16-19 performance measure shake up: What you need to know

Ministers have announced plans to bolster 16-19 performance measures after admitting public accountability data misses the outcomes of nearly one third of young people.

A Department for Education consultation, published this afternoon, said its current headline accountability measures for schools and colleges’ 16-19 provision only cover around 68 per cent of students because many vocational and technical qualifications are excluded.

This means the data is “not equally useful” for all providers, “in particular further education colleges where much of the 16-19 activity that is not captured in performance measures takes place,” the consultation said.

New performance measures are set to be created for V Levels that are “broadly” in line with reporting requirements for A Levels and T Levels.

And the two new level 2 pathways, alongside level 1 and below provision for the first time, would also be brought in scope for “consistent” performance reporting, with attainment, progress, retention and destinations proposed as the baseline minimum measures.

Colleges face lighter sanctions and greater freedom over when students resit English and maths, but risk tougher penalties if results slip. Click here for a separate story on the English and maths accountability proposals.

DfE also wants to scrap two of the three current student retention measures, making ‘retained and assessed’ the sole headline retention metric on new school and college profiles from this autumn.

Here’s what you need to know.

Why change? 

Information about school and college performance on 16-19 education doesn’t give students and parents a full picture, DfE argued.

Courses currently in scope include A Levels, some other academic qualifications, applied generals, tech levels and level 2 technical certificates.

But many vocational and technical qualifications are left out because they do not meet old performance table criteria or because of a moratorium on new qualification approvals being in place since 2018.

DfE said this has left the tables too narrow, especially for further education colleges.

The department now wants headline performance measures that are more consistently applied across 16-19 provision at each level. Having one single set of measures covering all 16-19 learners has been ruled out as this would not capture the “nuance” of different levels and qualification types.

Instead, the government wants comparable measures within each level, which is particularly pressing as new mainstream qualifications, like V Levels and new level 2 foundation and occupational certificates, enter the game.

V Level performance

V Levels are due to be rolled out gradually from 2027 and will eventually replace many existing level 3 vocational and technical qualifications. The government’s aim is for students to choose A, V or T Levels, or a mix.

DfE wants V Level outcomes to be reported alongside A Levels and T Levels and said the measures should be “broadly consistent” across the three routes. They propose this should include attainment, progress, and retention, along with destinations and English and maths progress where relevant.

The earliest provider-level V Level performance measures could be published is spring 2030.

DfE is asking the sector how V Level performance can be reported alongside A Levels and T Levels, recognising that some students will combine A Levels and V Levels in their study programme.

Level 2 pathways will be measured

As set out in the post-16 education and skills white paper, the government’s aim is for the foundation certificates and occupational certificates to become the mainstream level 2 pathways for school leavers.

At the moment, level 2 performance measures are only reported for technical certificates approved before 2018.

DfE wants level 2 measures to be broadly consistent with level 3 where possible, using similar measures such as attainment and progress. But as the foundation certificate will be designed for students to progress to level 3, DfE is consulting on whether an extra progression measure should be included for those courses.

Like V Levels, the foundation and occupational certificates will be first taught in 2027 and rolled out gradually.

The first foundation certificate results will be out in 2028 so will first appear in provider-level performance tables in spring 2031 following a two-year level 3 course.

For occupational certificates, the first results are due in 2029 so will appear in provider-level performance measures for the first time in spring 2030.

Level 1 and entry-level courses

DfE is also proposing to create new performance measures for level 1 and entry-level learners

Currently, these learners are included in destination measures, and relevant English and maths qualifications can count towards English and maths progress measures. But their wider qualification outcomes do not count towards headline attainment, progress or retention measures.

Around 6 per cent of 16-19 year olds in education studies at level 1 or below in 2023-24.

Just over a third of level 1 learners are recorded as having SEND or an EHCP. For entry-level learners, that figure was 57 per cent.

DfE said it was not proposing to copy the level 2 and level 3 model for this cohort because “we recognise that students may have quite different end goals from their peers at level 2 and above — whether that is progressing into further study, moving into employment, or developing essential life and work skills.”

The consultation doesn’t specify a set of measures for level 1 and below, and instead asks for views on what they should be.

Headline retention measure replaced from this autumn

DfE wants to scrap the current headline retention measure and make a bolstered version of the ‘retained and assessed’ the sole metric published on schools and college performance profiles.

At present, the headline retention measure shows the percentage of students retained to the end of their core aim.

DfE also publishes a ‘retained and assessed’ measure, which shows whether students stayed to the end of their course and were assessed.

A further ‘retained and returned for a second year’ measure is still published in underlying data, although it has already been removed from the public-facing digital service.

DfE wants this to become the only headline retention measure on new school and college profiles from autumn 2026.

Importantly, DfE will, from 2026-27, take the ‘assessed’ element from ‘retained and assessed’ from awarding body data, rather than from schools and colleges. They said this was to prevent data errors that have in the past distorted retention scores.

Another methodological change will mean students on a level 2 core aim that are assessed at level 3 will count as retained and assessed.

In the longer term, DfE is seeking views on whether students who leave a level 2 or level 3 course to start an apprenticeship should be counted as ‘out of scope’, rather than negatively, in the ‘retained and assessed’ measure.

The consultation closes on 21 July 2026.