How we’ll go about reforming the level 3 landscape

Skills minister Jacqui Smith sets out the government's guiding principles for reviewing qualifications to meet the needs of learners and employers

Skills minister Jacqui Smith sets out the government's guiding principles for reviewing qualifications to meet the needs of learners and employers

30 Sep 2024, 10:24

One of the real joys of my new ministerial role is that I can build on my previous experience as a minister at DfE when I worked on 14-19 education and on my own career in schools and colleges teaching vocational qualifications alongside A levels. 

I passionately believe that we need a system that meets the needs of every single learner and of employers, that provides high-quality routes where excellent technical and vocational education can stand alongside academic.    

I know from meeting many of you working in FE in recent weeks that there’s already so much to be proud of, but there is so much more that I want us to do together. There is a consensus among those of you to whom I have spoken that the qualifications landscape has got to get better. None of us want to see poor-quality qualifications or inferior outcomes for learners. 

We’ve already started to make progress, setting up Professor Becky Francis’s curriculum and assessment review which I hope many of you will contribute to.   

We have also taken immediate steps to pause the removal of public funding from qualifications that was due to take place on 31 July 2024, and we have launched a focused review of qualifications reform. 

The review will consider whether we should remove funding from these qualifications and other qualifications due to be defunded in 2025. I know some have argued that we should just shelve this work, but I’m not willing to go slow on the work to improve our qualifications or to leave uncertainty hanging over the system.   

I’d like to take this opportunity to share more about how this review will work.   

Principles   

It will focus on the objectives I set out above.   

We remain committed to T Levels and their place as an excellent offer for young people. It’s been a pleasure meeting students and providers who have benefited from this ambitious new qualification.

I am pleased that we’ve been able to commit to rolling out new T Levels, but we also need to look at how delivery of current ones can be improved so as many young people as possible have the opportunity to enrol and succeed on one.  

As part of a wider offer for young people I recognise that we need to retain other qualifications alongside T Levels and A levels.

Where the review identifies the balance of learner and employer needs within a sector requires level 3 qualifications other than T Levels and A levels, we will maintain the relevant qualifications. This may well be in areas that overlap with T Levels, which is a change from the approach taken by the last government.  

The quality of qualifications needs to continue to improve, so where we decide to keep qualifications we will continue to work with you to reform them to improve outcomes.   

As part of the review, we will also identify qualifications with low or no enrolments. When resources are tight, I don’t think it’s right to retain public funding for qualifications that aren’t attracting learners unless there are very special circumstances relating to them. So funding will continue to be removed for these qualifications in line with the already published dates.  

What next?   

I will be overseeing the review and will continue to engage on what we need to do to build better outcomes for all students. We will work with the sector to gather views as we take decisions on the best way forward. 

As promised in July, we will communicate the outcome of the review before the end of the year.   

This is an exciting time for further education because we have a real chance to reshape the landscape so that it creates opportunities for everyone. I am confident that this sensible and measured approach will help us build on the common ground that so many of us share.   

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One comment

  1. Emma Writtle

    This sounds like the quiet death knell for T Levels. The majority of their target audience is ineligible for the program because of its entry requirements and/or because they are not looking for challenging academic programs at this point in their lives, when they are recovering from school. Even coming in at about £60,000, all in, per successful T Level student, it would still be difficult for the new government to axe the program. In this way, with the scope for other qualifications to remain, T Levels will wither on the vine and the government can blame their predecessors for the failure. In the meantime some lively AOs could walk away with tons of cash for developing T Level qualifications that they’re gambling they won’t be called upon to run and maintain for long – unless Rachel at No. 11 spots it…