Why project qualifications matter: connecting knowledge, skills, behaviours and experiences

By Melissa Farnham, CEO of ASDAN 

Education in England is changing. The Curriculum and Assessment Review and Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work Review have sharpened the focus on preparing young people for further study, employment and life – connecting knowledge with skills, experience and opportunity. 

Andy Burnham has emphasised the need for equal pathways between academic and technical education, with stronger links to employers, workplace experience and progression into skilled work. 

Young people themselves are telling us this. The Youth Voice Census shows that young people value work experience and skills development, but too many lack the opportunities to build confidence and understand the world of work. 

For ASDAN, this reflects what we have always believed: education should develop skills, behaviours and experiences alongside knowledge, helping learners understand how their learning connects to what comes next. 

This is where project-based learning can make a difference and why ASDAN’s Project Qualifications are part of the answer. They bring knowledge, skills, behaviours and real-world experience together, enabling young people to take ownership of their learning and develop the capabilities they need for their next steps. 

ASDAN’s new Project Qualification suite 

Launched this September and ready to deliver, ASDAN now has a clear progression from Level 1 through to Level 3, with our new Foundation Project Qualification (FPQ), Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) and existing Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). 

The launch of FPQ and HPQ gives more learners the opportunity to experience project-based learning earlier in their journey, developing confidence, independence and the ability to plan, research, apply knowledge and reflect on what they have learnt.  

ASDAN’s Project Qualifications can be delivered across a wide range of education settings, such as mainstream and independent schools, FE colleges, alternative provision, training and community organisations, social services, online/blended learning providers, and international schools. This flexibility means centres can tailor the course to suit the needs, interests and aspirations of their learners and the context of their setting. 

Through their project, a young person can start to see the next part of their journey and develop the skills, behaviours and experiences they need for what comes next. 

Making skills visible 

Learners need opportunities to develop skills, practise them and demonstrate them. 

Exams show that a young person has retained knowledge, but project-based learning allows them to show that they have learnt skills, learnt how to learn, and are able to use that knowledge. 

Through a project, a learner has to make decisions, plan, research, manage their time, overcome challenges and reflect. They are not simply producing a result, they are demonstrating the learning that happens along the way. That is one of the real strengths of ASDAN's Project Qualifications. 

Helping learners see the next part of the journey 

Project qualifications have an important role in helping learners understand their own progression. 

Schools are being asked to build a coherent progression model and demonstrate how young people's skills develop. Project-based qualifications provide a way of doing that and can help young people make choices. 

Take Year 9, when learners are often choosing their options. A project gives them the opportunity to explore those decisions. They can show that they've thought about it, understand it, take part in it and then reflect on it. They might finish thinking, I wish I hadn't made that choice, but that's an amazing learning opportunity in itself. 

Through the project they have learned something new about themselves, and that is part of becoming an independent learner. 

Developing independence and self-challenge 

Independence doesn’t happen by accident. Young people need opportunities to make decisions, take on challenges and reflect on the consequences, particularly as they move towards further education, apprenticeships and employment. 

ASDAN's Project Qualifications provide a progression from Level 1 to Level 3, allowing learners to develop their independence progressively and take on greater responsibility for their learning. 

Project qualifications can complement exams. The ability to work independently, think differently and take on a challenge support learning across all subjects and wider life.

Connecting education with employment 

There is an exciting opportunity to connect project qualifications with work experience. 

ASDAN’s Higher Project Qualification can provide a framework around a young person's work placement. Instead of simply giving a learner the opportunity to “have a go”, the qualification can give that experience sense and purpose. 

The learner can identify what they want to get from the placement, while the employer can contribute to their learning and provide feedback. It becomes a real research space for the learner. 

In working life, we are expected to demonstrate progress, review our performance and provide evidence of what we have achieved. ASDAN’s Project Qualifications are a great way to learn how to do this and have that learning accredited. 

A portfolio of evidence 

Project-based learning creates a portfolio of evidence. It gives the education setting evidence that their young people are developing skills progressively and deliberately, while giving the young person something tangible that demonstrates what they can do. 

Assessment can be about more than measuring what someone knows. It can also enable young people to demonstrate their capability. 

If we want young people to be independent, adaptable and ready for what comes next, we need to give them opportunities to practise those things while they are still in education. Project-based learning should provide a deliberate, progressive opportunity for young people to turn learning into something they can run with. 

That’s why Project Qualifications are vital today. They connect knowledge, skills, behaviours and experiences. They help a young person understand how they learn, take ownership of their progress and, importantly, shape their own future. 

Get in touch 

Explore ASDAN’s suite of Project Qualifications and speak to one of our curriculum experts to find out how they could work for your learners and setting.