LAD Search Tips and Website Information

LAD Search Tips and Website Information

The LAD supports Providers returning Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data to the Data Service. Each learning aim has a reference code, for use in ILR returns, and other associated information such as title, awarding body, classifications, funding information and information on whether that aim is valid for use in each year's ILR returns.

There are various ways to search the LAD website, and there are also various formats of downloadable files which can be used in providers' software systems and for more detailed analysis.

On the website a number of tabs display the data for each aim, with some of the most commonly viewed information grouped together on the 'Key Details' tab.

The Learning Aim Database (LAD) has recently implemented system changes to support the 2010/11 teaching year on 21 June 2010.

We will be updating this page in due course with information on the fields that are displayed on the Learning Aim Database (LAD) and details will follow shortly.

Structuring your search
The most difficult part of conducting a good search is deciding what search criteria to use and how to combine them. The search criteria you use will largely depend on what you already know, but the more you know about the learning aim you want to find the easier it will be to find it!

• Identify your search criteria (the more the better)
• Decide how best to combine them
• Wildcards will help to narrow the search
• Lookup can help to populate some search fields
• Refine your search as much as possible
• More than one search may be required
• If at first you don't find what you want, narrow the search and try again.

My search hasn't returned what I expected
Have you:
• selected the right teaching year
• deselected Recommended Aims if you wanted All Aims
• used wildcards appropriately
• cleared existing search criteria using the Clear button
• selected a lookup value where appropriate

Combining Search Criteria
Entering a specific Learning Aim Reference or Awarding Body Aim Reference causes all other search criteria to be ignored.
In all other cases, search criteria work in combination. However, certain combinations of search criteria are not valid. No search results will be returned if you enter invalid combinations. For example, HE Aims cannot be technical certificates.

How to carry out a new search or modify a search
Select the New Search or Modify Search buttons on the Aim Search Results screen.

• New Search button. Re-presents Aims Search screen with all the fields cleared. Note: The <Clear> button also clears all search criteria.
• Modify Search button. Re-presents Aims Search screen with previously entered search criteria.

Using Wildcards
When specifying your search criteria you can use wildcards to represent ‘missing’ characters:

• % or * represent multiple characters
• ? or _ represent single characters

For example, searching for medi% in the Title field would return learning aims with titles containing words such as medical, medicine, and media. Searching for medi? would only include words such as media. Searching for %medi% would also include words such as intermediate.

In general you do not need to enter wildcards into search fields because the search functionality assumes they are there. For example if you enter ‘engine’ into the title field, any qualifications with engine or engineering in their title will be returned.

However there are a few exceptions when you may want to enter wildcards:

• The aim reference and awarding body aim reference fields require you to enter wildcards explicitly.
• You may wish to enter wildcards in the middle of a phrase - for example 'bus%imp' would match qualifications in Business Improvement Techniques

Note: if you use wildcards, your search may return an excessively large number of results. You may need to refine the search criteria to return fewer results. However, if your search is not returning the learning aim you expected, you may have to use wildcards.

Using Lookup
There are two ways of using the lookup fields:

• Search on a single lookup value - To find valid entries for Aim Type Code, LDCS Code, Awarding Body Code or Framework Code enter as much information as you know (for either code or description) and click on the related Lookup button. Select from the table displayed to populate the appropriate field(s) on the screen, then use the Search button to search for aims. E.g., enter '%marine%' in Awarding Body Description and select 'Lookup' to return all Awarding Bodies with 'marine' in the description, select the appropriate lookup value and then click the Search button.
• Search on multiple lookup values - Enter text surrounded by '%' in the description box for the related Lookup field and click the Search button. E.g., enter '%marine%' in Awarding Body Description and click the Search button to return all learning aims with 'marine' in Awarding Body.

Finding New or Changed learning aims
To see a list of learning aims which have changed since a given date, use the 'Records New or Changed Since' field at the bottom of the Aim Search screen. This field works in combination with other search criteria.

Note: The LAD will only retrieve records for the selected Teaching Year (this field defaults to the current Teaching Year).

Funding/Collection
Use of this option will allow the user to, if appropriate, restrict the aims returned by the search to those aims that belong to a defined Funding Collection stream and are available to new starters. The default is “Any Aim”.
The user must select the required option button.

