Building qualifications for learners’ futures
Have Your Say on the Full 14-16 Qualifications Offer
Qualifications Wales has announced a national consultation on the Full 14 to 16 Qualifications Offer in Wales, with a launch event at Ysgol Glan Clwyd.
With the aim of building new qualifications around learners’ futures - equipping them with the skills they will need as Wales’ future workforce – this review follows an extensive GCSE consultation in 2022, which explored proposals for the co-creation of new Made-for-Wales GCSEs. Further details on GCSE reforms will be announced this summer.
The Full Offer consultation includes three proposals for an inclusive menu of bilingual qualifications for learners aged 14 to 16, that will sit alongside GCSEs in Wales, and you’re invited to have your say.
The proposals outline a vision for equality of opportunity through qualifications that enable all learners to achieve, progress and enjoy their education, whatever their learning pathway. The consultation explores redesigning the full ‘menu’ of 14 to 16 qualifications to incorporate a range of skills, subjects, assessment methods, qualification levels, and learning styles. It incorporates key topics and themes such as sustainability, equality, diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing. It will allow learners to fulfil their potential by shaping their education in the way that suits them best.
The Full Offer proposals include:
- a Skills Suite with an Integral Skills Project qualification and units/qualifications in Skills for Life and Skills for Work
- pre-vocational qualifications in broad occupational areas
- foundation qualifications to supplement the new GCSEs
You can find out more about what these proposals mean, and share your thoughts, via the Have Your Say website. It’s easy to take part in the consultation. Simply register, read about the three proposals in more detail, and complete the online survey to help shape the 14 to 16 qualifications of the future in Wales.
To take part in the consultation and have your say, visit: haveyoursay.qualifications.wales.
The consultation closes on Wednesday 14 June 2023.
For more details or to ask questions about the three proposals, join the Qualifications Wales live webinar on Wednesday 29 March at 4pm. Register now.
Huw Wilkinson, Regional Skills Partnership Manager, Cardiff Capital Region – Skills Partnership, commented:
“This consultation is a powerful opportunity for Welsh employers, work-based learning providers, parents, carers, and learners to shape qualifications in Wales - so I urge you to get involved. Our young people are the future workforce of Wales. It’s essential that they can choose from a wide range of qualifications that cater for their different learning needs and give them the skills employers are looking for. Getting involved and helping to shape these qualifications is an investment in the future of the Welsh economy. It’s a chance to share our thoughts on giving learners the opportunity to develop solid foundations to thrive in the world of work.”
In response to hearing about the Full 14-16 Qualifications Offer consultation, Learner Jess, said:
“For learners, the Full Offer consultation is about reforming Wales’ education system to ensure that students develop key skills to progress effectively both at school and onto their next chapter. Young people should get involved and have their say because, as current students, we have an insight into the ways education might be improved. It’s a great way for your voice to be heard and listened to.”
Other learners quoted:
“Schools should teach life skills, like money and debt management, CV writing and so on, to support us now and when we have families of our own.”
“The fact Qualifications Wales is taking the time to ask us how we feel about education is very heart warming.”
Sian Alwen, Head Teacher at Ysgol Glan Clwyd, said:
“At Ysgol Glan Clwyd we were very excited to introduce the new curriculum to our Year 7 pupils from September 2022, with the core aim of nurturing forward-thinking Welsh people who fully embody all four of the curriculum’s purposes. Naturally, ensuring they are skilled in meeting the needs of the local workforce is key and so it made perfect sense for us to facilitate this launch at Ysgol Glan Clwyd.
This Full Offer consultation paves the way for us to offer the best provision for our young people, providing them with a broad range of the experiences and the skills they need before confidently stepping out into the world. Learners are the voices of the future. Every parent aspires the best for their child, and every teacher wants to provide that specialist knowledge that they will need through delivering this new range of qualifications.
It is vitally important that all these voices respond to this consultation so that we can offer the young people of Wales the best possible qualifications, whichever route they choose to take. This dialogue is important and the change on the horizon is significant. We need to take this opportunity to work together and share our views to get this right the first time."
Launching this consultation on the full and inclusive range of qualifications for learners in Wales, Cassy Taylor, Director of Qualifications Policy and Reform at Qualifications Wales, explained:
“The Full Offer will provide an inspiring choice of subjects and skills at different levels to meet the needs of every young person, recognising that no two learners are the same. This exciting range of qualifications is designed to help learners as they progress through life, learning and work. I hope that as many people as possible will take a look at our proposals, let us know what they think, and help us to shape the future of young people in Wales.”