Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to integrate increased levels of modular assessment in Further and Technical Education at (a) Level 3 and (b) lower levels.

The department is reviewing post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below to ensure that every qualification approved for public funding has a distinct purpose, is high quality, and supports progression to positive outcomes.

Our second stage consultation on level 3 advanced technical qualifications (https://consult.education.gov.uk/post-16-qualifications-review-team/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3/) closed on 31 January 2021, and our call for evidence (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/post-16-study-at-level-2-and-below-call-for-evidence) on level 2 and below qualifications closed on 14 February 2021.

In the level 3 consultation, we proposed that assessing a student’s competence at the end of a course (summative assessment) becomes a key feature of technical education.

Summative assessment allows modular delivery of content but gives greater assurance that competence is achieved by assessing knowledge, skills, and behaviours once all learning has been completed. We are considering the circumstances under which it would appropriate for qualifications to diverge from this model.

We are carefully reviewing the responses to the level 3 consultation and plan to publish the government response later in the spring. We are developing proposals for consultation on level 2 and below and are considering which design principles might best meet students’ needs.