Press Release
Date: Thursday 10 June 2004 (NR/17/04)
Ensuring learning is a truly international currency
Educationalists from across the British Isles met today in Northern Ireland to take forward the work of ensuring comparability of qualifications throughout the home countries, Europe and beyond.
The event which took place at the Culloden Hotel, Cultra was hosted by
local exams regulator, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and
Assessment (CCEA).
Delegates were welcomed by Will Haire, Permanent Secretary of the Department
of Employment and Learning, who underlined the vital importance of qualifications
and the related frameworks.
CCEA Chief Executive Gavin Boyd commented:
“At a time when people are becoming more and more mobile in taking up work and education opportunities, we want to ensure that the qualifications they carry with them act as a passport to employment, wherever they go.
We also want to give employers an easy to understand guide to the wide range of general, vocational and occupational qualifications that potential employees now possess, and the currency those qualifications carry.
In Northern Ireland, England and Wales considerable effort has already gone in to creating a common qualifications framework. Today we’re meeting with our counterparts in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland to further align all three of the qualification frameworks in the British Isles.
We will also be looking at the steps needed to carry work forward in creating more comparability with developments in Europe.”
The five regulators meeting today at the Culloden Hotel, Belfast are:
• Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (Northern
Ireland)
• Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (England)
• Scottish Qualifications Authority (Scotland)
• National Qualification Authority of Ireland (Rep of Ireland)
• Qualifications Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales (Wales)
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
