What is GQAL and PEARL Social and Personal Development?

The Graded Qualifications Alliance (GQAL) is an examination board that has been established to award graded qualifications to learners of all ages and experience, who can demonstrate successful performance in a range of activities. GQAL is a partnership between higher education, further education and the performing arts sector. The Manchester College is one of the three partners involved, alongside Exeter University and the British Theatre Dance Association. GQAL awards are designed to complement – not replace – existing qualifications. Learning focuses uniquely on an individual’s ability to produce a required level of performance in their chosen field.

PEARL Social and Personal Development is a performance-based assessment system developed by GQAL that allows employability skills and abilities to be measured, progressed, validated and rewarded. The programme has been developed around the top five skills that employers say they value more than anything: social skills, self-awareness, managing feelings, empathy and motivation.

The programme assesses people on how they perform or show their skills, by working with and building relationships with others. Excellence in this sort of performance is highly valued by employers, higher education institutions, local communities and even families and individuals. The programme can be used as either a stand-alone assessment tool or to give a validation and accreditation framework to other personal, social and emotional literacy programmes such as

•           DCSF Social Emotional and Behavioural Skills programmes (SEBS)

•           Every Citizen Matters agenda (ECM)

•           14-19 Diplomas (ALS)

•           The Pacific Institute Investment in Excellence programme

•           RSA Opening Minds scheme

•           Personal Development Curriculum at KS3/4

How does assessment work?

The Social and Personal Development assessment framework is based around a set of core skills and abilities: self-awareness, motivation, empathy, social skills, and managing feelings. The skill sets are outlined in graded form, starting at grade B (NQF entry level) through to grade 8 (NQF level 3). These skills and abilities can be assessed on a cross-curricular basis or incorporated into a workplace training, management or supervision programme. The emphasis is placed on skills being developed and demonstrated through tutor, learner and peer feedback, group work and discussion, team challenges, practical activities, creativity and project work in a variety of settings (classroom, workplace, social settings).

Through a series of activities put in place by the PEARL Social and Personal Development assessor, learners are given the opportunity to demonstrate skills against a set of assessment criteria set out by the awarding body. The PEARL Social and Personal Development assessor is a tutor or trainer who has had additional training to become an involved assessor. Assessment decisions are validated by an independent assessor acting on behalf of GQAL, who has also had additional training to fulfil the role.

Assessment only takes place when the learner is ready and is essentially a tool for benchmarking the ‘distance travelled’ and recognising the achievement of the learner. The assessment process is quick, efficient and clear, based on simple performance-based criteria.

The framework for assessment allows for learners to be given reliable feedback, enabling a focus to be placed on areas that need to be developed so that performance within the workplace can be improved.

What are the benefits of using the PEARL Social and Personal Development programme?

Transferable skills are equally as significant in the business community, where they are part of continual performance development, as they are in the educational community, where they are necessary as a pre-employment tool. Organisations we work with see the value of the skills assessed through PEARL, such as time management, empathy, social skills, motivation and self-awareness.

Organisations that we are currently working with include nationwide secondary schools and colleges, a wide range of businesses, community groups, The Princes Trust and offender learning programmes.

By achieving with PEARL the learner will hold a nationally recognised qualification that will become part of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) suite of qualifications after full approval is given. It currently sits on the Learning Aims Database as a pilot qualification.

PEARL Social and Personal Development

• is the first national performance-based assessment framework for measuring and validating social, emotional competence and employability skills

• is a valuable, credible and practical award to support learners’ continual personal development, employability opportunities and their understanding of their own and others’ needs

• adds value to the wide range of social, personal, thinking and employability skills currently being identified, explored and delivered both within and outside of the curriculum

• places practical demonstration at the heart of learning and employability

• provides a realistic and valuable award for any organisation to measure the success of their social, emotional and skills-based programmes, needs provision and skills gaps

• places increased importance and value on behaviour skills, and the understanding of one’s own learning

• promotes and rewards the application, values and importance of personal and social responsibility, employability skills and cultural understanding