Standards & Qualifications
Employers can influence qualification development through Sector Skills Councils.
As a result of working closely with Employers from the sector, Proskills has developed a Qualifications Strategy and Action Plan reflecting the current and future needs of employers and learners. The new qualifications will lead to more flexibility, providing the breadth and depth necessary to meet the demands from changes in job descriptions and career progressions.
Supporting the Qualifications Strategy is sound market research based on primary sources gained from questionnaires, telephone and face to face interviews with employers and key stakeholders in the sector.
This programme of work was developed with employers and other key stakeholders through the Industry Qualification Reform Groups, who also monitor the implementation of the strategy. For more information click here. If you would like to join the group please contact Diane Weatherup on 07795 011 812 or diane.weatherup@proskills.co.uk
The Qualifications & Credit Framework is currently being rolled out across Northern Ireland (and England and Wales). This means that vocational and work related qualifications are changing. The QCF aims to make the vocational qualifications easier to understand, more accessible to a wider range of learners and more relevant to learners’ and employers’ needs. All enrollments on funded programmes such as ApprenticeshipsNI, Training for Success or Steps to Work programmes will award QCF qualifications. The QCF also now gives employers the opportunity to have their existing in-house training recognised under the QCF allowing them to develop their own units or whole qualifications.
For more information about the QCF please contact Diane Weatherup or visit: www.nivqrp.org.uk
To get a list of all regulated QCF qualifications available in Northern Ireland visit the National Database of Accredited Qualifications at
For more information please click on the links below:
- Proskills Sector Qualifications Strategy for Building Products, Coatings, Extractives, Glass and Print
- Furniture Qualifications Strategy
- Glazed Ceramics Qualifications Strategy
- Paper Sector Qualifications Strategy
- Action Plan
- Northern Ireland qualification outcomes
- Northern Ireland other qualification outcomes
For more information about each industry, click on the relevant links below: