Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 33
33
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 137
Unclear number of students with protected characteristics disadvantaged by reforms, risking rise in NEET.
Conclusion
The Department’s equalities impact assessment identifies that some students with protected characteristics may be disadvantaged by the reforms as they may no longer be able to progress to a level 3 qualification. We heard that this could result in a rise in 16–18 year olds who are NEET (not in education, employment, or training). While the Department outlines it expects this number to be “relatively small”, it remains unclear how many students might be affected.
Government Response Summary
The government justified its reforms to Level 3 qualifications, citing low enrolments in existing programs and better university outcomes for A Levels compared to BTECs. It did not address the committee's concern about the unclear number of students who might be disadvantaged by the reforms or the specific equality impact.
Paragraph Reference:
137
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
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. All too often, young people who have taken a qualification in a particular subject end up in an unrelated field. For achievers of qualifications in 2018/195 there is no clear relationship between most sector subject areas of qualifications and employment in specific industry sectors. For many qualifications, the retail sector is the most likely destination for those in sustained employment. On average, for example learners achieving Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care qualifications are more likely to be employed in the retail sector (28%) than in the Agriculture sector (10%). For Construction, Planning and the Built Environment sector qualifications, learners achieving them are also more likely on average to be employed in the retail sector (21%) than in the construction sector (10%). 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. Where young people need support to progress to T Levels, they will be able to access the T Level or other Level 3 provision, transition programme, or other reformed Level 2 provision more clearly designed to help them progress. There is evidence that current AGQs are less effective than A Levels when it comes to university outcomes. For example6, research for The Nuffield Foundation found that BTECs provide a route into university for one in four young student entrants from England, and BTEC entrants are more likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds than their peers with A Levels. However, students who take A Levels are less likely to drop out of university and more likely to graduate with a 2:1 or a first than those with BTECs. Students who entered with just BTECs are almost twice as likely to drop out before their second year compared to similar students who have just A Levels, around 1.7 times more likely to repeat their first year and around 1.4 times more likely to graduate below a 2:1.