Mike Cresswell - Assessment and Qualifications Alliance

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Ahead of the second reading of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill next week, ePolitix.com speaks to Mike Cresswell, director general at the AQA, about proposals to empower the new qualifications regulator Ofqual.

Question: What aspects of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill are a priority for AQA?

Mike Cresswell: AQA is especially interested in the proposals in the Bill to empower the new qualifications watchdog Ofqual. Over the course of the recent consultation on Ofqual, we have been pleased with indications that the new regulator will adopt a more strategic approach to qualification regulation than its predecessor. We believe detailed regulatory involvement in procedural matters tends to stifle innovation without, in itself, guaranteeing standards.

Question: Does the bill create the 'regulator with teeth' you are on record as calling for?

Mike Cresswell: There is currently one specific omission from the government's proposals which is crucial: to be able to discharge its primary purpose as the strategic regulator of the qualifications market, Ofqual must be empowered to intervene, if necessary, to ensure the setting and maintenance of appropriate examination standards.

Question: Why does Ofqual need such powers?

Mike Cresswell: Ofqual needs to be given an explicit statutory power to enable it, if necessary, to direct an awarding body to set standards at a particular level. It needs to have this power so that it can give credible public assurance that standards are comparable between awarding bodies and maintained over time.

We really want an end to the sterile annual debate about allegations of falling standards, which help no one and frequently damage the sense of achievement for students. The public needs to have the confidence that we have a strong and credible regulator which can give an unequivocal assurance that standards are being maintained. This is of particular importance to those large numbers of students who rely year-by-year on a robust qualifications framework as a key to their future career or further and higher educational prospects.

It is essential that Ofqual has this power in place from the outset to guarantee public confidence about the standards set in the new A-levels, GCSEs, diplomas and functional skills assessments which are being introduced over the next few years.

Question: What role will the new Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) have in setting educational standards?

Mike Cresswell: QCDA will be working closely with awarding bodies and drawing on thinking from learners, deliverers, higher education, employers and others in meeting its prime objective of promoting quality and coherence in education in England. In doing so we hope it will also promote and stimulate thinking about and provide opportunities for innovation in the curriculum. Success in this area will be key to ensuring that students are provided with engaging and motivating courses of study which maximise their involvement with and achievements from their education experience.

In order to ensure that the qualifications that support the curriculum are fit for purpose, including meeting the requirements of national standards, it will be vital that QCDA works closely with Ofqual to ensure a seamless approach to the development and accreditation of new qualifications.

To ensure confidence in educational qualifications, it is essential to have a consistent regulatory approach across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While Scotland is recognised as having a separate qualifications system, there is a risk of considerable confusion for users of qualifications if there are differing requirements for learners across the three countries utilising the same system of qualifications.

Question: What do you think of the proposals to hand the commissioning and funding of 16 to 19 education to local authorities?

Mike Cresswell: This is clearly a matter for government. This approach supports the suggestions in the Learning From Experience – Schools commissioning by local authorities initiative. It offers the opportunity for flexibility in the decision making process to ensure that local issues and needs are met in a relevant and co-ordinated way.

We work closely already with local authorities as well as with individual schools and we would clearly want to ensure that our links were strengthened if there is greater local control over funding to ensure that all local authorities are fully informed about our full range of specifications and that we are meeting their various needs. This could offer the opportunity for local initiatives to have a greater influence over some of the specification developments to ensure that their specific needs are being met. The diploma developments have illustrated the opportunities for successful partnerships between local authorities, schools, colleges and employers to be established: this proposal could enhance these developments.