Advanced Subsidiary Vocational Certificate in Education (ASVCE) in ICT

This qualification is very practical orientated and requires a lot of ‘hands on’ pupil participation on the computer.

This qualification is made up of three units:

1, Presenting Information, (Portfolio)
You will create original documents and improve their presentation, understand the ways organisations present and gather information and why standard layouts are used. This unit has portfolio assessment.

2, ICT Serving Organisations, (External Assessment)
You will study how organisations are structured, how they use and exchange information and how to evaluate ICT systems in organisations. This unit has external assessment.

3, Spreadsheet Design, (Portfolio)
You will design spreadsheets to process data and prepare standard spreadsheets that others can use. You will develop a working specification, use spreadsheet facilities to develop, test and present information and develop user documentation. This unit has portfolio assessment.

What assessments will I do?
Two thirds of the course will be internally assessed through a programme of assignments set and marked by your teachers.

One third of the course will be externally assessed through tests, set assignments, projects or case study work.

In the Advanced Subsidiary VCE the ICT Serving Organisations module is the only one externally assessed.

What will I learn?
You will:
· gain a broad understanding of ICT and be able to study selected areas in more depth
· develop skills, knowledge and understanding of ICT
· have an opportunity to apply learning in a practical and realistic way
· follow a programme of study that enables progression to both higher education and employment within ICT
· develop Key Skills that are highly valued by employers and universities
· gain confidence through developing independent learning skills

Who is this course suitable for?
· This course will appeal to those students who:
· enjoy studying a subject that is relevant to their own lives and experience
· want the opportunity to carry out practical work and be creative
· enjoy finding out answers – not just being taught
· want to develop specific ICT skills in one of the 4 pathways:

1) Development and Design
2) Business
3) ICT skills, which can be used at, home, in industry and commerce
4) General Appreciation of ICT

What courses or employment can I progress to at the end of my course?
The Advanced Subsidiary VCE is equivalent to an AS level and many universities will accept the VCE along side A levels as entry into their college. This is a valuable qualification and candidates who can list it on their UCAS form will have an improved chance of gaining a university place since ICT skills are essential in most aspects of higher education today.

Students with Advanced VCE in ICT have access to a wide range of career and higher education opportunities. You learn and use a variety of transferable skills throughout the course. These include collecting, analysing and interpreting data, communicating your findings in different ways, and identifying and developing the links between different parts of the subject.

Taken with Maths and Science, it supports applications for almost any Computer based university course. Taken with Languages or Arts it supports an equally wide range of university courses such Communications, Media, Business and Management. The Advanced VCE in ICT can be taken alongside Advanced GCEs and other Advanced VCE (Double Award) programmes.

Many students choose to use their qualification to go straight into employment, rather than go on to higher education. Because Advanced VCE ICT students develop the transferable skills and the key skills that employers are looking for, they can lead to a very wide range of employment opportunities. This can include further training in such areas as Programming, Systems analysis, Communications, Multimedia, Software systems, Project Management and Hardware applications.