Write a badge that relates to a qualification

Find out more about digital badging in relation to qualifications.

Many of our member organisations write badges that are related to qualifications, either because they deliver or assess qualifications as part of their activities, or they require that earners complete qualifications as part of their learning journey.

Can I copy a qualification into a digital badge?

Unless your organisation is the official awarding body of the qualification, we do not support the practice of directly replicating qualifications into badges that pass through our Quality Assurance process because:

• We do not hold a relationship with, or act on behalf of, qualification awarding bodies, and we need to protect ourselves and your organisation against issues down the line should the official awarding body change anything about how the qualification is achieved.
• When earners complete a formal qualification, they will receive certification from the awarding body. Badge Nation is here to support you write badges that reflect your organisation’s activities and is not intended as a way to replicate or digitise the achievement of formal qualifications.

How can I feature qualifications in my digital badges?

We absolutely support the practice of capturing the learning, activities, and skills that earners are developing / demonstrating throughout their completion of the qualification. This is a great way of writing your digital badges as it clearly sets out all of the “extra stuff” that won't be displayed on certificates, and provides a credible way of your organisation verifying the actions, skills, and outcomes that an earner has achieved while working towards a qualification.

If your badge is directly related to a formal qualification, e.g. earners are earning your badges while completing a formal course, or completion of a qualification is a necessary pre-requisite for being issued with a badge, there are two ways you might include this in your badge. You might like to include one or both of the following:

1. Earning Criteria

Consider adding a dedicated bullet point to your earning criteria. You can use this as a way to describe exactly how an earner has interacted with the qualification (e.g. whether they have achieved it or worked towards it) and include a URL for further information about the qualification on the awarding body’s website.

2. Standards

Should the qualification itself set context for the badge (e.g. if the badge captures completion of all or part of a formal course) you might consider adding the qualification as a Standard to the badge. This enables you to provide the name of the qualification, a brief description, and a URL to further information about the qualification on the awarding body’s website.

To include a qualification as a standard on your badge:

Select "Yes" when asked if your badge maps to an additional standard.

Then enter the qualification name, description (350 characters max), and URL.