City & Guilds qualifications are designed to be undertaken both in the workplace or in the classroom or as a combination of the two.
What are NVQs and SVQs?
NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications) are based on national occupational standards. These standards are statements of performance that describe what competent people in a particular occupation are expected to be able to do. They cover all the main aspects of an occupation, including current best practice, the ability to adapt to future requirements and the knowledge and understanding that underpin competent performance.
Within reason, NVQs do not have to be completed in a specified amount of time. They can be taken by full-time employees or by school and college students with a work placement or part-time job that enables them to develop the appropriate skills. There are no age limits and no special entry requirements.
SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications) operate broadly in the same way as NVQs, but are used mostly in Scotland. All SVQs are credit rated and levelled and feature in the Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) in order to enable clear learner progression between other Scottish national qualifications and the SVQ provision, including Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks. You can see how the SVQs are related to other Scottish qualifications in the SCQF
