The Live Wire

Policy Updates

You can read an interview with Bill Alexander, our director of curriculum and assessment, in the 25 June 2010 issue of the Times Educational Supplement.

Bill talks about the issue of equivalence between different types of qualifications. League tables treat different qualifications as equivalent; it is therefore Ofqual's role to demonstrate that this equivalence is valid.

We are concerned and surprised that this crucial issue has been little mentioned in the report from the Ofqual Consultation on Regulation for Confidence in Standards, when it has such impact on teachers, students and parents. While it is central to the remit of the regulator to ensure consistency of standards within any one family of qualifications, it is also essential to ensure the equivalence of qualifications which have equal value in performance tables or in selection processes.

What is important going forward is how Ofqual delivers its responsibilities, and we will be following with great interest the way in which they address the critical issues of definition in standards and the need to determine credible equivalency between families of qualifications. It is far from clear that these potential 'elephants in the room' are getting sufficient detail at present.

Assessment and Qualifications Alliance

Assessment and Qualifications Alliance

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