The UK approach to creating qualifications frameworks Stephen Adam

1. The consultation process for Higher Education Qualifications Frameworks for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI) and for Scotland - October 1999 The UK approach to creating qualifications frameworks Stephen Adam

2. NOTE: There is no perfect or correct way to develop a national qualifications framework – the process will depend on circumstances and needs. The UK has an idiosyncratic system!

3. The origin of the National Qualifications Frameworks was the Dearing and Garrick reports –‘National Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education (NICIHE)’. • Why the Dearing and Garrick reports recommended National Qualifications Frameworks? the purpose of the Frameworks will be to position all HE qualifications relative to one another and to other kinds of qualifications within the UK, and facilitate comparison with qualifications in other countries +

4. Framework Purposes • underpin the standards of qualifications; • ensure accuracy and consistency of nomenclature; • clarify routes for progression and lifelong learning; • establish a common currency for credit accumulation and transfer; • provide clear and accessible public information; • facilitate, where applicable, the presentation of the intended outcomes of qualifications in forms that enable professional bodies to gauge their contribution to professional formation; and • assist exchange with, and recruitment from, other countries by clarifying the status, comparability and relative requirements and demands of UK qualifications.

5. 3. Context: A single integrated method of quality assurance. 4. The HE Qualifications Frameworks are central to this new quality assurance method

6. 5. Links with national qualifications authorities

7. 6. The international context

8. 7. Developing the frameworks

9. 8. Working to a set of common principles

10. 9. Development principles of the framework • The frameworks should be structured in terms of levels of intended outcome and qualifications positioned in relation to these. • All qualifications should be defined in terms of minimum volumes of credit at these specified levels. • The nomenclature of qualifications should be consistent and provide an accurate representation of their nature. • All qualifications sharing the same title should require the same minimum credit requirements at specified levels. • Each particular module (unit, or analogous programme component) should be defined in terms of intended outcomes with a specified credit volume at one - and only one - specified level.

11. The level of a module (or similar) should be determined by relating its intended learning outcomes and assessment criteria to levels descriptors. • Progression in time during a sequence of study does not necessarily entail progression to a higher level of learning. • A qualification is awarded to mark the achievement of positively-defined outcomes - not as compensation for failure, or by default. • All properly assessed and quality-assured learning - wherever, or however, achieved - can receive credit. • Credit should be allocated on the basis of achievement, not 'time served'.

12. 10. The architecture of qualifications frameworks = qualifications, levels and credits.