Consultation outcome

Level 3 consultation in brief

Updated 30 June 2022

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/regulating-academic-and-technical-qualifications-at-level-3/level-3-consultation-in-brief

Our consultation is proposing amends to our regulations that will bring students high-quality alternatives to A levels and T Levels, by

  • making sure these qualifications are high quality:
    • proposing requirements for the assessment of content, so that the knowledge, skills and understanding are assessed appropriately for
      • alternative academic qualifications where there is no nationally-set subject content
      • alternative technical qualifications where subject content should align with the employer-led occupational standards published by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education
      • seeking views on how to ensure the standards of those assessments that are directly graded by assessors
      • requiring awarding organisations to explain how they will design, develop, deliver and award these qualifications
  • making it clearer to understand the purpose of these qualifications, so that it is simpler for students to make informed choices and navigate the level 3 qualifications landscape:
    • specifying the general purposes (for alternative academic qualifications only)
    • seeking views on grading scales and how these qualifications are titled to help users identify these qualifications and understand their results

  • seeking views on Ofqual’s approach to regulating for alternative technical qualifications

  • ensuring that the alternative academic qualification assessment arrangements are thorough, manageable and support standards to be maintained:
    • specifying 40% as the minimum percentage of a qualification that must be assessed through an exam
    • expecting exams to be marked by the awarding organisation and be available in up to 2 assessment series on set dates in each academic year
    • allowing awarding organisations to either mark or grade non-exam assessments themselves, permit centres to assess them, or use a combination of these approaches
    • requiring awarding organisations to set non-exam assessments themselves and to allow them to accept marks from centres on up to 2 occasions in each academic year
    • requiring awarding organisation to use approaches to setting standards that will allow the consistent maintenance of standards
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