Autism Awareness - QLS Level 2 Course

The Autism Awareness - QLS Level 2 Course aims to develop your understanding of autism and gives practical suggestions when working with autistic individuals. This course will enable you to become familiar with various approaches to autism, have increased awareness of how to obtain a diagnosis and enable you to understand genetic environmental causes of autism.

Autism is a diverse and mystifying condition that has been the focus of much scientific research over the last few decades. Today, autism refers to a whole range of social, language and communication problems. Severity ranges from hardly there at all, often undiagnosed and even unrecognised, to severe, where it is virtually impossible for people to participate in society.

There are no boundaries between the conditions Kanner and Asperger identified, often people are in-between, whether in between Asperger’s syndrome and Kanner’s, or in between "normal" and Asperger’s syndrome. Therefore, collectively we refer to "autistic spectrum disorder", or ASD, as this allows for the differences in both symptoms and severity.

A person without ASD is called a neuro-typical. The Autism Awareness course will also explain how research in other conditions can help research into autism.

The Objectives of the Course are to:

• Define autism
• Understand the difference between Autism and Asperger’s syndrome
• Explain the gender differences
• Identify conditions related to ASD
• Explain how research in other conditions can help research into autism

On successful completion of this course students will receive a QLS Level 2 Endorsed Certificate of Achievement.

You will receive access to the course materials through an online portal for a 12-month period. Students can use the portal for accessing their course materials, submitting assignments and to log tutor questions. 

Please Note: An optional hard-copy version of the course notes can be purchased for an additional £48.00. This is useful for learners who also want to study away from the computer and means they have course notes they can keep and refer back to beyond their online course license.

Delivery of the hard-copy materials is usually within 5 to 10 working days by a recorded delivery service.

There are no particular entry requirements for this course.

Students can enrol providing they are comfortable studying at a Level 2 standard.

You can start this course at any time, and you would be registered for a one-year period. You also have access to a personal tutor who can be contacted through the online portal or by email. Your tutor is available to assist with any queries and to mark your assignments for the Awarding Organisation.

As the course is self-study, you can complete it as quickly as you like. Support extensions are available if students do not complete the course within the one-year period.

Students will be required to complete a number of assignments. Your personal tutor will review, mark and provide you with feedback on your work. Coursework assignments can be returned by uploading to the online portal, by email or by post.

We recommend that assignments are completed and returned as word-processed documents through the online portal. Handwritten documents can be accepted but need to be clear and legible and may be subject to a longer marking time.

At the end of this course, successful learners will receive a QLS Level 2 Endorsed Certificate of Achievement from the Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the components the learner has completed as part of the course).

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through our awarding organisations we have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. We are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Our knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables us to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

The course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme. This means that NCC has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet defined quality criteria. The completion of this course alone does not lead to a regulated qualification* but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills gained. The Learner Unit Summary may be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this subject. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 2 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner. 

The course itself has been designed by NCC to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications. The Quality Licence Scheme endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met. A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

You can find more information on level descriptors from our Certification Overview Page.

*Regulated qualification refers to those qualifications that are regulated by Ofqual / CCEA / Qualification Wales