How iAchieve can help you to implement new NCFE specifications 

We share NCFE’s belief that delivering a mixture of academic and vocational qualifications at Key Stage 4 (KS4) builds an engaging, full curriculum that meets the needs of every pupil. 

At iAchieve, we help schools to effectively embed valuable KS4 vocational options, such as NCFE’s V Cert Technical Awards. Through our comprehensive vocational packages, accessed via our online delivery platform, we can support you to successfully deliver vocational education that will boost your pupils’ potential.  

Resources to enhance your delivery

We ensure confidence in the delivery of selected NCFE vocational qualifications through our iAchieve platform training, ongoing support, and our high-quality resources that are expertly matched to the specifications. 

The  Key Stage 4  resource package, our most popular, is perfect for any school wanting to add choice to their vocational curriculum. This package currently offers resources for 3 NCFE subject areas: 

• Level 1/2 Technical Award in Business & Enterprise 
• Level 1/2 Technical Award in Health and Fitness 
• Level 2 Technical Award in Child Development and Care. 

In developing our Key Stage 4 package, we’ve selected subject areas where an alternative to the usual academic option is often sought. The programmes within this package offer natural routes to progression, and to meaningful career pathways. 

We also have a package specifically for Welsh schools: iAchieve Wales. This currently offers resources for 2 NCFE subject areas: 

• Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Nutrition and Health 
• Level 2 Certificate in Equality and Diversity. 

How we’ll support you to success 

Our resources include: 

• An easy-to-use online learning platform that houses everything you need to deliver the course in one place 
• Teaching and learning materials mapped directly to the specification, covering the entire course, and providing a framework for delivery 
• Full coverage of course content broken down into “sessions” to help with planning 
• Starter activities, group activities, plenaries, and homework tasks 
• Mini assessments for learning in the form of online quizzes 
• Practice assessments. 

For a taste of our iAchieve resources, you can visit our free resources page.

iAchieve in action 

iAchieve works as an excellent delivery solution for many different circumstances. Here are some examples of situations where iAchieve can help your delivery. 

Alternative provision 

Schools often work with us for support on an alternative provision setting. 

Providing a range of different forms of accreditation, including GCSE equivalent options, offers more opportunities for learners to achieve. This can also be a beneficial approach for those who have been out of mainstream school for some time due to issues with engagement and/or maintaining regular attendance. 

Teaching outside subject specialism  

We’re well-positioned to support teachers with vocational subjects outside of their specialism. We’re here to create a community of support for teachers who require prepared, structured resources for their new vocational subject. 

Offering alternatives to GCSEs 

iAchieve’s online learning package offers a simple, effective, and affordable way of offering learners an alternative option to qualifications they are not engaging and progressing with. It aims to raise aspirations and help learners to develop self-belief and confidence. Using iAchieve ensures simple implementation of vocational courses, without adding to the workload of the teacher delivering. 

Supporting the new specifications 

We’ll be releasing brand new resources for all the existing NCFE courses we currently support: 

• Level 1/2 Technical Award in Business & Enterprise 
• Level 1/2 Technical Award in Health and Fitness  
• Level 2 Technical Award in Child Development and Care.  

The main changes to the specifications are focused on the way the assessments are carried out.  However, there have been some new areas of content added, which we have ensured are included in our new resources.   

An excellent benefit to the new NCFE specifications is that they have been refreshed and brought up to date with current practice, which gives us the opportunity to do the same in our learning content.   

Mapping to the new specifications has given us the chance to review our overall content and bring it up-to-date, develop more interactive elements in line with our platform updates, and contemporise the context of the materials. 

We were thrilled at the announcement of the many new NCFE specifications that have been approved. NCFE qualifications genuinely lead to meaningful career pathways and new subjects mean more opportunities for learners to study something they can engage with. In particular, we know many schools loved Food and Cookery, so we can’t wait to relaunch it within our Key Stage 4 package. 

New features coming soon 

We’ve been busy working on enhancing our platform behind the scenes. We consulted our schools to find out what would be most valuable to them, and we will soon be ready to launch some great new features. 

Instructional videos 

New instructional videos have been developed for each course and embedded into the platform. These video guides cover all the information needed to run each of the vocational courses and can be referred to at any time. Our instructional videos support confident delivery from iAchieve teachers. 

Teacher task setting 

This function enables teachers to set homework or in-class tasks for learners or teaching groups via the iAchieve platform. There’s a vast selection of tasks available including: 

• Quizzes 
• Worksheets 
• PowerPoints 
• Practice papers. 

There is also the functionality to upload your own tasks, giving the ability for end of unit testing, establishing progress and consolidating learning. 

Progress checking 

There are new progress check features built in amongst each learning session – these are a checkpoint for learners to quickly test their knowledge and understanding of a particular topic, before continuing with their learning. These progress check activities include: 

• Multiple-choice quizzes 
• Drag and drop exercises – such as filling missing words in sentences or matching information in a table 
• True/false statements. 

More interactivity 

Within the learning content, we’ve aimed to build in different interactions for learners to engage with the materials and reveal content – clickable elements now include: 

• Images 
• Numbered icons 
• Graphical icons 
• Tabs 
• Flashcards 
• Slider panels. 

We’ve also got a modernised look for all our new resources, which are launching in September 2022. 

For more information, visit the iAchieve website or contact [email protected].