Qualifications Credit Framework
New work-related qualifications designed to give individuals the skills that employers are looking for.
The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is a new way of recognising skills and qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does this by awarding credit for qualifications and units (small steps of learning) and enables learners to gain qualifications at their own pace along flexible routes.
The QCF is designed to allow you to learn in a way that suits you and give you the skills that employers are looking for. They are made up of units, so you can study at a pace that suits you. Over time, you can combine units in different ways to make up a complete qualification.
Benefits for learners
- Recognises smaller steps of learning and enables learners to build up qualifications bit by bit
- Helps learners achieve skills and qualifications that meet industry needs
- Enables work-based training to be nationally recognised
How will it work?
Every unit and qualification in the framework will have a credit value (one credit represents 10 hours, showing how much time and effort it takes to complete) and a level between 'entry' and level 8 (showing how difficult it is). This can be time spent learning in a variety of ways - not necessarily being taught by someone.
There are three different sizes of qualification, worth different numbers of credits. Larger qualifications will take longer to complete than smaller ones.
- Awards are worth between 1 and 12 credits, this means it takes between 10 and 120 hours to complete
- Certificates are worth between 13 and 36 are worth and take 130-360 hours to complete
- Diplomas are worth 37 credits and takes at least 370 hours to complete.
So in the new framework you can have an award at level 1 or an award at level 8. This is because the qualification type 'award, certificate, diplomas' represents the size of a qualification, not how difficult it is.
Each qualification title contains the following:
- The level of qualification (from 'entry' at the bottom to 'level 8' at the top)
- The size of qualification (award/certificate/diploma)
- Details indicating the content of the qualification
To understand the level of difficulty of the units and qualifications in the new framework it might be helpful to know that GCSEs (grade A* - C) are level 2, GCE, A levels are level 3 and a PHD degree is a level 8.
For more information about the Qualifications and Credit Framework please visit the Directgov website.
