Frequently asked NVQ questions

NVQ stands for National Vocational Qualification. It was developed by industry to meet the needs of the modern workpace.

There is no exam so students build up a portfolio of assessments over the duration of their course.

Each language skill (or ‘unit’ in NVQ speak) is assessed separately i.e. in speaking, writing, reading and understanding the spoken word (listening).

The NVQ language units are based on the National Language Standards - a scale of competence which sets out the knowledge and skills needed to perform competently in another language in a business setting.

When the teacher (assessor) decides they are reading to take an assessment. There is no exam window.

Yes, the teacher can either write their own assessments or use those from a scheme of work such as the one from our scheme of work - link to materials

Yes, we have a scheme of work available which includes lesson plans, assessments, worksheets, powerpoints and interactive whiteboard activities – infact everything you would need! - link to materials

It depends which scheme you use. The ilanguages scheme contains 3 assessments per skill at level 1 and 14 at level 2.

No, the NVQ is designed to be flexible. Students can do any number of skills, for example a student could achieve a level 1 Award in speaking.

There are seven levels at NVQ but schools tend to deliver one and two. A few schools deliver level 3 in year 12.

The NVQ is a recognised qualification and the units carry points for school performance tables.

A level 1 Diploma needs 120 hours of Guided Learning Hours. A level 2 Diploma needs 180 hours.

The Guided Learning Hours value for a level 1 Award is 79 hours and a level 2 has a GLH value of 98. Therefore the Award or Certificate could be used as part of the ASL but you would need to add something to it to make up the required number of hours.

A student will gain an ‘Award’ in the language at level 1 and a ‘Certificate’ at level 2 and 3. Level 4 is known as a ‘Diploma’.
If students only do one or two skills, even at level 2, this will still be classed as a ‘Certificate’

It depends on the student but the following table is a rough guide:

The NVQ is designed to be achievable. As there is no exam, pupils learn in bite sized chunks and then do regular assessments. This makes the learning far more manageable than cramming two years of learning into one exam.

After each assessment, the assessor (teacher) gives constructive and supportive feedback. This is a crucial stage in the NVQ process. A student who does not achieve an assessment first time round can revisit it more than once.

Level one is very straightforward, level two does increase in level of difficulty. However, students are allowed to use reference materials such as their notes, vocabularly lists and dictionaries during assessments. In fact, referencing is one of the skills assessed in NVQ.

Not at all! The NVQ is designed to simulate the business world. In real life, a person in the workplace would not be operating in an exam like environment and would use whatever support was required to do a language related task whether it was translating a fax or listening to a voicemail from overseas.

Schools deliver the NVQ in different ways, for example:

• Level 1 in year 9 and then level 2 over year 10 and 11
• NVQ from scratch in year 10, focusing on level 1 materials as foundation for a term and then start level 2 and the assessments in the second term.
• Level 1 in one language in year 10 and a further level 1 in a different language at level 2
• Early entry GCSE in years 9 and 10 and NVQ level 2 in year 11
• Level 3 in year 12 and/or 13
• GCSE at KS4 and level 2 at lunch time or after school as an additional qualification

For grade A-C students, the GCSE is the more appropriate route, particularly for those wishing to go to A level standard. However GCSE students may wish to take an NVQ at lunch times or after school in order to gain an additional qualification and to develop their business vocabulary.
For students who are a borderline ‘C/D’ the NVQ may be more suitable, particularly as a level 2 NVQ is worth the same number of points as a ‘B’ at GCSE.
For students who are below average, the NVQ is the ideal route because of its structure. The teacher can decide whether a student should do some or all of the skills.

The NVQ is content free in that it can be applied to any industry. Our materials focus on topics such as:

• business introductions
• dealing with business visitors
• making appointments and reservations
• travel arrangements
• socialising with business colleagues
• communications
• work experience abroad

Initially we recommend you book onto our one day training courses so that you fully understand the requirements to set up the NVQ pathway in your school. At least one person in the department, preferably the person delivering the NVQ needs to gain their Assessor qualification. This is actually an NVQ level 3 course. Teachers should ideally be teaching the NVQ whilst doing the course. You build up a portfolio of evidence over time based on your experience of delivering the NVQ language units to your students. You only need two students however to based your evidence on so you could select a couple of willing GCSE students to do a couple of assessments.

There are many training organisations round the UK delivering Assessor training. Our training adds an extra dimension, it focuses on the NVQ language standards and business language teaching methodology. Other courses tend to be generic in nature and so you could end up training with people from a wide variety of industries such as plumbing or hairdressing without a particular focus on languages. Link to Assessor Training page

OCR and Edexcel are the main awarding bodies for NVQ languages

Students need to be registered through approved NVQ centres which will provide you with guidance and support. You may wish to use an existing centre or set up your own. We run an approved centre and our trainee assessors usually put their candidates through our centre in the first instance. Once teachers get established with the NVQ, they tend to set up their own centres. We also run centre set up training which is a one day course and will save you a lot of time.

Ten weeks before the claim for the NVQ needs to be made. Your centre will inform you of the date for registration.

A school would need to follow the application procedure of one of the awarding bodies. We run centre set up training in conjunction with OCR. Link to centre set up page.