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Apprenticeships
Qualifications

Young peoples’ qualifications

As an employer, you want staff who have the skills and qualities to do the job, and it can be confusing to know, when faced with a young person’s CV or application form, what the qualifications they list actually mean.

This table shows the National Qualification Framework (NQF) levels of qualifications most commonly held by young people under 20, whether they have studied academic subjects (usually in school and university) or vocational ones (more often in colleges and the workplace):

NATIONAL QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORK (NQF)
NQF level	Examples of qualifications
Entry	Entry Level certificates Skills for Working Life certificate
1	GCSEs grades D-G BTEC Introductory Diplomas and Certificates GNVQ Foundation Level Key Skills Level 1 NVQs Level 1 (NVQ = National Vocational Qualification)
2	GCSEs grades A*-C BTEC First Diplomas and Certificates GNVQ Intermediate Level Key Skills Level 2 NVQs Level 2
3	A Levels or AS Levels BTEC National Diplomas, Certificates and Awards GNVQ Advanced Level International Baccalaureate Key Skills Level 3 NVQs Level 3
4 & 5	HNCs and HNDs (= Higher National Certificates and Diplomas) BTEC Professional Diplomas, Certificates and Awards Foundation Degrees NVQs Level 4 & 5