Ministers should focus on removing structural and reputational barriers holding back existing vocational qualifications rather than overhauling them, interim findings from a major report suggest. Cambridge OCR’s report untapped potential, due to come out later this autumn, found teachers, students and parents valued existing vocational qualifications for 14–16-year-olds. But issues such as low awareness, staff capacity and lack of resources are holding these qualifications back. Former education secretary Charles Clarke, who chaired the review, said existing vocational qualifications like technical awards could be helping more young people, without the need for “disrupting overhauls”. The government announced it would create new technical pathways for 14-year-olds from 2028. Education secretary Lucy Powell said new or reformed GCSE-level qualifications may be necessary as part of these plans, adding that her department would work with schools, employers and mayoral and strategic authorities. Lack of awareness As part of the research, more than 700 respondents and focus groups took part in the survey, which was carried out by Shift Insight for Cambridge OCR, which itself offers technical awards. The exam board also held in-depth interviews and stakeholder roundtables. It found only around 40 per cent of parents said they had a good understanding of the technical qualifications on offer, compared with 73 per cent who said the same for GCSEs. This is still much higher what teachers assumed, with just 8 per cent saying that parents had a good understanding. Parents cited a lack of awareness as the top reason for their child not taking any vocational qualifications. Despite this, most parents were positive about the benefits of vocational qualifications, with 93 per cent saying they offered practical real-world learning, and 88 per cent saying they helped develop transferable skills. The survey and focus groups found that those who experienced vocational qualifications were positive about them. Students were particularly positive, saying they valued the focus on non-examined assessment, unlike GCSEs. A third of teachers surveyed said staff capacity was a barrier to providing vocational subjects. This was the most common reason, followed by resources (27 per cent) and the impact of school accountability measures prioritising GCSEs (26 per cent). ‘Untapped potential’ Clarke, who was education secretary for two years under the Blair government, said: “Technical awards are qualifications which could be helping many more young people, without the need for years of disrupting overhauls – we just need to remove the barriers which exist at the moment. “This approach will be valuable to ministers seeking to adjust the balance of our educational system towards a more vocational approach.” Former education secretary Charles Clarke He added: “The answer is not to separate young people into ‘vocational’ or ‘academic’ students. “Vocational education has a great deal to offer every young person, from all backgrounds, whatever their future aspirations.” Myles McGinley, managing director of Cambridge OCR said: “Vocational education represents one of the biggest areas of untapped potential in education.” He added that it was time to “quash” the myth of vocational education being less challenging, and that these qualifications “have something to offer everyone”. “The real barrier here isn’t the technical awards themselves, and that’s good news because we know that teachers do not want another major overhaul of qualifications. “Instead, we can achieve greater access to technical education by removing the structural barriers cited by teachers: a lack of resources, staff, and accessible information for students and parents.”