HL Deb 19 April 1995 vol 563 cc482-3

2.46 p.m.

Lord Quirk asked Her Majesty's Government:

To what extent they are satisfied with progress in addressing the criticisms of General National Vocational Qualifications made in the OFSTED Report of October 1994.

Lord Lucas

My Lords, the Government set out in March last year a clear plan of action for GNVQ improvement which has been strengthened in the light of the OFSTED report. NCVQ and the three GNVQ awarding bodies have been taking this work forward and we are pleased with the progress that has been made so far.

Lord Quirk

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that response. Is it not the case that it is the immense popularity and enthusiasm for the GNVQ's that makes us anxious that if the OFSTED criticisms are not vigorously and rapidly met the enthusiasm will turn to sour disillusion? Is the Minister not aware that the criticisms are addressed to all three of the relevant bodies—the schools, the awarding bodies and the National Council itself; that some of the criticisms were already raised in a report made a year earlier by OFSTED, and that some of these refer in fact to the division of responsibility between the awarding bodies and the National Council?

Lord Lucas

Yes, my Lords, I agree with much of what the noble Lord said. When the GNVQ system was introduced it was in many ways a very new system. We of course knew that it would turn out to have many faults. The question is how they should be dealt with. To our mind they have been dealt with extremely well. I believe that there is a common, and right, perception that a lot of the faults in the system have been shown up as overload on the teachers. The teachers have responded to that extraordinarily well, not least because I believe that they see how good the examinations are for their pupils and how much hope they offer for the future. But we clearly need to deal with these problems. We are bringing in a number of important changes in September and will doubtless follow them with others.

Baroness David

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the criticisms made show the need for a review of the whole area of post-16 qualifications to ensure that courses for academic and vocational qualifications are equally well prepared and equally valued? Does he further agree that a unified qualification for post-16 year-olds is what is really needed?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, apart from the last part of the noble Baroness's question, I do not think that I would disagree with her at all. As she will be aware, we have just announced such a review. The question of whether the qualification should be a unified one or a number of separate qualifications which are made coherent and properly linked is one on which we can have a long debate. But I believe that the option that we are pursuing of a coherent series of linked examinations is likely to prove much more flexible in covering a very wide range of requirements.

Lord Quirk

My Lords, is it the case that of the 160,000 who are currently registered for GNVQ only 2 or 3 per cent. have opted for the manufacturing option? If that is true, what explanation can the Minister offer? May I ask also whether it is the case that about half of the 160,000 who are currently registered for GNVQ are going for the advanced GNVQ and whether that is a sign that the advanced GNVQ is achieving that longed-for parity of esteem with the advanced level of GCE?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, to answer the second question first, yes. We believe that that parity of esteem is on the way to being achieved. Clearly, one needs a little bit of history and a little experience before one can say that it has actually been achieved, but we are confident that we are moving in the right direction. Perhaps I may characterise the manufacturing GNVQ as the runt of the litter: it has not done as well as the other qualifications. We are giving it particular attention and support. If I were to hazard a guess as to its problems, I think that it has been directed a little astray from where it should have been and therefore has not proved as attractive to industry and people interested in industry as should have been the case.

Baroness David

My Lords, following the Minister's earlier answer to the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, when he mentioned the "overload on teachers", what is being done to make the teachers' load less heavy in the light of what we know about the teachers' situation at the moment?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, I shall write to the noble Baroness with the details, but it is very much involved with reducing the burdens of assessment and record-keeping and with ensuring that the whole system works to remove unnecessary bureaucratic overload.