The biggest shake-up of our education qualification system in many years is imminent, writes Brian Mooney
The deadline for tens of thousands of students to make their final course choices for application to college places in September 2004 passed yesterday. Now that their choices have been finalised, the Department of Education and Science is about to announce the biggest shake-up of our qualifications system in many years.
These changes will not only affect those applying to college in 2004. They will also affect all students currently studying for certificate and diploma courses in colleges throughout the State.
They mean that anyone who has applied for any course on the certificate/diploma list this year, either through their initial CAO application or through the change of mind process, will now be offered either a higher national certificate or an ordinary degree.
These new structures are the culmination of three years' work by the National Qualifications Authority, formed in February 2001 to establish and maintain a national framework of qualifications and to promote and facilitate access to, transfer from, and progression between various qualifications.
They have attempted to reach as broad a consensus as possible between the various awarding bodies regarding the changes necessary to facilitate the maximum level of public access to qualifications of all types.
Earlier this year, the authority proposed a 10-level framework of qualifications, into which every qualification available in Ireland would fit. It was then up to the awarding bodies, the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), the State Examination Commission (SEC), the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the universities to agree where every one of their qualifications would fit in this 10-stage process.
This was a mammoth task, as all these separate organisations were being asked to agree the value of every award given in Ireland, with a view to accepting them as entry qualifications.
Some of the levels were non-contentious. Level one awards recognise basic literacy and numeracy. Level two awards recognise the ability to learn new skills in a supervised environment. Level three awards recognise outcomes that confer a minimum employability for low-skill jobs. This would correspond to Junior Certificate standard.
Level four awards recognise outcomes which correspond to ordinary-level Leaving Certificate, and would be regarded as facilitating entry to a range of occupations.
Level five awards introduce a level of theoretical understanding and correspond to higher-level Leaving Certificate standard. As most students take a mixture of ordinary and higher level papers in the Leaving Certificate, it can be difficult to make neat divisions between level four and five awards.
The real difficulty arose at levels six, seven and eight, covering everything from certificate courses in institutes of technology to honours degrees in universities. It was in this area that most of the problems developed, with colleges jockeying for position to ensure the maximum level of recognition for their courses.
Colleges have now agreed an entirely new system of qualifications, to be announced next Tuesday. From this September, all students currently studying for or starting into certificate courses will be awarded a Higher National Certificate at level six.
All students currently studying for or entering into diploma courses will be awarded an ordinary bachelor's degree on successful completion of their course at level seven.
Students starting into or currently studying standard degree programmes will be awarded an honours bachelor's degree upon successful completion of their degree, awarded at level eight.
The colleges will introduce whatever changes are necessary to their existing courses to justify the new system of awards, which may lead to some changes for existing students in the remaining years of their course. Students who have just completed certificate and diploma programmes will be awarded these qualifications in the autumn. Students who have to repeat some papers in these courses may receive the existing qualifications next year. All other students will start to receive the new awards from 2005 onwards.
So what is the main benefit of this new system? Well, all colleges will now have total clarity regarding the level of qualification of awards, offered by every other college in the country. All colleges are in agreement as to the value of each other's awards. It is as if the colleges had agreed to a totally new currency, which enables an exact value to be placed on every qualification. This will also facilitate far greater movement by students between colleges, given the agreed level of value attached to each course. In the past it was up to each college to decide whether to recognise any particular qualification for entry to one of their courses.
From an employers' perspective, the new system will enable them to judge a candidate's qualifications and skills from the award level the student has reached. As awards at the same level are designed to recognise particular levels of competencies, this should make it easier for employers to evaluate each candidate's qualifications.
The final two levels in the National Qualifications Awards system do not present any difficulty to colleges. Level nine awards recognise postgraduate diplomas and master's degrees. The highest level of award, at level 10, recognises doctoral degrees.
Those considering studying for any qualification need to understand that the new system of awards is not necessarily dependent upon completing each level. It is perfectly possible for someone who left school at an early age without receiving a Leaving Certificate to return to education through an access programme at an institute of technology or a university.
They can then proceed directly to a degree programme at level eight, if the college judges that the prospective student had gained the necessary competencies through life experience to undertake the rigours of a full degree programme.
Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors and an Irish Times columnist.