Further Education: Qualifications

(asked on 7th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the proposal for the introduction of T-Levels and for subjects where there is no T-Level route, what qualifications will be available; what will be the (a) content and (b) assessment process for those qualifications; and will those qualifications be available for the start of the 2023-24 academic year.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 16th September 2021

Our final plans setting out the groups of qualifications that will be available alongside T Levels and A levels in future were published on 14 July.

We will fund two groups of technical qualifications alongside T Levels for 16 to 19 year olds. The first will be qualifications that are designed to enable entry into occupations where there are no T Levels. The second will be qualifications that develop more specialist skills and knowledge than could be acquired through a T Level alone, helping to protect the skills supply into more specialist industries or occupations.

Adults will be able to study a broader range of technical qualifications than 16 to 19 year olds. T Levels will be available for adults but we believe these should exist alongside a range of other high quality technical qualifications that are backed by employers. This includes smaller technical qualifications that enable entry into occupations that are already served by T Levels, and qualifications focusing on cross-sectoral skills that are transferrable across different occupations such as management, leadership, and digital. Qualifications within safety critical industries will also be available for adults.

We are phasing the introduction of reformed qualifications in line with the national rollout of T Levels, starting with a single test route (pathfinder) concentrating on the Digital route in the 2023/24 academic year. This means technical qualifications that lead to occupations in the Digital route that are not covered by T Levels will be available for young people and adults from 2023/24.

From the 2024/25 academic year, building on learning from the pathfinder, we will scale up the introduction of reformed technical qualifications including those which lead to occupations not covered by T Levels in the Education and Childcare, Construction, Health and Science, and Engineering and Manufacturing routes. All remaining technical and academic qualifications for young people and adults, including technical qualifications that lead to occupations in routes where there is no T Level will be introduced in 2025/26.

Detailed criteria for approval including qualification content and assessment are still in development and we will continue to work with sector experts to finalise these, including the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, Ofqual, employers, awarding organisations and post-16 providers. Guidance, qualification approval criteria and funding approval criteria for qualifications approved for delivery from 2023 will be published later in 2021. Approval criteria for qualifications to be delivered from 2024 and beyond will be published in 2022.

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