New “stepping stone” resit qualifications, V-levels, a 16 to 19 funding review and an education “auto-enrolment” from school will all be introduced under the government’s skills white paper.
Ministers published the policy paper yesterday, alongside a consultation on how proposed new V-levels would work.
Here’s everything school leaders need to know …
V-levels: how they will work
The government has launched a consultation on its plans for new V-level courses as well as the expansion of T-levels and sweeping reforms to level 2 courses, including the end of the T-level foundation year.
Ministers have taken aim at the “significant variability” in assessment, grading and content of current vocational qualifications available to young people.
The government’s answer – V-levels – will sit alongside A-levels and T-levels and “offer a vocational alternative to these academic and technical routes” for students who want to “explore different sectors before deciding where to specialise”.
V-levels will be regulated by Ofqual in a similar way to A-levels. Awarding organisations will have strict rules to follow about the design of qualifications, including how they’re structured, how students should be assessed and how they should be graded.
A grading scale for V-levels wasn’t proposed, but it should be consistent across all of the qualifications, like A-levels and T-levels. There are currently six different grading scales for level 3 applied general qualifications.
V-levels will also be a similar size to A-levels, 360 guided learning hours, with the intention being that students can mix and match between the two.
But they will “have an increased proportion of non-exam assessment” compared to their academic cousins, some of which can be marked by providers.
The size difference between V-levels and T-levels means the former will be broader, subject-based qualifications rather than occupationally specialised.
A proposed list of 19 proposed subjects for V-levels was published in the consultation. It includes arts, craft and design; criminology; education and early years; hair, beauty and aesthetics; protective services; retail and travel and tourism.
The plan is for the first V-level classes to start in September 2027, but the full roll out will take four years.
When BTECs will be defunded
The consultation also sets out a defunding timetable for qualifications facing the axe.
Small qualifications that were due to be defunded in 2026 or 2027 will now be funded until the relevant V-level has been introduced.
It means providers can continue to offer small “unreformed qualifications” or the replacement alternative academic qualifications (AAQs) or technical occupational qualification (TOQs).
Students aiming for a large qualification should do a T-level, the consultation stressed.
Courses of 720 or more guided learning hours in T-level subject areas will continue to have their funding removed in 2026 and 2027, as previously announced.
Qualifications of between 421 and 719 guided learning hours will have their funding retained until the corresponding V-level has been introduced.
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association that leads the Protect Student Choice campaign, said the government’s confirmation that medium and large AGQs will be defunded will leave a “large qualifications gap”.
He told sister title FE Week the campaign previously “published a report that showed tens of thousands of students would be left without a pathway to higher education or skilled employment if the government did not reverse its ban on diploma and extended diploma size AGQs in subjects where there is a T-level. The consultation document published today is clear that the government will not reverse this ban.
“As a result, colleges and schools will not be able to enrol students on well-respected AGQs in subjects such as health and social care, applied science and IT next year. That will leave a significant qualification gap, particularly as the government’s new V levels will not be available until 2027 at the earliest.”
Kewin said it was “unclear” how scrapping AGQs before alternatives are in place will help the government break down barriers to opportunity, adding: “This decision will also come as unwelcome news for BTEC teachers in colleges and schools, and the huge number of employers that value these qualifications so highly.”
New ‘strong performing’ T-levels
The DfE’s consultation said the “strong performance” of T-levels warrants expansion into more subjects.
It proposes not only new subjects, but also new specialisms within existing T-levels.
New T-level subjects could also be in areas where occupational standards are not currently set at level 3, such as music technology, production arts and visual effects, and in subjects where there are level 3 qualifications but no corresponding occupational standards, such as music performance and art and design.
Like V-levels, the government has set an ambition to begin introducing new T-levels on rolling basis from academic year 2027.
T-level foundation year to go
But the T-level foundation year programme will be replaced as part of sweeping reforms to level 2 provision.
While much of the attention has been on level 3 qualifications, the white paper acknowledges “limited progress” has been made on reforming level 2 qualifications for young people.
Like the level 3 space, DfE believes there are too many qualifications available, which is “confusing for students and difficult for providers and awarding organisations to deliver”.
