Qualifications Wales streamlines education in construction

Qualifications Wales announced the simplification of the education and training industry in Wales through replacement of hundreds of existing qualifications with just eight new qualifications on Tuesday.

It was announced that the contracts to design and deliver the new qualifications were awarded to a consortium of City and Guilds and EAL, who are both awarding bodies in the sector, and will include post-16 Foundation, Progression, and Apprenticeship qualifications.

The new qualifications will be designed to ensure that young people are equipped with the skills and knowledge to get ahead in their future careers while also providing flexible and comprehensive progression routes into employment.

Qualifications Wales’s Director of Qualifications Policy & Reform, Cassy Taylor stated: “The Construction and Building Services sectors are large, diverse and a priority for Wales, and the new qualifications are being developed to meet the changing needs of the industry.

“They’ll enable workers to understand the role of new technologies in the sector but will also give them the ability to maintain and repair the traditional buildings and structures we have in Wales.”

Welcomed by industry leaders, the new qualifications will include a Foundation qualification in Construction and the Built Environment as well as both Progression and Apprenticeship qualifications in Building Services Engineering and Construction. These qualifications will be ready for first teaching in September 2021.

Kirstie Donnelly, Managing Director, City & Guilds Group, stated: “Qualifications Wales is leading the way in streamlining the approach to post-16 vocational qualifications and driving up standards, and we are pleased to be working together to develop qualifications that meet the needs of employers, learners and the wider community.

“We are also looking forward to building on the great relationship we’ve developed with Qualifications Wales through the City and Guilds/WJEC health and social care and childcare qualifications launching in September and taking standards to the next level to support vital skills development in Wales.”

In addition to the above qualifications, Qualifications Wales is also working alongside WJEC to devise criteria for a new GCSE in the Built Environment for implementation by September 2021 and a new AS/A level in the Built Environment for implementation in September 2022.

Managing Director of EAL, Alison Parkes added: “As the leading specialist awarding organisation in engineering we are immensely proud, in partnership with City & Guilds, to have been appointed by Qualifications Wales to support them in the reshaping of the skills landscape for Construction and the Built Environment – a pivotal sector in the Welsh economy.”

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