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The new AAT syllabus is here! So what does it all mean for current students?

The AAT has been forced to push through a new syllabus for July. The merits of such a swift changeover are for debating another time, but gone are the Diploma and Technician levels, replaced by one easy- to-understand qualification – hopefully (see new papers, above right).
It was left to AAT chief external verifier Carol Harris to talk the packed lecturers’ conference through the changes. And there have been some big changes.
She explained that the AAT has opted for a “more innovative and flexible exam system that allows colleges to offer assessments at a time and frequency to suit them and their students”. That could effectively mean an end to the six-monthly cycle of June and December, said Harris.
And that means sitting exams at a computer terminal, which could, admit some tutors, cause real timetabling issues back at the ranch. Other tutors explained that as this was the future, they were going to have to try to accommodate the whole move to exams on demand. We might see some real innovative moves – like exams in the evening or at weekends (what a way to spend a Saturday!).
The real benefit has to be students sitting exams in familiar settings – at their college.
Looking at the new syllabus, the good news is there is no paper-based portfolio of evidence, stressed Harris. There is now a computerised accounting paper, a spreadsheet software paper and professional ethics test. The other good news is that students who complete a full level of the existing qualification will simply progress to the next level of the revised qualification. Students who have partially completed a level of the existing qualification by 30 June 2011 will transfer their relevant achievements to the revised qualification.
So, the transitional time for existing learners to finish their current level of study is from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 – one year. The AAT has also given a six-month timeline for reporting pathway skills tests that took place before 1 July 2011.
The AAT has also pulled out all the stops to ensure all the CCAB exemptions are in place. That means you will still get exemptions if you plan to continue your studies (log on to www.pqmagazine.co.uk and go to the Study Zone for full details).
In our lead story last month, we inferred that some of the publishers would be hard pushed to get all their books out for 1 July. However, BPP manuals for the new syllabus will be available to buy on 1 July. Online question banks, complete with practice assessments, will not be far behind.
Osborne Book’s MD Mike Fardon told PQ that it too is “well ahead in the process of publishing a comprehensive range of learning resources for the new AAT QCF qualification”. June will see four Essential level tutorials: Basic accounting I and II, Basic costing and Work effectively in accounting. The remaining tutorials will follow in July and August. This is impressive because of the short notice of what the final syllabuses were going to look like.
The timeframe has been tighter than tight, but at the lecturers’ conference tutors really didn’t seem overly concerned or panicked (we hope that is still true). Many tutors we spoke to seemed prepared for the inevitable upheaval; some even felt that the AAT changes will help them push through the changes needed to ensure colleges keep up with what the market wants. Oh, and the new qualification does look better than the old one. That helps.

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