This interactive visualisation shows the current qualification landscape for qualifications regulated by Ofqual.
The availibilty of qualifications is obtained from an extract of Ofqual's Register, and is correct as of 25 February 2021. The number of certificates are awarded during the 12 month period from the beginning of quarter 4 2019 to the end of quarter 3 2020 (1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020).
For any feedback on these graphs, please contact [email protected].
Return to the Ofqual Analytics home page.
If you need an accessible version of this information to meet specific accessibility requirements, please email [email protected] with details of your request.
1. What does this visualisation show?
The visualisation shows the number of certificates awarded from the beginning of quarter 4 2019 to the end of quarter 3 2020 (1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020) and the number of qualifications available in England and regulated by Ofqual on 25 February 2021.
2. What do the filters at the top of the page do?
You can select specific qualifications using various filter buttons at the top of the page, according to:
- Qualification level - this gives an indication of the difficulty of the qualification, with higher levels being more difficult.
- Sector subject area (SSA) - each SSA represents a broad subject domain and there are 15 altogether.
- Performance table inclusion - it is possible to focus just Performance table qualifications ie the qualifications included in the performance tables for schools and colleges for 16-19 year old provision for the academic year 2019/20, as published by the Department for Education (DfE). This data is correct at 25 February 2021.
- Qualification type - these are used to describe the nature of qualifications and are available in the Ofqual Register. The exceptions are Applied Generals, Technical Awards, Technical Certificates and Tech Levels which are taken from DfE performance tables. This information is correct at 25 February 2021.
It is also possible to search for matching terms in the qualification title. For example searching for the term 'Mandarin' will return all qualifications with 'Mandarin' in the qualification title.
3. What is meant by available qualifications?
Available qualifications are qualifications which are available for new learners to register. This information is taken from Ofqual's Register. The availability of qualifications is correct at the point in time in which the Register was extracted (25 February 2021).
The availability of qualifications may therefore be different to those published in Ofqual's Annual Qualifications Market Report, where the availability is determined from whether or not a candidate could certify in a particular qualification during an academic year.
4. What does the table show?
The table given underneath the chart shows detailed information on each qualification and the number of certificates in the relevant 12 month period.
Please note it is possible for a candidate to be able to certificate in a qualification that is not available to new learners provided they are already enrolled in the qualification. As a result the number of qualifications reported in the table may not agree with the number of available qualifications given in the chart.
It is possible to download this data by clicking on the 'Download this table button' given at the end of the page.
5. Where does this data come from?
Data on the number of certificates awarded are sent by awarding organisations to Ofqual. Numbers of certificates are rounded to the nearest 5. Numbers of certificates from 1 to 4 are rounded to 5.
For any feedback on these graphs, please contact [email protected].
Return to the Ofqual Analytics home page.
If you need an accessible version of this information to meet specific accessibility requirements, please email [email protected] with details of your request.