On 16th May Ofqual published its General Conditions of Recognition and Criteria for Recognition for Awarding Organisations and their qualifications. Friday 18th May 2012 is the deadline for the submission of a statement of compliance and associated self-evaluation to assure the regulator that its requirements can continue to be met.
This new regulatory approach moves the regulatory focus from the accreditation of qualifications to the recognition of awarding organisations. The change of focus is likely to mean that awarding organisations will need to review all areas of governance, management and operations to ensure that they are ‘fit for purpose’ and meet the Ofqual requirements.
Ofqual staff will be visiting each awarding organisation to ensure that its new requirements are understood fully but they will not be able to give advice to AOs as they seek to respond to the new requirements.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the first of the regulator’s responses to frequently asked questions from AOs are to do with governance and the suitability for continuing recognition of an awarding organisation. When you get a question from an AO along the lines of ‘are some criminal convictions more serious than others’ or ‘what must we do if we have a Senior Officer with an unspent conviction’ you wonder whether you should read any further!
‘Conflicts of interest’ is another area which caused concern for AOs and the problem here is that an answer to the predicament of an awarding organisation does depend on the exact circumstances in which they find themselves. Sometimes Ofqual’ only available response is to refer the questioner back to the ‘Conditions and Criteria’.
Ofqual state that the ‘conditions and criteria’ are intended to specify WHAT awarding organisations must achieve not HOW they should achieve it. Many of the answers to the frequently asked questions posed by AOs include the response ‘it is for the awarding organisation to decide’ or ‘an awarding organisation must make a judgement’. The right answers will all depend on the circumstances in which the staff of the awarding organisation find themselves.
Some key terms are not defined by Ofqual. In the section on resources for example there is the reference to the ‘efficient’ development, delivery and award of qualifications. AOs ask Ofqual for its interpretation of ‘efficient’ and in the response Ofqual falls back on the term ‘being given its ordinary meaning in English’ – undertaken without wasted resources, effort, time or money - if that is helpful!
The document on the Statutory Regulation of Qualifications published by QCA in 2000 was the first attempt at making regulation work for qualifications and the organisations which offer them. Often the decision making process was more ‘art than science’ and relied on staff at QCA getting to know and appreciate the ambitions and dedication of the awarding body as it did the awarding body appreciating the regulatory framework. The new approach by Ofqual is very different but will raise many of the same issues encountered previously.
A number of the questions received from AOs were not about the ‘conditions and criteria’ but about the approach to regulation. ‘Taking Regulatory Action’ was published by Ofqual on 22 June 2011 and sets out how the regulator intends to apply its powers. The new publication creates a whole new set of uncertainties about how Ofqual intends to regulate and what the impact will be on awarding organisations which are struggling to survive the new wave of regulation.
