Consultation on scrapping quals competing with T Levels to remain open for further two weeks

A government consultation that asks for views on plans to remove funding for applied general qualifications, such as BTECs, that compete with T Levels and A-levels has been extended.

The deadline for responding to the second stage of the level 3 qualifications review was set for tomorrow, but will now remain open until 31 January.

The DfE claims there is currently a “confusing landscape” of over 12,000 courses on offer to young people at level 3 and below, with multiple qualifications in the same subject areas available – many of which are “poor quality and offer little value to students or employers”.

The consultation was launched in October and set out detailed measures that the education secretary Gavin Williamson plans to take to tackle this, including removing funding for the “majority” of qualifications that “overlap” with A-levels and T Levels by autumn 2023.

It also includes plans to open T Levels up to adults from 2023.

More details on the plans can be found here, and the consultation can be accessed here.

Pearson, the awarding body that runs BTECs, launched a campaign in December to encourage students to respond to the consultation, insisting that “offering learners a choice in what qualification suits their career aspirations best is the right way to support them and the UK economy – both now and in the future”.

A separate call for evidence for qualifications at level 2 and below has also had its deadline extended, this time from 31 January to 14 February.

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3 Comments

  1. Phil Hatton

    Learn from history when the awful GNVQs and later diplomas were pushed by the DFE and BTEC Nationals were pushed for discontinuation. Please respond to this ‘consultation’ so that an established choice still remains available.