Education ministers have been accused of disrespecting principals and headteachers by failing to address concerns over the government’s partial-pause and review of defunding level 3 qualifications.
Principals and headteachers from 455 schools and colleges signed a last-ditch plea from the Protect Student Choice campaign last week to delay the cull of qualifications by at least a year.
Shortly after winning the July general election, the new government announced it would only pause the defunding of a limited number of level 3 qualifications that were due to lose their funding in August 2024. By the end of December, a “focused review” will establish which, if any, of those qualifications, and others due to lose their funding in future years, will be available to students.
It means that students and parents attending open days and making decisions about their post-16 options in the coming months now won’t know for sure if the courses they wish to take will be available to them in September 2025.
In a letter dated one day after the joint submission from schools and colleges, skills minister Jacqui Smith (pictured) restated the government’s position to pause the removal of funding for qualifications that had been deemed to overlap with T Levels for this year only.
“We are pausing defunding for the duration of the review, and we will conclude and communicate the outcomes of this review before the turn of the year. Defunding decisions for 2025 onwards will be confirmed after the short review, and the curriculum and assessment review [led by Becky Francis] will reflect these decisions,” Smith wrote.
Smith’s response repeats previous correspondence from the education secretary Bridget Phillipson when campaigners first flagged concerns with Labour’s plans last month.
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), which has led the Protect Student Choice campaign, hit back at the government’s “disrespectful” response.
He said: “The message from school and college leaders is clear: being told in December 2024 what qualifications they can offer in September 2025 is too late and will disadvantage some young people.
“It is disrespectful to respond to these concerns using boilerplate text that does not address the practical solution put forward by leaders, and impossible to square with the secretary of state’s recent commitment to the education sector to ‘listen, to draw on your wealth of experience and to act on your honest feedback’.
“It is also misleading to claim in the response that ‘we are pausing defunding for the duration of the review’ when the pause does not apply to applied general qualifications, the focus of the leaders’ letter.”
Schools and colleges have been advised by the government to make clear to students which courses may not be available next year.
Analysis by SFCA’s member colleges found 30 colleges where at least 50 per cent of its level 3 provision is in scope of the government’s review, two of which have 100 per cent.
Kewin added: “The Protect Student Choice coalition will meet in the coming weeks to discuss how we can help schools and colleges to navigate an entirely avoidable period of disruption and uncertainty for them and almost 600,000 young people.”
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