This study was commissioned by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to review the unitization or modularization of education and training over the last 20 years.

To review the issues relating to the unitization or modularization of education and training education and training over the last 20 years in the UK and internationally.

The review was based on a survey of relevant policy papers, information documents, research reports and evaluations in selected countries around the world over the period but with a focus on developments in based either on the early days of unitisation in Scotland and England.

The review found that the reasons for, and the anticipated benefits of, unitisation tend to be very similar across countries and across sectors but it identified a lack of hard research evidence as to whether the anticipated benefits actually resulted from the reforms. The review concluded that in the absence of such evidence, it is difficult to be clear about the real effects of unitisation and to make valid comparisons between the situations before and after the change, whether these comparisons are within a single instance (in one sector or one country) or across a number of instances.

Many countries now have at least an element of unitisation in their systems but unitisation has tended to be overtaken in the reform process by the development of national qualifications frameworks and/or national occupational standards.