T Level and other vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results are out today – here’s your FE Week rundown of key findings…
VTQ high achievers grow again
Ofqual data shows that of the 221,000 VTQ results issued in England, about 88 per cent were applied general qualifications such as BTECs, and the rest were tech levels.
The data, covering March to August, remains provisional and will be updated to show the whole of the academic year in the autumn.
The wide range of qualification types and grading systems limit VTQ results data, but it shows business, administration and law remains the most popular subject for the fourth year in a row.
The most common VTQ grade format was P, M, D, D*, with 114,795 grades issued. This year, 13 per cent of those results were D*, the highest grade available.
This percentage has gradually increased from 10.8 per cent in 2024 but is lower than the 15.6 per cent awarded in 2022.
There was significant growth in health, public services and care, and digital technology since last year, with D* grades rising 4.5 percentage points to 16.9 per cent and 4.8 percentage points to 17.2 per cent respectively.
T Level results grow 65 per cent
The number of students receiving T Level results shot up from 11,909 in 2025 to 19,665 in 2026 – a 65 per cent rise.
This was, however, to be expected as the technical qualifications have been on a steady rollout since 2020, with more subjects coming on board each year.
Results were announced in 21 separate pathways today, three for the first time – animal care and management; craft and design; and media, broadcast and production.
Education and early years was the most popular with 3,780 results, a 51 per cent increase from last year.
The other most popular were health, management and administration, and digital production, design and development.
There was a 61 per cent increase in health to 2,967 results, management and administration rose 40 per cent to 1,857 and design, surveying and planning grew 53.4 per cent to 1,027.
Two of the new T Levels – media, broadcast and production and animal care and management – had sizeable cohorts of 1,059 and 448 respectively. Craft and design had only 67 results in its first year.
Uptick in top grades (but don’t overinterpret it)
The proportion of distinction and distinction* T Level grades rose to 18.1 per cent, up from 15.7 per cent last year and 15.9 per cent in 2024.
This year’s overall pass rate was 92.6 per cent.
Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham told FE Week the rise in top grades indicated that teachers were “now more familiar with the course and are teaching it more fluently and confidently” and that students with “stronger starting points are trusting T Levels and opting for them and doing well at them”.
However, he urged for caution when comparing grades to previous years as T Levels were still in an early rollout period with relatively small numbers taking them and new pathways coming on board.
By comparison, 906,000 students received A Level results today.
Positive pathway progression
T Level pathways with the highest pass results were craft and design, health, education and early years, management and administration, and design, surveying and planning, which each had rates of more than 95 per cent.
Most of these had large cohorts of between 3,780 and 1,588.
Pathways with cohorts of more than 500 that had the highest distinction and distinction* rates included education and early years at 33 per cent, accounting at 27 per cent, and animal care and management at 23 per cent.
Only six of the 21 pathways received any distinction* grades, with 62 of the 74 highest grades coming from education and early years. Last year, only 21 distinction* grades were awarded from a cohort of 11,981.
Onsite construction, which is being phased out and had only 213 results this year, had the lowest pass rate of 75 per cent.
Other T Levels with lower pass rates included design and development for engineering and manufacturing, at 81 per cent of 1,649 students. This was the same as last year.
Building services engineering also had an 81 per cent of 830 students, a slight decline on its 84 per cent pass rate last year.
Largest T Level growth in the north east
T Level results grew by at least 49 per cent in every region in England, with the north east and east of England seeing the largest increases of 89 per cent and 78 per cent.
The north west and south east, which both had the largest cohorts, had the lowest growth rates of 49 per cent and 53 per cent.
The east Midlands had the smallest cohort but saw a 69 per cent growth in results, up to 1,249.
Gender balance challenge
T Levels have an equal gender balance overall, with 9,699 females and 9,878 males picking up a result today.
But there are big differences subject to subject.
Similar to last year, the 2026 data shows education and early years and health pathways had the highest proportion of female results, at 96 and 91 per cent. These two pathways accounted for 65 per cent of all female T Level results.
Meanwhile, males made up 97.5 per cent of the building services engineering pathway, 94.4 per cent of the onsite construction pathway and 92.2 per cent of digital support services.
Bauckham said these imbalances should be addressed.
“What most people would want to aim for is in most professions a good, healthy gender balance, and I think where we see the gender balance tilting one way or the other markedly, we probably want to pause and say, ‘hang on a minute, is that quite right?’,” he told FE Week.
“There may be some professions where we don’t have that as an aspiration but overall I think we want men and women to be well represented in most professional areas.”
‘Disappointing’ placements results for hundreds
Today’s provisional data showed 552 students did not complete their industry placements, making up 2.8 per cent of the cohort, a 0.7 percentage point increase since last year.
Of this total, 374 students passed the other two required elements of the T Level qualification, the core and occupational specialism.
Bauckham said the industry placement failures were “disappointing and life altering” for affected students.
The education sector needed to “dig into” the problem and address it “wherever possible”.
The DfE’s data shows pathways with larger cohorts that had the highest non-completion rates for industry placements were digital support services, building services engineering, and design and development for engineering and manufacturing – all at about 5 per cent.
Pathways with the highest completion percentages included education and early years, health, and management and administration, all at less than 2 per cent.
Retention rate improves
Figures show that 25,508 started a T Level in 2024-25; 19,665 students received results today, which suggests 77 per cent were retained and assessed.
Last year’s retention rate was 73 per cent, while the year before was 71 per cent, and 66 per cent the year before that.
In comparison, in 2023-24 16-year-olds taking large VTQs had a retention rate of 80 per cent, while the rate was 90 per cent for those taking three A Levels.