The ADOES has replaced the DipAse and sits at the same level as the Licentiate. Where the Licentiate is normally on a par with an Honours degree, the ADOES is usually more suited to short courses at Honours level where candidates can accrue HE credit towards an Honours degree. It allows a candidate to accrue credit at this level in other fields of study more specifically in a professional environment, for example in teacher professional development.

Credit has an increasingly important role to play in recording student achievement and in providing support for students and their progression both into and within HE. It is a key tool for promoting lifelong learning and student mobility. (QAA guidelines)

The SEEC Level descriptors describe a candidate at this level as having an in-depth awareness of the provisional nature of knowledge and an awareness of personal responsibility and professional codes of conduct. A candidate at this level can critically evaluate evidence to support conclusions and recommendations, reviewing its reliability, validity and significance. It is expected that candidates can take responsibility for their own work and be able to act autonomously, with minimal supervision or direction, within agreed guidelines.

Holders of qualifications at this level will have developed a sound understanding of the principles in their field of study, and will have learned to apply those principles more widely. Through this, they will have learned to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems.

Their studies may well have had a vocational orientation, for example HNDs, enabling them to perform effectively in their chosen field. Holders of qualifications at this level will have the qualities necessary for employment in situations requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making. (QAA guidelines)

Courses accredited at this level are expected to be similar to a single unit or part-time course that would be delivered in a single semester. Where the Licentiate would normally be expected to be a whole year, an ADOES course would normally be seen as part-time or short course qualification.

There are, in particular, two main variants in the concept of the graduate diploma, both of which are consistent with the expectations of the FHEQ. One is typically a year long and comprises 120 credits; the other relates to programmes of shorter duration and for which 80 credits is typically the minimum. Similarly, some Professional Graduate Certificates in Education comprise 60 credits but typically, the credit volume exceeds this minimum where HE providers credit rate the professional practice element and integrate it in the programme. The precise requirements for individual programmes are normally specified in institutional regulations and indicated in programme specifications published by institutions.(QAA guidelines)

Candidates working at this level would be educationalists who wish to develop skills in a specific area relating to their own field. 60 HE credits are awarded at the band of Master Practitioner and 30 HE credits at Practitioner as traditionally these qualifications are mainly based on the research by the learner.