Benefits

The Framework for Excellence (the Framework) will raise the visibility of the Further Education (FE) sector and enhance its reputation. It is designed to provide an appropriate balance between fitness for purpose, sustainability, cost and bureaucracy. The use of the Framework across colleges and providers will enable employers and members of the public to make informed choices about the best provider for their needs. Improved decision-making will result from better information at learner, provider, commissioner and national levels.

Learners

• The Framework will provide information for learners and their supporters, such as their parents and guardians, to enable them to make informed choices
• This will include the views of other learners, the quality of provision, including facilities and resources, and whether learners’ needs are being met
• Learners’ success rates, which are particularly significant when there is a choice of providers offering similar courses
• Destination information, which will enable them to evaluate the worth of a course in terms of their investment in time, effort and money.

Employers

• The Framework will provide a consistent rating of providers, so that employers are able to factor this into their decision-making process
• Skills brokers will use the Framework scores to support recommendations to employers
• There will be two quality marks for employer training: the Training Quality Standard (TQS - formerly known as the New Standard) and the Framework for Excellence.

Providers

• Colleges and providers will be able to use the Framework to assess and improve their own performance, and incorporate the findings of self-assessment into reports for governing bodies and boards
• Colleges and providers will be able to compare themselves against standards of excellence and support continuous improvement through self-assessment
• The Framework will facilitate coherence and the integration of processes across the sector; it will develop a common perspective among colleges and providers on what should be measured and how
• The Framework will enable colleges and providers to demonstrate excellence where it already exists and help to develop it
• Providers who achieve the TQS will automatically be rated ‘outstanding’ across the whole ‘Responsiveness to Employers’ Key Performance Area (KPA), for the period for which it is awarded (usually three years) 
• The move will be a major step on the journey to self-regulation
• The Framework offers the capacity to target underperformance and manage performance risk
• Costs and burdens on providers are being minimised by using existing data and systems wherever possible.