In developing a talk on The New Regulatory Arena for the AO Forum on 24th May it was useful to take stock of how far vocational qualifications (NVQs, VRQs and QCF) had progressed over the previous five years. Read more 
The New Regulatory Arena
Challenges for the Qualifications Sector in 2012
There’s been high drama recently featuring the big five awarding organisations and the services they offer. Ofqual is now faced with the challenge of whether to outlaw the AO seminars for teachers which caused all the problems. Also there’s the discussion on whether to levy a fine on an AO if – or when – things go badly wrong and disadvantage candidates. A challenge for regulation is that it has become more difficult to regulate successfully now major international and commercial organisations play a major role Read more
Innovation and Regulation
I’ve spent the last two weeks organising the marketing of our range of regulatory support for awarding organisations. I’ve designed a marketing leaflet to emphasise the challenge of regulation now that Ofqual has published its new arrangements. The image for the front of the leaflet gives the message that regulation is negative, that its impact is to delay, confuse and restrict any organisation which wishes to push ahead successfully in business. The key image shows ‘one-way’ signs pointing both left and right, a ‘do not enter’ sign, a ‘dead end’ sign and a ‘stop’ sign all in bright reds and yellows. All of them together threaten to seriously impede your progress!
