AQA consultation response - Proposed subject content for post-16 L2 and L3 qualifications (for 2027) - June 2026

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by Ophelia

AQA’s June 2026 executive summary responds to the Department for Education consultation on proposed subject content for tranche 1 of new post-16 level 2 and 3 vocational qualifications to be introduced in September 2027. AQA raises specific concerns about the Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate, arguing there is a mismatch between occupational aims and a planned licence-to-practise approach, including implications for regulation and compensation. It also questions whether the Accounting and Finance V Level is sufficiently applied, distinctive, and engaging, while seeking clearer articulation of transferable skills across qualifications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Executive summary

Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate (Level 2)

Consultation questions and AQA answers

AQA consultation response Proposed subject content for post-16 L2 and L3 qualifications (for 2027) June 2026 Executive summary AQA is an independent education charity, providing high quality assessments that are fair, reliable and support students. Today, we're the largest provider of academic qualifications taught in schools and colleges. We set and mark exam papers for over half of all GCSEs and A-levels taken every year. Our qualifications are internationally recognised and taught in more than 40 countries around the world, and they're highly valued by employers and universities. And we have recently announced ambitious plans to develop and deliver all the new post-16 qualifications being introduced as part of the post-16 reforms in England, in collaboration with Training Qualifications UK (TQUK), part of the AQA Group. AQA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Department for Education's consultation on the proposed subject content for tranche 1 of the new post-16 level 2 and 3 vocational qualifications (V Levels, Foundation Certificates and Occupational Certificates), due to be introduced in September 2027 . We will be responding separately to the Ofqual consultation on regulating the qualifications. Our response highlights concerns about two of the qualifications in particular: first, the Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate, where we believe that there is a mismatch between the stated aims of Occupational Certificates – to support progression into employment in a relevant occupation – and the plan that this Occupational Certificate should be a licence to practise. We urge DfE to rearticulate the aims of this Occupational Certificate, and to ask Ofqual to consider the implications of this for its proposed regulatory approach. We are also concerned that the proposed content of the Accounting and Finance V Level is less applied than either employers or learners would expect, so the qualification risks being neither distinctive or engaging for learners, nor valued by employers. We are broadly content with the proposed content for the other subjects. However, we have a general concern about the way transferable skills in the new qualifications are articulated. Below are our answers to the consultation questions to which we responded substantively. Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate (Level 2) 1. To what extent does the proposed content enable students to achieve the aims ofthe qualification? Partly. We are concerned that there is a mismatch between the stated aims of Occupational Certificates – to support progression into employment in a relevant occupation – and the plan that the Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate should be a licence to practise, which meets DfE’s ‘full and relevant’early years qualification requirements and standards. The latter expectation is mentioned only in passing in the content document, rather than – as it should – driving every aspect of both the content and regulation of the qualification. It is not mentioned at all in the policy steer letter from the Secretary of State to Ofqual. In particular, we do not believe it is consistent to use a compensatory model at qualification level, as Ofqual proposes, in a licence to practise qualification, where all learning outcomes need to be met; the draft content sets out lots of things that learners must know and understand, but the document does not explicitly say that all learning outcomes need to be met. There is therefore a significant risk that awarding organisations will not be able to show that Occupational Certificates meet DfE’s requirements for early years qualifications, a process that requires detailed mapping. And even if the new qualifications do manage to meet the requirements, they will risk lowering the quality of qualified staff coming into the sector, which will damage the confidence of early years employers and the public, as well as progression opportunities for lear

FAQs

What is AQA’s overall position in this consultation response?

AQA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Department for Education’s consultation and highlights concerns about the Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate and the Accounting and Finance V Level. It is broadly content with proposed content for other subjects while raising concerns about how transferable skills are articulated.

Why does AQA object to the Early Years Practitioner Occupational Certificate being designed as a licence to practise?

AQA believes there is a mismatch between the aims of Occupational Certificates—supporting progression into employment—and the plan for this certificate to be a licence to practise. It also argues that compensation and regulatory expectations are not clearly aligned with a licence-to-practise model.

What concerns does AQA raise about the Accounting and Finance V Level?

AQA is concerned the proposed content is less applied than employers or learners would expect, making the qualification potentially neither distinctive nor engaging for learners and not valued by employers.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by Ophelia