Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Rejected
Paragraph: 135
Reforms risk inadvertently narrowing opportunities for young people's progression and success.
Conclusion
We welcome the Department’s ambition to simplify and declutter the post-16 landscape by tackling the 5,000 plus qualifications at level 3 and below with low or no enrolments. This will create a system that is clearer and easier to navigate, giving learners and employers confidence that qualifications are rigorous and high-quality. Nonetheless, the speed and scope of the Department’s reforms risks inadvertently narrowing opportunities for young people to progress and succeed.
Government Response Summary
The government explains the rationale behind its post-16 education reforms, stating it has already streamlined qualifications and removed funding from courses overlapping with T Levels. It expresses confidence that these reforms will increase outcomes and provide necessary skills, thus rejecting the concern that they risk narrowing opportunities.
Paragraph Reference:
135
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
Our overarching ambition is for an education system that rigorously prepares students to take their next step after school at 16, whether that be continued study or moving into work based training. The rationale for reforming post-16 education is based on 3 principles – simplifying a complex system impossible for students and employers to navigate, improving progression outcomes and creating a new, world-class technical offer that meets the needs of employers. We have already begun streamlining current qualifications with the removal of over 5,500 courses at Level 3 and below with very low, or no enrolments. To support the roll out of T Levels, we are removing funding from qualifications which overlap with T Levels to allow T Levels the space to thrive and allow as many young people as possible to benefit from the breadth and depth they provide. The Government is putting A levels and T Levels at the heart of most young people’s study programmes because these qualifications offer the best progression for students. Ensuring that all students, regardless of background are best equipped to progress to skilled employment or higher education. The Government recognises the challenges that come with change, including timing. For this reason, the reforms are happening in a gradual, phased way and with significant levels of investment and support, including regular discussions with stakeholders to listen to their concerns. The earliest point the Government will remove funding approval for qualifications that overlap with T Levels will be August 2024—four years after T Levels were first taught (and eight years after they were first proposed in the Sainsbury Report). Level 2 and below reforms are being phased over three years instead of two, with first reform recently delayed by a year to allow more time to prepare. The Government is reforming qualifications at Level 3 because too many qualifications have low and no enrolments, are not sufficiently based on IfATE’s employer led occupational standards, and do not progress young people to related occupations. For example, on the recently published provisional list of 92 qualifications that overlap with wave 3 T levels, we know there were 36 qualifications which had no enrolments and a further 24 had fewer than 100 enrolments in 2020/21 academic year. Our reforms are designed to change this. They will ensure that young people study technical education options that have been designed against IfATE’s employer led occupational standards and that give them the skills they need to enter their chosen occupation. We will also be asking for evidence the qualification is valued by employers. We are confident, therefore, that our reforms will increase outcomes for learners and build a strong pipeline of skills for the future.