For Academic Year 2008/09 and 2009/10 the following options are applicable:

• Any Aim
• 16-18 Learner Responsive (16-18 LR)
• Adult Learner Responsive (ALR)
• Employer Responsive (ER)
• Adult Community Learning (ACL)

For Academic Year 2010/11 following options are applicable:

• Any Aim
• 16-18 Learner Responsive (16-18 LR)
• Adult Learner Responsive (ALR)
• Employer Responsive Apprenticeships (ER App)
• Employer Responsive Train To Gain (ER TtG)
• Adult Safeguarded Learning (ASL)

Aims Search
When using the Aims Search screen, the 'Start Date' will default to '01/08/2010' and the 'End Date' will default to '31/07/2011' for the teaching year 2010/11. These dates can be amended to reflect the period in which you are interested in for the teaching year 2010/11 onwards.

If the 'Any Aim' radio button is selected, then these fields will be disabled.

Once selecting the '16-18 LR, 'Adult LR', 'ER App', 'ER TtG', 'ASL' radio buttons the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' will become operational. If selecting teaching year 2009/10 or prior, the ‘Start Date’ & ‘End Date’ will be disabled as they are not used in the search criteria for those years.

Aims Search Results
For example, if you selected ‘Teaching Year 2010/11’, and the ‘Funding Model Collection’ radio button ‘16-18 LR’ and then click on ‘Search’, you will be presented on the Aims Search Results screen with those current Learning Aims in the Funding collection for 16-18 LR.

Additionally, in the column 16-18 LR, you will see the status codes against that Learning Aim for that funding relating to the dates that have been selected compared with the dates held for that funding stream to indicate the following.

A - available on that date,
N - not available for new starters on that date,
X - not available on that date,
W - will become available after that date.

(Note: The Aims Search Screen will also display information on Status Codes for other Funding Models associated with the aim)

The status codes in the 5 columns (Funding Models) displayed in the Aims Search screen reflect the ‘Status’ at the 'Start' and 'End' dates of the search range shown above.

Each ‘Status Code’ indicates that for the ‘Start date’ and ‘End date’ that you are entering what is the Status Code for that Learning Aim.
For example, if you see the following Status code below;

AA – Available on the Start Date & Available on the End date
AN - Available on the Start Date & not available for new starters for the End Date entered/selected (And maybe at some point prior to the End date).

For more information about Validity with a particular Learning Aim, select the learning aim from the Aims Search results screen and select the appropriate Funding Tab that you need more information on.
For Teaching Year 09/10 and prior, the Aims Search functionality has not changed and the ‘Aims Search Results’ screen has not changed.

Funding Status

Background
This field was labelled as 'LSC Funding Status Code' before 2010/11 (and still retains the name LSC_Funding_Status_Code in the LAD downloads).

When the Learning Aim Database (LAD) was first released, this field related to Approval under Sections 96 and 97 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, and also to other aspects of funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Approval under both sections 96 and 97 were managed by a single team at the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

A common misconception was that code 98 related to Section 98 of that Act; in fact the code 98 was chosen for consistency with code values in Individualised Learner Record fields, where code 98 is typically used for 'Other' or 'Unknown' values.

Changes

In April 2010, Section 97 of the Learning and Skills Act was repealed and was replaced by the Skills Funding Agency Funding Confirmation Process, and the LSC was replaced by the Skills Funding Agency and the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA).

Funding of provision by the YPLA is still strongly linked to Approval under Section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, which relates to provision for learners who are not yet 19.

More information can be found on the Department for Education (DfE) website http://www.education.gov.uk/section96/

This information is still shown in the Funding Status field, where code 01 relates to Approval under Section 96.

Provision confirmed for funding by the Skills Funding Agency is through the Skills Funding Agency Funding Approvals Process (further information regarding this can be on the Qualifications and Credit Framework website http://qcf.skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/qcf-funding/confirmationfunding/).

There is a new Skills Funding Agency Approval Status Code field which will show the outcomes of the Skills Funding Agency approval process for Adult Learner Responsive and Train to Gain provision.

As the YPLA and the Skills Funding Agency are separate organisations with different funding policies, there may be divergence between whether provision is funded by the Skills Funding Agency and/or the YPLA. Therefore it is no longer practical to record both YPLA and Skills Funding Agency approval in a single field.

