7 qualifications.

7. The sector subject areas with notable increases in the number of certificates awarded were Construction, Planning and the Built Environment, Arts, Media and Publishing, and Languages, Literature and Culture. There were also notable decreases in the number of certificates in Preparation for Life and Work, Information and Communication Technology, Health, Public Services and Care, Business Administration and Law, and Leisure Travel and Tourism.

8. The qualification with the highest number of certificates in Q2 2019 was QA Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF), the same as Q2 2018. The next highest numbers of certificates in Q2 2019 came from City & Guilds Level 3 Award in the Requirements for Electrical Installations BS 7671:2018 and TCL Entry Level Certificate in ESOL International – Speaking and Listening (Entry 3), neither of which existed in their current forms in Q2 2018.

9. The Awarding Organisations with the highest number of certificates issued in the last 12 months were City & Guilds, Pearson and NCFE. For quarterly results, QNUK saw a 162% increase in certificates awarded in Q2 2019 compared to Q2 2018, with UAL and IQL also seeing marked increases in this time frame. TLM saw the largest proportional decrease in certificates from last quarter (at 79%), while Pearson and Lamda saw decreases of 61% and 58%, respectively.

Datasets

The dataset used to produce this release is available separately.

Statistics collection

All our published vocational and other qualifications publications are available at a single collection page.

User 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 [email protected].

Published 19 September 2019
Last updated 9 October 2019 + show all updates

1. 9 October 2019 Added a user note on resubmission of data by Pearson.
2. 19 September 2019 First published.