If you are a practitioner or assessor then Star Units will add an extra dimension to your work - but we don’t think you’ll find it onerous. And the rewards for the people you are assessing will be, potentially, enormous. (To find out whether Star Unit are available for your particular field Which NVQs currently have associated Star Units?).

Star Units have been devised by working groups that include assessors, employers, sector-experts, City & Guilds and UK Skills. They are entirely consistent with and complement NVQs and their role is primarily to recognise achievement which
  • is outstandingly thorough
  • is of higher quality
  • reflects greater care and attention to detail
than is normally embodied by competent performance in a basic NVQ assessment.

Star Units build on and are integrated into the normal NVQ units. There is no separate assessment for Star Units and neither do they demand a different range of skills from the usual NVQ assessment. [To find out more about how Star Units mesh with normal NVQs go to What is the structure of Star Units?] Your assessment of them will take place seamlessly as part of your NVQ assessment and will entail looking at learners’ performance to see whether it matches the additional Star Unit performance criteria.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Star Unit project remains in pilot mode at present. As a result only a limited number of centres are offering Star Units and in a restricted range of occupational fields.

If you would like to recommend your centre to join the pilot, you should contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and register your interest. (Please note that in order to offer Star Units, your centre will have to be offering City & Guilds qualifications for the selected sector area.