The modifications made to the SASE guidelines has meant there is now wider scope for Apprentices to use evidence of their prior achievement of Transferable Skills as part of the requirements to achieve their Apprenticeship Completion Certificate.
The removal of the requirement commonly known as the ‘5 year rule’, where qualifications such as Key Skills and pre-2012 GCSEs were considered unacceptable for certification if achieved more than 5 years prior to the start of an Apprenticeship, has seen an increase in the range of Transferable Skill achievement evidence being submitted on ACE.
Qualifications that have come back into scope are Key Skills, achieved as part of a GNVQ.
GNVQ qualifications related to occupational areas in general, rather than any specific job and could be taken in a wide range of subjects. There were two levels of GNVQ: the Intermediate level, equivalent to four General Certificates of Secondary Education, and Advanced level, equivalent to two Advanced-level General Certificates of Education. The last GNVQs were awarded in 2007.
From their introduction in 1993, Key Skills were part of the GNVQ curriculum. Three of these Key Skills were compulsory – Communication, Application of Number and Information Technology.
Achievement of these Key Skills can be accepted as meeting SASE Transferable Skills requirements as long as the following conditions are met:
- The Apprenticeship start date was on, or after, 6th April 2015.
- The achievement evidence presented clearly lists the individual Key Skill qualification/s achieved i.e. Communication, Application of Number or Information Technology and that each has been achieved.
- The Key Skills achieved are at the correct level, as per specific framework requirements.
- The achievement evidence presented meets all of the other data requirements, as per examples shown.
Created 28.3.16
