Edexcel has today (9th July) welcomed the Skills Strategy, particularly the proposal to bring together activity at a local level through skills alliances and make the qualifications framework more responsive.

But tonight, at Edexcel’s national awards celebrations with the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP, Chief Executive John Kerr will urge him and his policy makers to make more use of the knowledge held by Edexcel and other vocational awarding bodies - those who develop vocational qualifications with employers for students.

Commenting on the Skills Strategy Paper, John Kerr said:  “We have the largest pool and the longest experience of delivering vocational qualifications and we can draw on the expertise of over 16,000 assessment experts, many of whom teach these very qualifications.  We are working at the education coal-face.  We are hands-on and know what’s going on in schools and colleges.  We are already engaged in upskilling and educating the existing British workforce and shaping the workforce of tomorrow.

“We would ask the Secretary of State and his policy team not to side-line us but include us in the policy shaping to help them deliver their vision.”

Edexcel is well into a new programme of meeting with LSCs and SSCs around the country to discuss exactly these issues.  It meets regularly with employers who are integral to the development of BTEC qualifications, which already offers a complete ladder of internationally-recognised vocational qualifications, designed with and for employers, from GCSE and A level standard taught in schools and FE Colleges through our BTEC Firsts and Nationals, to the sub-degree HND programme and on to post-graduate BTEC Diplomas.

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