AGQs could be ‘timed out’ before curriculum review ends 

Campaigners sound alarm over DfE plans to drag diplomas into defunding controversy

Campaigners sound alarm over DfE plans to drag diplomas into defunding controversy

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The government is quietly pushing through plans to wipe out medium-sized alternative courses to T Levels during the independent curriculum and assessment review (CAR).  

In late 2024 the Department for Education agreed to pause the defunding of applied general qualifications (AGQs), such as BTECs, for at least another year.  

Ministers also reached an agreement with campaigners to remove constraints on combining different types and sizes of qualification through its level 3 reforms.  

The CAR panel, led by Professor Becky Francis, was formed last summer to review England’s curriculum and assessment system, including 16 to 19 education, and recommend improvements.  

The panel published an interim report this week that said it was “clear that they [T Levels] are not suitable as the only vocational pathway”. The panel will “consider carefully” which other options should sit alongside the new technical qualifications through the remainder of the review, which is due to be published in the autumn.  

But in December, months after the CAR review was launched, the DfE released guidance stating that funding would be removed from “large” AGQs in T Level routes, with ministers controversially lumping in qualifications that usually would be considered medium.  

The guidance says: “Where learners wish to study a large qualification (of 720 guided learning hours or more), in a T Level route, the T Level should be the main option for them.”  

The Protect Student Choice Campaign wrote to Francis this week to explain this would remove funding from all diploma-size (two A-level equivalent, 720 guided learning hours) qualifications in T Level routes.  

The letter said: “As you know, many students successfully combine a diploma-size AGQ with an A-level to reach higher education or skilled employment. These qualifications are a very different size to T Levels (that average 1,200 guided learning hours, plus an industry placement of at least 315 hours) and serve a very different purpose.  

“Although this guidance was published while your review was underway, the government is reluctant to revisit it before your review has reported. This will have the effect of ‘timing out’ diploma-size qualifications in Cycle 1 subjects (eg applied science, health and social care, IT, and engineering) as awarding bodies are required to submit new versions of these courses for approval before your review concludes.”  

There are 63,840 16- to 19-year-olds studying an AGQ of 720 guided learning hours or more in a T Level route. Removing these qualifications could “lead to many students disengaging from education and increase the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)”, the letter said.  

James Kewin, the deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “The Protect Student Choice coalition was pleased to see a commitment in the CAR’s interim report to explore what qualifications should sit alongside A-levels and T Levels at level 3.   

“But as things stand, some applied qualifications will be ‘timed out’ before the CAR’s final report is published.”  

The campaign called on Francis to ensure her review “signals that it sees a role for diploma-sized qualifications in the future and the government should revisit its guidance to allow qualifications of this size to be submitted for approval in T Level routes”.  

The DfE was approached for comment. 

  

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