Cambridge Nationals are a vocational qualification in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

introduced by the OCR Examinations Board to replace the

OCR Nationals OCR Nationals are vocationally related qualifications which were officially launched by the OCR Board in September 2004. The qualifications are designed to meet the needs of those seeking vocational education in place of the traditional, theory- ...

. These are Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications for students aged 14 to 16 and are usually awarded after a two-year course. Students can progress to

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

s or other Level 3 vocational qualifications within the

national qualifications frameworks in the United Kingdom The national qualification frameworks in the United Kingdom are national qualifications framework, qualifications frameworks that define and link the levels and credit values of different qualifications. The current frameworks are: * The Regulated ...

. OCR is part of

Cambridge University Press & Assessment Cambridge University Press and Assessment is a non-school institution of the University of Cambridge. It was formed under Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II's approval in August 2021 by the merge between Cambridge University Press and Cambridge As ...

Regulation

In 2014 the UK government announced that it would reform all vocational qualifications. By 2021 it was ready to set out its plan for vocational qualifications in England and redeveloped Level 1/Level 2 Cambridge Nationals qualifications were approved by

OFQUAL The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog ...

for inclusion on the

key stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

performance tables in England for 2024, to be taught from 2022. Ten redeveloped Cambridge Nationals qualifications were to be taught from 2022: * Child Player * Creative iMedia * Enterprise and Marketing * Engineering Design * Engineering Manufacture * Engineering Programmable Systems * Health and Social Care * IT * Sport Science * Sport Studies During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, OCR announced a series of adjustments it would make to support learners taking Cambridge Nationals.

Subjects

The following subjects were offered up to 2022: * Child Development Certificate Level 1/2 * Creative iMedia Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Engineering Design Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Engineering Manufacture Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Enterprise and Marketing Certificate Level 1/2 * Health and Social Care Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Information Technologies Certificate Level 1/2 * Principles in Engineering and Engineering Business Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Sport Science Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Sport Studies Award/Certificate Level 1/2 * Systems Control in Engineering Award/Certificate Level 1/2

References

OCR website

External links

Cambridge Nationals
Educational qualifications in the United Kingdom {{UK-edu-stub