Introduction

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (the 2009 Act) will establish the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) as an independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland. The legislation sets out a new framework for the regulation of qualifications and statutory national curriculum assessments and the early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile. It is planned that the provisions establishing Ofqual will be commenced on 1 April 2010, along with most of its functions. For Ofqual to be able to fulfil its statutory functions under the 2009 Act from 1 April 2010, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (the Secretary of State) has asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which is currently operating its regulatory functions under the name Ofqual, to advise him on the arrangements that should be made. It is proposed that the transitional and transitory¹ arrangements (transitional arrangements) will provide for the relevant existing regulatory arrangements under the Education Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) to be treated as arrangements under the 2009 Act until such time as Ofqual makes other provision. The intention is that these transitional arrangements should result in the minimum necessary disruption to learners and burdens on recognised awarding organisations and national curriculum and EYFS responsible bodies (responsible bodies)² consistent with being able to regulate effectively and pending the introduction of the new regulatory regime, making use of the powers under the 2009 Act. The purpose of this document is to explain and to seek views on the transitional arrangements that we propose to recommend to the Secretary of State. Two sets of provisions in the 2009 Act will not be commenced immediately, namely:

• our responsibilities in relation to the assignment of guided learning hours to qualifications for the purposes of the raising the participation age provisions in the Education and Skills Act 2008
• or reviewing the system for allocating values to qualifications in relation to the measurement of school performance

These areas are therefore not addressed in this document. In advance of these outstanding provisions being commenced the views of relevant stakeholders will be sought. This document also does not cover any transitional arrangements in relation to qualifications in Northern Ireland that are not currently regulated by interim Ofqual; we will discuss any issues there with relevant stakeholders. Views from awarding organisations and responsible bodies on these proposals will be particularly welcome. In order to inform the advice we must give to the Secretary of State by the end of February 2010, we need feedback by 25 January 2010. Our intention is to publish our advice on the transitional arrangements by early March 2010. The Secretary of State will then be able to draw on or cross-refer to this advice in the commencement order that will be made before 1 April 2010. The proposed transitional arrangements largely replicate the status quo, whilst reflecting the provisions of the 2009 Act. These transitional arrangements do not represent how Ofqual might regulate in the longer term, which is the subject of a separate consultation. However they represent what we think is a sensible starting point under the 2009 Act. We hope that awarding organisations and responsible bodies will agree that the proposed arrangements represent the best way of safeguarding standards and protecting learners. The proposed transitional arrangements will cover all regulated qualifications. Ofqual will be able to regulate all academic and vocational qualifications, other than degrees, awarded in England; and vocational qualifications (again other than degrees) awarded in Northern Ireland.³ Recognised awarding organisations in particular need to understand these transitional arrangements. Specifically, they need to understand:

• what will happen to existing recognitions and accreditations
• the general conditions of recognition that will apply initially
• the recognition and accreditation criteria that will apply initially
• the intention, initially, to continue to require that all qualifications be subject to the accreditation requirement.

Under our proposals, awarding organisations with accredited qualifications under the 1997 Act would be automatically recognised under the 2009 Act to award those specific qualifications, which will also continue to be accredited qualifications under the 2009 Act. Transitional recognition criteria will be in place to allow Ofqual to recognise any awarding organisation to award a new qualification. The transitional recognition criteria will apply until Ofqual adopts its own criteria. Any new qualifications will need to be accredited against the relevant transitional accreditation criteria. The requirement for accreditation will only be removed once we have redesigned the recognition criteria and conditions in a way that will allow us to have confidence that awarding organisations can award high-quality regulated qualifications and maintain standards without the need for all such qualifications to be accredited. We will aim to move to the position where we can start removing the accreditation requirement for some qualifications by September 2010, subject to views on the consultation on the longer term arrangements. We also set out below the general conditions of recognition that we propose should apply initially. We will monitor compliance with these conditions and, where necessary, use our enforcement powers under the 2009 Act.

1. Transitional and transitory arrangements are provisions that will have effect until Ofqual makes its own arrangements in relation to its functions under the 2009 Act. [↩]
2. Responsible bodies are those with functions that relate to the development, implementation or monitoring of assessment arrangements. For national curriculum assessments these comprise QCDA, local authorities and head teachers of maintained schools. For the EYFS profile these comprise QCDA, EYFS providers on the Early Years Register maintained by Ofsted, local authorities and the Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. [↩]
3. The Secretary of State has pursuant to relevant provisions of the 1997 Act − requested advice about the arrangements for regulating National Vocational Qualifications in Northern Ireland. [↩]