National Qualifications Framework

What is the National Qualifications Framework?

The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is a framework which illustrates the level and category of those qualifications, which have been accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which enable recognition of candidates' achievements and which facilitate career progression.

The NQF was established by QCA in order to:

• Widen participation and promote life-long learning
• Clarify the relationships between qualifications, including broad equivalences and routes of progression
• Facilitate choice and combination of qualification types and breadth of study or specialism within a particular area, where necessary, for progression
• Allow reasonable choice and scope across different qualification types for innovation, whilst avoiding unnecessary overlap and duplication, and command public and professional confidence in the qualifications system

[Source: Arrangements for the Statutory Regulations of External Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, QCA 2000]

Further information regarding the NQF is provided on the QCA web site (www.qca.org.uk/nq/framework).