The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Andrea Jenkyns)
Today I am notifying Parliament of the next stage of the Government’s reforms to post-16 qualifications at level 3 in England—the publication of the final list of qualifications that overlap with the T-levels in Education and Childcare, Digital, and Construction and the Built Environment.
In our response to the second stage consultation of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below, we set out our aims to streamline the qualifications landscape at level 3. The review aims to ensure that only qualifications that are necessary and lead to good outcomes are approved for public funding, delivering greater value for money for the taxpayer. It is important to ensure that all qualifications serve a clear and distinct purpose and lead to good progression and good outcomes for students. Supporting students to make a choice at 16 between an excellent academic or an excellent technical route will prepare students better for the next phase of their lives.
We have already removed funding approval from over 5,000 qualifications at level 3 and below that had no or low enrolments.
On 11 May Parliament was notified of the commencement of the next stage of our review—to remove funding approval for qualifications that overlap with T-levels. The rigour of T-levels, combined with the meaningful industry placement of at least 45 days, will equip more young people with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to access skilled employment or further technical study. The results for the first three T-levels awarded in summer 2022 were fantastic, with a 92% pass rate—and feedback from this first group of students indicates that they have progressed to a variety of destinations, including higher education, apprenticeships or skilled employment. The removal of overlapping qualifications will give T-levels the space needed to flourish and maximise the number of learners on these important qualifications.
We published the provisional list of qualifications that overlap with waves 1 and 2 T-levels in May, and awarding organisations had eight weeks to appeal their qualifications’ inclusion on the list.
I can now confirm the final list of qualifications that will have funding approval removed at 16-19 because they overlap with the T-levels in Education and Childcare, Digital, and Construction and the Built Environment. These qualifications will have funding approval removed in August 2024.
As the outline content of the T-levels in the Health and Science route is currently being reviewed by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, this list does not include qualifications that overlap with these T-levels. Once the review has concluded, expected later this calendar year, we will confirm the final list of qualifications that overlap with these T-levels. Qualifications overlapping with these T-levels will have funding approval removed in 2024, at the same time as those overlapping with the other waves 1 and 2 T-levels.
This review has been led by evidence. We commissioned independent assessors to conduct in-depth reviews of the qualifications. All qualifications placed on the final overlap list were rigorously assessed and considered against three tests:
That they are technical qualifications;
That they have demonstrable overlap of content and outcomes with waves 1 and 2 T-levels already on offer; and
That they are aimed at supporting entry to the same occupation(s) as those T-levels.
We will run another process to identify qualifications that overlap with T-levels in the remaining T-level routes in 2023, and qualifications that overlap with these T-levels will have funding approval removed in 2025.
The next phase of the qualifications review will approve the qualifications that will sit alongside A-levels and T-levels in the new landscape. We are clear that other qualifications, including BTECs and similar qualifications, will continue to play an important role and we will fund these qualifications where they are high quality and where there is a clear need for them. We expect to publish details shortly of the process by which academic and technical qualifications at level 3 will be approved, and I will update Parliament on this.
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