General National Vocational Qualifications are central to the Government’s proposals for a three-track qualification system post-16, spanning academic, vocational and occupational options. They offer the best hope of broadening the range of provision now available, and at their best they produce dramatically effective learning outcomes.

They are very different indeed, however, from the so-called gold-standard A-level work that dominates school provision in this age group, and from the National Certificate and Diploma courses that they are replacing in colleges. At this stage in their development, they are protected by remarkably complex rules and regulations. For the foreseeable future they are the way ahead but a reliable guidebook is essential.

Walsall’s TVEI Centre, commissioned by the Employment Department, has produced a good one. Taken together, these attractively-designed short handbooks constitute a step-by-step manual to the availability, planning, introduction, management and review of GNVQs in schools and colleges.

Because all GNVQs have to meet the same requirements where structure, delivery and assessment are concerned, the emphasis here is sensibly on the common framework, not on the detail that separates (for example) manufacturing from engineering, now in the pilot stage.

The four booklets address precisely what their different target audiences need to know. Because they can be used and purchased independently there is a degree of overlap, as in the excellent glossaries of terms and titles, but given the multiplicity of acronyms, repetition is helpful, not irritating. At every level the authors clearly know their stuff: the section in the tutors’ manual detailing the bureaucratic assessment requirements that operate from 1995 is the crispest summary I have seen.

Overall, the pack is what all good guides should be: clear, accurate, easy to use (there is excellent marginal cross-referencing) and short.

There are two minor reservations. Because the pack is commissioned by the Department of Employment, it takes a properly upbeat tone. Some of the more problematic issues the implications, for instance, of developing GNVQ Foundation units in key stage 4 are not explored, and the current controversy about specific content in core skills areas is only touched upon. And surprisingly, given the manuals’ staff development theme, the pages are not photocopiable.

That’s a pity. GNVQ is important, and its teaching and learning styles have lessons for every other course and subject that the school or college offers. All teachers need to know something of how and why it works.

Besides, much of the advice contained here is of direct relevance to teachers outside the immediate GNVQ area. The “Middle Management Perspective” pack in particular is a valuable tool for staff development at head of department level. Recommended.