In addition to the Skills Funding Agency Approval Status Code, the new Validity Details and Funding Details, which link to the 'Tabs' in the LAD Aim Details screens, show more information on whether and when each learning aim is funded within the individual funding models.

Code 98 will continue to relate to provision which is not approved under Section 96 or Section 97 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, and which is not an Access to Higher Education course recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

However from 2010/11, following the repeal of Section 97, this means that increasing volumes of provision will have a value of 98 in this field. The Validity and Funding details for individual funding models, and the Skills Funding Agency Approval Status fields should be used to determine whether provision is funded for learners aged 19 and over.

Approval and Accreditation Dates
There are several date fields on the "Shared" tab on the LAD website which relate to Approval and Accreditation. In the LAD download files, they are held in the All_Annual_Values table. These fields are in the Their use has changed over the years as various policies have changed.
For 2010/11, these fields are being populated as follows:

Accreditation start date - taken from Ofqual who describe it as "The first date that awarding bodies can register candidates for a qualification."

Operational centre start date - taken from Ofqual who describe it as "The date when the qualification will become operational in centres."

Accreditation end date - taken from Ofqual who describe it as "The last date on which awarding bodies can register a candidate for a qualification."

Certification end date - taken from Ofqual who describe it as "The last date on which a certificate may be issued by the awarding body."

Combined Start Date - this is called "Approval_Start_Date" in the database downloads, and relates to the start of Approval under Sections 96 and/or 97 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000.

Since April 2010, Section 97 has been repealed, so in 2010/11 data, this field only relates to Section 96 Approval. For Adult learners, the dates when qualifications are funded are held in the Validity Details sections of LAD as described above.

Combined End Date - this is called "Approval_End_Date" in the database downloads, and relates to the end of Approval under Sections 96 and/or 97 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000.

Validity heading
This table shows whether and when a particular aim is valid for use with a particular funding stream (eg. Adult Learner Responsive) and/or ILR collection (eg. ASL).

Funding heading
This table shows the funding rates and programme weightings that apply for a particular aim for a particular time period.

Current Provision
An aim reference flagged as 'current provision' is the most current code for new starters (for use in ILR data), but other codes may still be valid for use in ILR data.

This field is intended to help users to find the correct code in LAD searches, but does not affect ILR Validation rules. A code which is not current provision can still be the correct code to use in ILR data. A code may also be current but not fundable by the Skills Funding Agency or Young People's Learning Agency.

For example if a learning aim has an accreditation end date of 31 December, its 'current provision' status would be changed in the new year, but the code would still be valid for learners who started in that teaching year before 31 December. Also, that code would continue to be valid into the next teaching year for continuing learners who started before the accreditation end date.
Providers should not change learning aim codes in their ILR data solely because a code is not current.

Finding aims related to HE
Selecting 'HE Aims' will display only aims with FE/HE status set to 'H', i.e. only aims marked as Higher Education. Selecting 'FE Aims' will display only aims with FE/HE status set to 'F', i.e. will exclude aims marked as Higher Education.

Finding 'Access to Higher Education (HE)' courses
To narrow your search to 'access to HE courses' select:
• 'QAA recognised access to higher education course' in the Funding Status box.
Note: In contrast the radio button for HE Aims will narrow your search to actual Higher Education learning aims as opposed to 'access to HE' courses.

Using Awarding Body Aim Reference
Note: The Awarding Body Aim Reference is not populated for all learning aims.

Framework Aims and Common Components
This screen shows which related aims are part of a framework, and also shows Common Components and Annual Values. A Common Component is where there are several equivalent learning aims (such as Key Skills), and the requirement of the framework is that the appropriate common component is delivered at a minimum level, but the awarding body or exact aim reference is not relevant.

The Framework Type field (at the top of the screen) can be used to change the framework type (eg between an Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship in the same subject).

The Framework Annual Values section shows annual values for that framework. In some cases (for example 14-19 Diplomas) there is funding associated with the framework rather than with learning aims. This funding is shown here. This section also shows a Sector Subject Area for some frameworks.

The Framework Common Components section shows the minimum level which common components should be taken at to fulfil the requirements of this framework.

The Related Learning Aims table shows other learning aims which are part of the framework. The table defaults to showing current aims at the top, but the sort order can be changed by clicking on the title field for the column you wish to sort on. You can also click on the learning aim title in the table to see the Aim Details screen for that aim.

Last Modified: 29 November 2010