PACE News
Apprenticeships - Temporary Technical Certificates
People1st after consultation with our employer implementation group,
learning providers and awarding organisations have decided to put in
place technical certificates into the following Apprenticeship
frameworks from August 2009:
Apprenticeships at level 2
- Multi-skilling
- Food Service
- Drink Service
- Food and Drink Service
- Housekeeping
- Front Office
- Food Processing
- Professional Cookery
Advanced Apprenticeships at level 3
- Professional Cookery
These technical certificates will be new qualifications developed onto the QCF covering the mandatory underpinning knowledge elements of the relevant NVQs. This will mean that the remaining assessment of the NVQ within the framework will be undertaken as normal. It will also mean that the assessment strategy can be re-written to remove the independent testing of the underpinning knowledge within a NVQ qualification that sits outside of the apprenticeship framework. These developments are being led by Edexcel on behalf of a number of awarding organisations.
These technical certificates are seen as a temporary measure until more permanent technical certificates are introduced as outlined in the Sector Qualifications Strategy Action Plan. The first of these will be in the Hospitality Supervision and Leadership Advanced Apprenticeship from August 2009. Other changes to frameworks will occur in August 2010. The Employer Implementation Group is viewing these developments as an important stepping stone:
- to prepare for the larger changes outlined above
- to protect the integrity and identify of the apprenticeship framework
- to remove the independent testing of NVQs that do not sit within Apprenticeship frameworks.
These changes are dependent on working within the apprenticeship approval process.
