CAVA News

CAVA staff were pleased to be part of an international audience of over 900 people who attended the QAA online Conference ‘High Quality Life-long Learning for All’ in September 2024. The event featured a diverse lineup of speakers, including university faculty, media representatives and a fireside chat with Professor Dame Alison Wolf, Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, a key figure in the implementation of the 2023 Lifelong Learning Act. The conference focused on the impact of the  Lifelong Learning Entitlement  which comes into effect from September 2025. The QAA Conference highlighted the transformative potential of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) in reshaping the landscape of education and training in the UK. As the LLE approaches implementation, it's important for FE and HE providers to understand its implications and prepare accordingly. The LLE presents an opportunity to rethink traditional educational approaches. Instead of focusing solely on pre-career learning, institu...

  As the new academic year begins, here is a reminder  of the recent changes to the QAA grading scheme that are now in effect. These changes have been implemented to enhance the structure of qualifications and the assessment process, impacting how students' work is graded and how their study programmes are organised. Changes to the Grading Scheme Simplification of Grading Descriptors   From Seven to Three:  The seven grade descriptors previously used have been replaced with three grading standards: Knowledge and Understanding, Subject Specific Skills and Transferable Skills. These three new grading standards must be applied to all units and assessments, simplifying the grading process and making it clearer for both students and educators to understand the criteria for each grade.   Unit-Level Grading   Grading on Completion:  The new grading standards are applied at unit level only after  all  unit learning outcomes for a unit have been compl...