Reaching our audiences

Learner engagement

Learners are at the heart of our work and continue to help us shape it. As key stakeholders, their contribution in sharing experiences, thoughts and opinions is invaluable in supporting us to develop qualifications and the qualification system in Wales.

Across the year, we continually engaged with learners, hosting numerous focus groups and using surveys to develop our interaction with young people in every part of the country.

This included:

• learner engagement sessions

• visits to schools and colleges

• direct engagement at events

• learner ambassador groups

• surveys

The discussions covered a range of topics:

• work with additional learning needs teams

• vocational qualifications sector reviews

• National 14-16 Qualifications

• Skills Suite

The promotion of our learner voice work extended across all counties with staff representation at:

• Urdd Eisteddfod

• National Eisteddfod

• Skills Cymru

Our Learner Panel met on eight occasions across the year, with recruitment activity attracting 14 new members.

Learners from the panel joined us at both the Urdd and the National Eisteddfod and were given the opportunity to represent Qualifications Wales in promotional materials, social media posts and publications.

Involving learners in our decisions

“The greatest strength of Qualifications Wales is how they engage with stakeholders through things such as the Learner Panel. They are always keen to listen to the view of the learner and I am always impressed by the action taken by Qualifications Wales based on the discussions of the Learner Panel - we are never taken for granted. I have always felt that the Learner Panel is an exceptionally open and thoughtful space where people can discuss the topic of the day in a fair, insightful and valuable way.

I have learnt much about engaging with different people and ideas as a direct consequence of being a part of the panel. Learner Panel conversations are genuinely engaging and I am always left with something to think about after our meetings. We are treated with respect, so that we can discuss in detail issues related to qualifications. As a result of the Learner Panel, I feel that Welsh learners have had a guiding role in the qualifications that will affect them, and Welsh education is all the better for it.

Being a member of the panel has been an invaluable opportunity. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to contribute to a group of people with such diversity of opinion, background and perspective. Qualifications Wales should be extremely proud of the resource that they have created in the Learner Panel, and I expect that it will continue to serve as valuable insight for the foreseeable future."

Matthew Gooding, Learner Ambassador

Higher and further education engagement

In the autumn and spring terms, we held face-to-face meetings with senior  colleagues in every Welsh further education college, to discuss the arrangements for 2023-24 exams and assessments, qualification reforms, sector reviews and sector qualification groups. The discussions were invaluable providing insights into staff and post-16 learners’ experiences of qualifications and the qualification system. 

We also met with ColegauCymru and  the National Training Federation Wales to discuss areas of mutual interest regarding further education and work[1]based learning matters. We have also welcomed the opportunities to meet regularly with members of ColegauCymru’s networks and forums to discuss and receive feedback on aspects of qualifications and assessments.

We have welcomed the opportunity to engage, via UCAS, with staff across the higher education sector to discuss key aspects of qualification reform in Wales. We have continued to build on our strong links with UCAS via their regional groups and met a range of admissions staff at the annual UCAS conference in May. Our Higher Education Stakeholder Group met three times during the academic year, giving us an opportunity to speak directly with representatives from 26 of the UK’s leading higher education organisations.

Centre engagement

At the start of the academic year, we delivered our week-long exams officers’ conference. The conference had contributions from WJEC, Pearson and JCQ, who provided sessions on operational requirements for the year ahead. For the first time, attendees were encouraged to bring along curriculum managers and other staff to some of the key sessions of the week. This resulted in a record number of registrations. We continue to provide an ongoing centre support service, with detailed online advice session on all aspects of the exam system.

We organise and facilitate local area network meetings for exams officers. This year, following a couple of years of online meetings, we trialled a return; to face-to-face area meetings, driven by feedback from exam officers.

There were several key benefits to this return, face-to-face meetings offer valuable opportunities for team-building and informal networking, which have been challenging to replicate online.

Supporting centres

“I am now in my tenth year as an exams officer and, throughout my time in post, the Qualifications Wales team has been a lifeline, with their invaluable support, expertise and guidance.

I rely heavily on the sessions the team provides throughout the year to keep me fully updated on all the latest developments with awarding bodies, the Joint Council for Qualifications and Qualifications Wales. It is so reassuring to know that they are always available to check in with about anything, however minor or major.

The sessions they have provided over the last few years, for both new and experienced exams officers, including the annual exams officer conference, have been so informative and crucial in bringing the exams officer community together, giving us a forum, and opportunity, to share our knowledge, experience and any issues we may have encountered.

Their work in keeping Wales Exams Officers Hub updated with the latest guidance and forms is really appreciated, as it is a one stop shop for the latest information and a place for exams officers to contact each other for support or assistance, throughout the academic year.”

Grace Birchwood, St. Christophers Special School, Wrexham

Public engagement

Engaging effectively with our stakeholders is critical to inform and involve our audiences so they have confidence in our capacity to deliver fair, trusted and portable qualifications. We explain our work to the public through insight-based communications strategies, campaigns and direct engagement.

We continued to build our presence on social media, on our corporate website and through our engagement platform Have Your Say - increasing our posting rate and reach across Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.

With greater emphasis placed on our corporate website and increased cross-promotion of our website through our social media channels, we have seen a sustained increase in website page views, up from 139,000 in the 2022-23 academic year to 285,000 during this academic year. As a listening organisation, we continue to seek new, innovative ways to inform, engage and collaborate with our key audiences and stakeholders to secure the best outcomes for learners in Wales.

We continue to review engagement across our digital channels and will be undertaking an audit to develop a new digital strategy to ensure that we continue to communicate with our core audiences in a way that not only maximises engagement, but also provides meaningful opportunities for involvement and feedback.

Supporting awarding bodies

Supporting awarding bodies, a word from Stacey Wilson, Pearson

 “Our engagement in partnership with Qualification Wales is vital in supporting exam officers, particularly those who are new to the role. They offer essential training and resources, as well as online sessions that provide current information and practical advice, which can be difficult to find elsewhere in the role of an exam officer.

 Qualification Wales has played a crucial role in organising and developing successful conferences and events. Their support has greatly enhanced our ability to reach and assist exams officers in Wales.

We highly value the opportunity to collaborate, share best practices, and improve the overall examination experience for exam officers based in Wales.

Qualification Wales’ annual conference is the Pearson training team’s favourite event to work on. We love working closely with colleagues within the strategic engagement team and, of course, participating in the conference every single year.”

Read the next section of the report