20/07/2017
Small and micro employers’ reluctance or inability to take advantage of new training opportunities could place them at a further disadvantage with larger competitors, suggests the first major survey of English employers to be conducted against the backdrop of the current flux in qualifications and assessments.
Among wide-ranging findings, ‘Ofqual’s employer qualification perceptions survey’ reveals that large companies are significantly more likely than small and micro firms to
- arrange or fund training that leads to a qualification
- report greater awareness and understanding of qualifications and assessments
- report more positive perceptions of qualifications and assessments
- report involvement in development of qualifications or apprenticeships
With major reform of apprenticeship assessment and functional skills in English and Maths underway and the introduction of the flagship ‘T level System’ * imminent, the survey is the pilot for a planned series that will inform the way Ofqual engages with businesses of different sizes, in 18 different sectors across the nine geographical areas of England.
Conducted this spring, it sought the views of a representative sample of 2,000 English employers on the following three groups of qualifications and assessments
- functional skills qualifications in Maths and English
- vocational and technical qualifications
- apprenticeship end point assessments
Its core objectives were to
- understand and assess employers’ overall perceptions of, and confidence in, specific qualifications and assessments
- determine employers’ use of such qualifications and assessments when recruiting new staff
- determine employers’ use of such qualifications and assessments as part of staff training programmes
* ‘T Level System’ aims to put technical and vocational education on a par with academic work and increase productivity to a world class level. Under the plans announced in Budget 2016, it will increase the number of hours students train by 50% and replace the current 13,000 qualifications with 15. £500m a year extra funding will be made available to pay for it.