Education and training services

Tender description

This is a call for competition to commission an awarding body or consortium of awarding bodies to develop a suite of Building Services and Construction qualifications (the Qualifications) to meet the needs of learners in Wales from age 16 upwards and address the issues raised during the Qualifications Wales' sector review 'Building the Future'. https://qualificationswales.org/media/3176/building-the-future.pdf These qualifications must be ready for first teaching in colleges and work-based learning environments from September 2021. Chapter 13 of 'Building the Future', the report on the sector review of Qualifications and the Qualification System in Construction and the Built Environment (“the Report”), sets out the options for reformed qualifications and proposed assessment methods. The qualifications we are proposing to commission under this concession contract are: — foundation qualification in building services, — foundation qualification in construction. These qualifications will be designed to be taken by learners aged 16-19 as the main qualification on the first year of a full-time FE building services or construction programme. The qualifications will provide learners with broad-based knowledge and understanding about the building services or construction industry as a whole, will develop softer-skills and will enable them to begin to develop practical skills in a chosen trade or trades, while also having some experience of at least one other trade. Progression qualification in building services. Progression qualification in construction. These qualifications will be designed to be taken by learners aged 16-19 within FE who have completed the foundation qualification in either building services or in construction. These qualifications will enable learners to develop their knowledge and skills either in a single trade or in more than one trade in line with the national occupational standards. The aim is to increase their readiness to enter an apprenticeship after 2 years in further education. The Progression qualifications will include an online assessment of core knowledge and understanding. We are working on the basis that both the Foundation and Progression Qualifications will be at Level 2. Apprenticeship qualification in construction. Apprenticeship qualification in building services. The level 3 Apprenticeship qualifications (with a number of different trade-specific endorsements) will be designed to provide a framework for the assessment of apprentices at the end of their apprenticeship. Assessment for the Apprenticeship qualification comprises a work-based project, an externally assessed professional discussion and an online test. In order to take the assessment, the employer must sign-off the apprentice’s completion of the apprenticeship by performing against all core National Occupational Standards (or equivalent) for the trade. Employer sign-off is not part of the qualification but is a pre-requisite for taking the assessment. Note: Within Building the Future we also discussed proposed qualifications for learners aged 14 to 16 mainly in schools and those aged 16 to 19 primarily for progression to higher education. These qualifications are not within the scope of the concession contract. We are proposing to develop approval criteria with a view to approving one or more versions of these qualifications – a GCSE and a GCE AS/A Level in Built Environment — for use in Wales. Awarding bodies, including those participating in the procurement process, will also be at liberty to submit qualifications for approval in line with the approval criteria.