Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe New vocational GCSEs must be taken by a substantial proportion of pupils, otherwise the new qualifications risk widening socio-economic inequalities, researchers have warned. In a major shake-up of key stage 4 qualifications, ministers plan to begin replacing existing technical awards with the new GCSEs from 2029. The new qualifications will sit alongside existing “traditional” GCSEs, with assessment for 16-year-olds “aligned to 16 to 19 progression routes including A-levels, T-levels and the new V-levels”. Accountability measures will be adapted to recognise the new qualifications and give schools an incentive to offer them. Lucy Powell, education secretary, insisted the reforms were not about creating a “two-tier” education system, and that they would give the qualifications “the GCSE branding”. But the National Foundation of Educational Research today warned that its research on international evidence suggests that “earlier tracking can increase socio-economic inequalities, with choices at younger ages more likely to reflect prior attainment and family background”. ‘They must have high status’ Jude Hillary, co-head of policy and practice, said: “While the government is not formally proposing to split students into academic and vocational tracks at 14, an expansion of vocational GCSEs could lead to this happening in practice. She added: “It will therefore be important that these qualifications have high status, are taken by a substantial proportion of young people and that they are able to change direction later.” Hillary added there was a risk that the range of vocational GCSEs available could vary depending on where the pupil lives. “Research shows smaller institutions can struggle to sustain marginal and specialist subjects. The government will therefore need to consider how this can be avoided.” Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, welcomed the increased emphasis on technical routes. But the charity is “concerned that disadvantaged young people are nudged towards the technical track, increasing divides and ultimately reducing social mobility. “These reforms shouldn’t get in the way of efforts to narrow attainment gaps in crucial core subjects.” Resource fears The qualifications, which will be the same size as GCSEs, will have “nationally-set content, grading and assessment”, unlike existing technical awards. The DfE said technical awards “currently vary by provider with no nationally set content, and do not consistently support progression to further study”. Like existing GCSEs, assessment and grading for the new qualifications will be regulated by Ofqual. Subject content will be based on subject expert advice. Subject options could include business management and finance, creative media production, digital tech, child development and building and construction. Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of ASCL, said the reform was “well-intentioned”, but said government needed to “ensure schools have the staffing and resources” to deliver the new qualifications. Powell told broadcast news outlets on Thursday they will “make sure that schools have got what they need to deliver these qualifications” including funding, if needed. She pointed to “really creative things” happening in schools, including where some students go to a local FE college once a week to do technical awards. Scale up questions She spoke about schools with construction “hubs” on site and she said there was “huge demand” for the trade. However, figures show only 361 schools – about 10 per cent of secondaries – offered a technical award in building and construction, prompting questions about how it would scale up. Powell added that government “wouldn’t expect a school to offer all of these as they don’t offer all GCSEs at the moment, they will specialise in particular areas as they are doing”. But she believed the “vast majority of school leaders and schools will welcome this move because they want the recognition and they want to be incentivised themselves as well, to offer more of these subjects, because they know how much young people really flourish in them”. Lee Wilson, chief executive of the Outwood Grange Academies Trust, said: “It is about applying the exact same rigour that we have applied over recent years to more academic routes, clearly sequenced teaching, rigorous assessment and robust core knowledge, to vocational qualifications.” But Myles McGinley, managing director of Cambridge OCR, warned the government it needs “to think beyond the qualifications themselves if we are serious about enabling vocational education to thrive”. “We need stronger incentives, better awareness and understanding, and specialist resources in place if we are to secure wider vocational uptake.” He added that “the pace of change needs careful consideration, with the right conditions in place for schools to deliver these reforms” and that vocational qualifications should “maintain and lean into their distinctiveness” to thrive. Exam boss urges for post-16 parity The DfE wants progression routes from the new GCSEs to include not just vocational options of V and T-levels, but also academic A-levels. The boss of AQA, the largest exam board providing GCSEs in England, told Schools Week it was “critically important” this now meant there were “unified pathways” for pupils to take both academic and vocational options. Colin Hughes said it is “utterly critical in terms of winning, not just acceptance, but support and enthusiasm for qualifications and not only with students and their teachers, but also ultimately with employers”. It’s not clear how students will be assessed yet. Details will be fleshed out as part of a consultation later this year. Hughes added that it was likely the mode of assessment would need to be different to GCSEs, but how different would depend on how far the government “is willing to open up the potential” for different assessments, as well as depending on the subject. “The more assessment you have that is an individual teacher, assessing an individual student, either during a course or at the end of a course, the greater the burden on the teacher’s time. “Everything we do in curriculum and assessment is invariably a matter of thinking through the trade offs between the desired content and that the desired approach to assessment.” ‘Parity’ with GCSEs on grading wanted The way the qualifications are graded (such as using 9-1 grades like current GCSEs) will also be confirmed in the consultation. The DfE said they are looking to “ensure parity with existing GCSEs as much as possible”. The DfE said performance measures would be adjusted to ensure schools are incentivised to offer the new vocational qualifications. Technical awards count towards the ‘open’ category within school performance tables, as well as in progress 8 and attainment 8. Under Bridget Phillipson, the government proposed to reform progress 8 and attainment 8 accountability measures, to lean towards creative subjects. It’s now not clear when the government’s response to the consultation will be published, though it was due to come out at the end of summer term.