Review of Vocational Qualifications

A National Council for Vocational Qualifications should be set up by the autumn to provide a sharp national focus for reforming the complex and often confusing system of vocational qualifications at present used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The new framework — to be called the National Vocational Qualification — is needed to classify and streamline vocational qualifications into a small number of levels covering those taken by people beyond school leaving age right up to top professional levels. A new two‐year YTS certification will be integrated into this framework. A crash programme to have it in place by 1991 is recommended, and effective arrangements must be introduced to ensure that industry and commerce play their full part in developing standards for qualifications in all occupations. These are the main recommendations of the Working Group on the Review of Vocational Qualifications, which was set up by the Government in April 1985 to investigate weaknesses in the present system. Its findings were submitted to the Secretaries of State for Employment, Education & Science, and Wales and the MSC Chairman last month, and the report was published by HMSO on 8 May.