DfE’s proposed solution is to offer two study programme led pathways for post-16 level 2 students. The first will be known as a “further study pathway”.
This will eventually replace the T-level foundation year, which has suffered from high drop out and poor progression rates.
This one-year pathway will be for students who wish to progress to level 3 apprenticeships, A-levels, V-levels or T-levels. Students on this pathway will work towards qualifications called foundation certificates.
The second is a two-year “occupational pathway” for students “progressing to employment in level 2 roles, including an apprenticeship.” Leavers will achieve qualifications called occupational certificated.
Both pathways will require learning towards GCSE English and maths where it’s required.
The occupational pathway will include an occupational standard-linked technical qualification, and has been proposed to be a two-year programme in part to ensure students can’t leave education before they turn 18 and to give more time to achieve a GCSE English and maths pass.
Like V-levels, foundation certificates and occupational certificates will be rolled out gradually from 2027.
16-19 funding: A formula review and real-terms rise
As per this summer’s spending review, the government will provide £1.2 billion of “additional investment per year in skills by 2028-2029”.
The white paper said this “significant investment” will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to “maintain real terms per-student funding in the next academic year to respond to the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds”.
Ministers believe this funding boost will help colleges with the “recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas”.
Officials will also undertake a “16 to 19 funding formula review” to “maximise the impact of this funding”. A revised formula is expected to be in place for the 2027-28 academic year.
“We will look at how we are supporting high-value courses to ensure sufficient funding is reaching the most critical subject areas, for example those linked to priority sectors.
“We will aim to simplify the formula, whilst ensuring we support courses that drive economic growth and support providers to offer more provision that will help young people to thrive in areas with growth potential.”
New ‘stepping stone’ qualification for resits
The government appeared to criticise colleges for entering unprepared students for GCSE English and maths resits.
The white paper said too few learners with low prior attainment – a grade 2 or below in English and maths – are “achieving a grade 4 by the time they leave education at age 18 or 19 yet are resitting, sometimes repeatedly, when they are not ready”.
Each student that failed to achieve a grade 4 pass in English or maths at school must study towards the subjects as a condition of their post-16 place being funded. Government guidance makes clear this is a study requirement, not a requirement for students to resit an exam.
The government said it will introduce a new 16 to 19 English and maths “preparation for GCSE level 1 qualifications designed to consolidate the foundational skills and knowledge needed to prepare lower prior attaining students (grade 2 or below) before they then take a GCSE resit”.
These new qualifications will “build on” Professor Becky Francis’ curriculum and assessment review’s “analysis of the evidence and developing recommendations”.
Officials will “work closely with the sector as we develop the new qualifications and plan to consult in 2026”.
Auto-enrolment from schools
Young people leaving school at 16 without an education or training place will also now be auto-enroled into provision, the white paper has revealed.
The move comes as part of a range of measures outlined in the white paper to cut the rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Pilots will test the idea of designating a “default provider” in an area, which could be a college or other provider.
They would contact and place a school leaver who hadn’t selected a post-16 option. A process would also be put in place for young people that drop-out in-year.
“Our ambition is that the default for any young person who isn’t sure of their next steps post-16 is to be in a college or further education provider, rather than out of education and training,” the white paper said.
Funding for education and “wraparound support” is yet to be determined.
Other anti-NEET measures in the white paper include improving data sharing and tracking of young people between schools, local authorities and further education providers.
New “risk of NEET” indicators will be introduced using “artificial intelligence to enhance this approach”.
Schools will be asked to do more to help young people at risk of becoming NEET “successfully transition into post-16 education and training” which will be monitored by Ofsted.
Attendance tracker for 16 to 19s
The white paper rehashes the government’s announcements from last month’s Labour party conference around tackling soaring numbers of young people who are NEET – its new “youth guarantee”.
But it also reveals plans for the government to track student attendance in all 16 to 19 providers.
This will enable providers and the government “intervene early when attendance starts to decline” to try and prevent the young person from becoming NEET.
Officials will take the “best practice” from school attendance tracking and “bring it into further education, to identify those at risk of becoming NEET through data sharing and embedded strategies to address persistent absence”.
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