International Technology Qualifications

This is the Home page of the New INGOTs, INGOT 2.0

The New INGOTs are based on the ITQ, the UK National Vocational Qualification

Referenced to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF)

One notable fact about the Schools ITQ is that it is significantly less expensive than conventional equivalent qualifications. The Schools ITQ at level 2 provides 92 points in schools in England, equivalent to two Grade Bs at GCSE. The cost of two GCSEs is typically around £50 per candidate. The cost of achieving the Schools ITQ can be less than £10 per candidate saving a school with a cohort of 200 learners £8000 per year. What is more the way we run subscriptions, a secondary school can provide up to 5 feeder schools and up to 100 learners in the wider community with certification at no additional cost. A specialist school can fund the entire system from its community plan budget and that would save £10,000 a year from the exam budget.

How can we do this?

The first thing is that we designed a qualification that is fundamentally linked to internet technologies based on open standards. These technologies are free for all to use. There are no proprietary licensing costs, far simpler maintenance and this is the way the world is moving. There is just huge inertia in legacy systems and schools are free to use whatever technologies they want, we just won't force you to buy software you don't really need. In accordance with the spirit of the HMI Report "The Importance of ICT" we want to provide a focus for preparing children to learn how to learn. They need flexible understanding incorporating PLTS, teamworking and collaborative skills to deal with the technologies of tomorrow, not entrenchment in the desktop legacy of yesterday.

The second thing is that we have made better use of existing resources. Rather than adding yet another discrete layer of demand on teachers we have taken things that all good teachers should be doing in any case. AfL, APP, coverage of the National Curriculum Programmes of Study, support for Functional Skills, planning cross-phase progression etc all rationalised so as to give more reward to learners and easier management for teachers. The new ITQ was developed by e-skills as part of the qualifications reform programme to enable such innovation. We have simply taken the opportunity to use the reforms in a positive way to reduce costs and the bureaucractic overhead for teachers while bringing learning up to date.

More reward, less administrative bureaucracy

Our maxim is to motivate learners by rewarding what they achieve and minimise the administrative load and cost to the school. This means more resources can be put into learning and motivating learners with less waste on administrative paper work and out-dated and in some case bad ways of implementing IT. Motivated learners are easier to teach.

ITQ for Schools and ITQ for adults

There are two variants of the ITQ linked from here:

• The Schools ITQ
• The Open ITQ

The schools ITQ is designed for use in UK schools. It has mandatory units and guidance that ensure that the programmes of study and attainment targets of the UK National Curriculum for schools is completed. At the same time the requirements for the ITQ qualifications are met leading to the award of the National Vocational Qualification at Level 1 or Level 2 or a support award at Entry Level. All these awards are referenced to the European Qualifications Framework through the UK Qualifications and Credit Framework. Each qualification is assessed using the INGOT method of direct criteria matching by trained assessors using supporting evidence from an e-portfolio. The certification levels achieved in the QCF are directly mapped to National Curriculum levels and so National Curriculum assessment requirements are fully supported as well as leading to a vocational qualification.

The Open ITQ removes the constraints of the UK Schools National Curriculum. It is assessed using the INGOT method of direct criteria matching by trained assessors using supporting evidence from an e-portfolio but there is no need to reference the National Curriculum or its programmes of study.