Yesterday morning, the government announced that its new plan to reform vocational qualifications would break down barriers to opportunity.
We were pleased to see that the government had fully committed to retain a third qualification pathway to sit alongside A-levels and T-levels – one of the main objectives of the Protect Student Choice campaign.
But yesterday evening, once the details of the plan had been published, it became clear that the timing of the government’s reforms was more likely to create barriers to opportunity.
In July, the campaign published a report that showed tens of thousands of students would be left without a suitable post-16 pathway if the government implemented its plan to scrap applied general qualifications (AGQs) such as BTECs in subjects where T-levels are available.
However, it is now clear that BTEC diplomas and extended diplomas (equivalent in size to 2 and 3 A-levels) will be scrapped from 2026, before the new V-level qualifications become available.
The government is committed to helping working class students to progress to university and reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Yet there is clear evidence that the plan to scrap diplomas and extended diplomas will make it much harder to achieve both objectives.
We want V-levels to be a success. But at the moment it is difficult to look beyond the huge qualification gap that will open up next year when these BTECs are scrapped, and the tens of thousands of students that are likely to fall through it.
The premature scrapping of these courses is also bad news for BTEC teachers in colleges and schools, and the huge number of employers that value these qualifications so highly.
The government hopes that scrapping diplomas and extended diplomas will drive up the number of students studying T-levels.
In reality, it is more likely to drive up the number of students that disengage from education and/or are forced to enrol on unsuitable qualifications.
The government’s reforms are partly driven by the desire to simplify what they describe as a“confusing” system where “no one is truly sure the qualification they are doing is best for them”.
But we have seen little evidence of confusion with applied general qualifications (AGQs). There are 97 AGQs that are available in 24 subjects (fewer than the number of A-levels) and a college or school will typically offer a fraction of this number.
More confusing was the government’s decision to proceed with the launch of a new suite of qualifications (alternative academic qualifications) in July 2024, only to indicate yesterday – just one month after students enrolled on them for the first time – that they are being scrapped.
Many of our members were planning to use AAQs to stitch together a backup study programme if the government did not agree to pause the defunding of AGQs. But they will now be less inclined to enrol students on these qualifications given they will be discontinued in the very near future.
One of the benefits of studying an extended diploma is that students can manage their time and studies more effectively by pursuing a single qualification, typically with the same teachers and student cohort.
What will objectively be more confusing for these young people (that typically have lower levels of prior attainment than students studying smaller AGQs) is the requirement to select three separate V-levels in the future.
We now know that colleges have enrolled their last students on diplomas and extended diplomas in key subjects such as health and social care, applied science and IT.
And we also know that V-levels – despite the high hopes we have for them – will not be ready until at least 2027 (an implementation timeframe that would break all existing records).
Our priority now is to support members through this transition over the next two academic years. Staff and leaders will be working flat out to minimise the number of young people left without a pathway in 2026 and 2027.
Our message to the government is a straightforward one: don’t scrap existing qualifications until new ones are available.
Doing so will create, rather than break down, barriers to opportunity. Colleges and schools will try to find innovative ways to navigate these barriers, but yesterday’s announcement has made the transition to the new qualification system a good deal more difficult than it needed to be.
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