Qualifications market: what does the picture look like?
20 July 2017
Ofqual has published its annual report on the qualifications market (2015/2016).
The report provides a picture of the qualifications available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by recognised exam boards and changes in take up from one year to the next.
The main findings include:
- Just under 15 million certificates were awarded in 2015 to 2016, 7% fewer than in 2014 to 2015. The fall was driven largely by a fall in the number of Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications awarded.
- The number of awarding organisations recognised by Ofqual was 156 - this is 7 fewer than a year earlier.
- The number of available qualifications increased by 3% compared to 2014/15 to just over 36,000, of which about 14,550 had an award made (42% of available qualifications).
- 20 awarding organisations accounted for 90% of all certificates awarded during the academic year.
- More certificates were awarded in the science and mathematics subject area than any other in 2015/16 (21% of all certificates awarded).
Ofqual reports that changes in the development and take up of qualifications could have been influenced by a range of factors during this time period including GCSE, AS and A Level reform, school performance measures and funding changes.