UKCES

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The UK Regulatory Authorities (RAs), QCA, ACCAC, CCEA and SQA, working with these organisations and other strategic partners, have a responsibility to reform and rationalise vocational qualifications to ensure they support workforce development and the needs of individual learners. Sector Qualifications Strategies (SQS) will assist in the reformation and rationalisation of vocational qualifications.

The SQS is designed to provide a UK-wide vision or ‘blueprint’ for the design, development and implementation of qualifications and/or other learning provision in each sector, which is underpinned by robust evidence of sector need and capable of supporting workforce development in years to come. The SQS should in turn provide a sound basis for planned, strategic and intensive activity by all stakeholders, to reform and rationalise provision. A SQS should:

• Provide clear statements of employers’ needs with respect to qualifications and/or other learning provision;
• Provide clarity on the broader range of skills and knowledge which will be required by that sector in the short, medium and longer term;
• Articulate what the SQS is intended to achieve, indicating what work is required to be undertaken, how the information will be gathered, who will be involved and within what timescales; and
• Enable a shared understanding of sector needs and provide the foundation for more effective partnership and collaborative working between a wide range of stakeholders.

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