Commentary on Sections Part 4: Priority Qualifications and Approval of Qualifications Section 20: Approval criteria
47.This section requires Qualifications Wales to publish the criteria it uses to decide whether or not to approve a form of qualification. There may be a range of different criteria – for example, for different descriptions of qualifications such as ‘all GCSEs’ or for ‘all qualifications where performance is observed in a work environment’ or, more specifically, for ‘A level French’.
48.Qualifications Wales’s power under section 20 is broad enough to enable approval criteria to set out the knowledge, skills and understanding required in certain priority qualifications (and, in particular, restricted priority qualifications) as well as requirements relating to the assessment requirements. In considering what is appropriate to achieve its principal aims under section 3, Qualifications Wales might also engage with, for example, employers, higher education institutions and the professions to ensure that the criteria appropriately reflect their reasonable requirements.