Skip to content
14 April 2026

Tag: further education

DfE’s BTEC reforms will hit disadvantaged students hardest, sector warns

Government plans to remove funding for the majority of BTEC qualifications will hit the most disadvantaged young students the hardest, various unions and sector representatives have warned. In a joint statement published today for a campaign called #ProtectStudentChoice, 11 organisations urged ministers to rethink plans outlined in the level 3 qualifications review. They expressed concern […]

A-level results 2016: Number of universities offering Freephone clearing hotlines rises

A-level pupils going through clearing this year are less likely to face considerable phone charges after the number of universities using Freephone numbers nearly doubled in 12 months, a Schools Week investigation can reveal. Last summer, Schools Week highlighted the potential high costs for young people needing to ring round universities to secure a place on a course through clearing. […]

Rio Olympics 2016: Where did the Team GB medal winners go to school?

Proud teachers and their schools have heaped praise on former pupils who have contributed to a record medal haul for Team GB at this year’s Rio Olympics. Overall, just under 70 per cent of the medal-winning athletes were educated at state-maintained schools. A handful of athletes, including Tom Daley, the diver, were given scholarships to attend independent schools. […]

University access gap between state and independent schools widens

The gap between the proportion of state school pupils going to university and their independent school peers has widened as the apparent impact of an increase in tuition fees bites. Figures released by the Department for Education (DfE) this morning show that in 2013-14, just 62 per cent of state school pupils progressed to a higher education, […]

Talk to pupils about university when they’re 10, Ucas tells schools

Schools should do more to encourage pupils as young as 12 to think about their post-18 choices, the University and College Admissions Service has said, sparking a call for better careers funding. For its latest report, Through the lens of students, Ucas surveyed more than 16,000 recent university applicants about how their perceptions of higher […]

Skills shake-up won’t stop schools offering A-levels and BTECs

A planned overhaul of post-16 education won’t stop schools offering A-levels and vocational courses like BTECs together, the author of a government review has said. Lord Sainsbury (above right) has told Schools Week that a shake-up prompted by his inquiry into technical education in England would not prevent schools from offering BTEC and other “applied […]

State school pupils will “struggle” to access top universities after government A-level reform

State schools will “struggle” to get to grips with university admission changes driven by the government’s A-level reforms – pushing them further behind their private school peers, a forum heard today. Some universities have overhauled their admission process after the government’s new linear A-level reforms. Higher education institutions relied on AS-levels to offer places, however […]

How we could abandon GCSEs and make 14-19 education work

Expecting students to take a plethora of exams at 16 makes little sense in a modern context. By stripping back the number of externally-assessed subjects for this age group, we could introduce far greater flexibility into our education system To my mind, many of the reforms to qualifications made in the life cycle of the […]