§ Mr. Gerald Bowdenasked the Secretary of Stale for Education and Science what progress has been made in introducing the new certificate of pre-vocational education.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe Joint Board for Pre-Vocational Education, which will be responsible for this new qualification, has been established by the City and Guilds of London Institute and the Business and Technician Education Council at my invitation. It consists of members nominated by those two bodies and by the Royal Society of Arts and the GCE and CSE examining boards. The membership represents a wide range of experience from schools, further education colleges, local authorities and industry. The board has already begun its work on an interim basis: I hope to make an announcement about the chairmanship shortly.
The joint board has confirmed interim arrangements under which the CPVE will be available to candidates in both schools and colleges starting courses this September. These arrangements are based on courses leading to CGLI, BTEC and RSA qualifications. It is intended that separate courses leading to the Certificate of Extended Education should continue to be available until September 1985 when the joint board plans to introduce the CPVE in a substantive form. The Department has accordingly written to the GCE and CSE boards approving a final extension of CEE schemes to include those starting in the school year 1984–85.