So it’s GCSE results day – but where are BTEC results?

As thousands of students celebrate results today, another cohort feel forgotten – and not for the first time, writes Alice Barnard

There is one key question since last week’s results. Where is the data on BTEC results?

The full suite of BTEC results have still not been released and we can only imagine the uncertainty and worry that students and teachers must be feeling as they anxiously await their results.

Although this has been reassured as only a ‘small percentage of students’, these students still matter and deserve equal opportunity to their peers.

However, we have heard little reassurance from government or a timeline outlining when the issue will be resolved.

Why does it feel, time and again that some of our vocational students are either forgotten or provided with a second class service?

This isn’t the first time that vocational students have felt forgotten.

Looking back to January 2021, the government announced that summer exams would be scrapped, although January exams would continue as normal.

They failed to remember that thousands of students studying BTECs and other vocational and technical qualifications were due to sit their exams within a matter of days.

So, the sector had to step up to remind government of these learners.

The government’s current plan to scrap valuable level 3 qualifications (including applied general qualifications such as BTECs) undermines yet again the integral role that vocational qualifications play.

Voices across the sector have called this decision a ‘hammer blow for society’ and an ‘act of vandalism’.

This potential scrapping will impact thousands of learners.

Around 34 per cent of the 921,046 16- to 18-year-olds studying a level 3 qualification in England are pursuing at least one applied general – some 313,163 students.

BTECs are also engines of social mobility – a quarter of students now enter university with BTEC qualifications and they are likelier to be from disadvantaged backgrounds.

They can also be taken alongside A levels, and scrapping them will leave many students without a viable pathway at age 16.

So why are we constantly having to remind government of the value of broader vocational qualifications?

It is not necessary to replace valuable level 3 options to make T Levels a success.

We continue to work alongside the Protect Student Choice campaign to urge government not to scrap these important qualifications.

Progression into work, apprenticeships and higher education

The next few weeks will open an exciting new chapter in student’s lives, and this shouldn’t just be dominated by higher education as the golden route to success.

Students can choose to progress directly into the world of work or explore other level 3, 4 and 5 higher technical qualifications.

Routes such as apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships offer work-based alternatives to develop work-ready skills, while also earning on the job and should be celebrated equally.  

Opportunity for reform

Finally, exams alone fail to tell employers or universities about a student’s breadth of skills and abilities

After two years of Covid, we should not simply digress back.

Instead let’s develop a system that is fairer, and reduces the high-stakes burden for all learners – whether they study A levels, T Levels or other applied general qualifications such as BTECs.

This should include more multi-modal assessment options and a better way of evidencing skills and experiences via solutions such as a learner profile.

Meanwhile, in relation to T Levels (the government’s ‘flagship’ new technical equivalent to A levels) it will be interesting to see where these learners choose to go next.

We await detailed information on the progression routes of learners and whether they were offered their places of choice.

So, a huge congratulations to all BTEC, T Level and A level students! Despite the disruptions over the last few years, our learners have demonstrated considerable resilience.

We must also thank our fantastic teaching staff who worked tirelessly to support their learning and welfare

But at the same time there is broad and growing consensus across the sector that our assessment system in England needs reform.

We now urge the government to join us in taking action.

Student outcry over first-year health and science T Level results

The awarding body for the new health and science T Level has committed to a “support delivery plan” for next year after disheartened students said they felt “failed” and “falsely informed” over this summer’s exams following lower-than-expected grades.

But NCFE has ruled out regrading the exams after a petition was launched calling for grade adjustments.

Around 1,600 students across 76 colleges and schools on the two-year health and science T Level – which launched in 2021 – picked up their first-year results last Thursday. It is not clear how many in total reported disappointing grades, but reports have been widespread across the country.

Students who felt the exam did not reflect the content they were taught launched a petition late last week, which has now secured more than 1,000 signatures at the time of publication.

The petition claimed that “the content taught to us was not relevant to the exam in any way,” while the textbook was only available “a few weeks before the exam”.

Campaigners in the petition called for an appeal of the grades.

But NCFE, the awarding body, said it had “no plans” to regrade because assigned grade boundaries took into consideration the difficulty of the exam, the fact that it was the first year of the qualification and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, it has pledged a support delivery plan for affected students, explaining that they will have re-sit opportunities in the autumn or in the summer next year.

Students behind the petition claimed that average grades were between an E and a U, but NCFE has ruled out publishing first year exam results publicly because they are “interim, and not necessarily reflective of the students’ final T Level result”.

Aggrieved students said they had been “failed” with those on lower grades fearing that it leaves them unable to get a university spot because many of those require ‘merit’ final grades when the most they can get is a ‘pass’ without a resit.

T Level students receive an overall pass, merit, distinction or distinction* at the end of their course, which is derived from the grades they achieved on the core and the occupational specialism components – those assessed by exams – of the qualification. The core component is marked A* to U. An E is classed as a pass.

Jaz Polman, a student from Havant South Downs College, said she got a U in her science exam and Es in her health exam and employer-set project. She praised the teaching on her course as “probably the best I have ever had” but knew after coming out of the exam her grade would not be as high as expected.

“It was absolutely terrifying to go in and get results,” she said. “Everyone was disappointed and crying.”

Chris Turner, whose son Ben was on the course at Blackpool and The Fylde College, said: “They have come out wondering what’s happened. The results don’t reflect their abilities. Mock end of term tests all indicated As, Bs and Cs but instead got Es and Us”.

A Bury College student who did not wish to be named said: “I feel like we have been guinea pigs set up to fail and I am angry and upset. So much so, that I think the only option for myself now is to drop out.”

Multiple students have reported questions on volcanoes and the insoles of golfers’ shoes as examples which were not applicable to their learning.

The grades have also left some tutors fearing for their jobs and an expected hit on student numbers for this September.

One tutor who taught the T Level but did not wish to be named, is a qualified nurse of 20 years with six years of teaching. He said the problem was not just the exam but “there were issues around the complexity of the questions and depth and breadth they were expected to understand for their age group”.

He said some of the knowledge expected was “a first, second, third year nursing standard.”

He said he raised concerns with NCFE early in the process, which were not heeded.

In addition, he said groups of lecturers had been formed on social media to discuss the problems.

“We are all completely deflated and depressed. Some of the lecturers are worried about their jobs and the impact on them,” he added.

The results have left students and colleges working to form a plan of how to move on. Some are being encouraged to resit the exams in the term ahead, expected sometime in November or December, while others are being encouraged to switch to health and social care BTECs.

Philip Le Feuvre, chief strategy officer at NCFE said the organisation wanted to reassure students there is support available for anyone who isn’t sure about next steps and “we’re committed to working with providers, students and parents in overcoming any challenges they’re facing so that students are well placed to achieve and progress in the coming year”.

Le Feuvre added: “We’re continuously exploring how we can enhance our service to providers to further strengthen their delivery, and, in addition to the support offered to date, we’re currently developing our support delivery plan for 2022-23.  This will include an intense focus on teaching areas of challenge identified through this year’s results, and will span a range of channels including webinars, training sessions, and face-to-face support ahead of the autumn resits.”

Students and colleges can request exam scripts to see the marking, and request a review of marking if they wish. NCFE also encouraged them to look at the chief examiner reports on its website ahead of resits.

You can read NCFE’s full statement here.

Several colleges have confirmed grades were lower than anticipated. A spokesperson from Havant South Downs College which had 51 students on the course across its South Downs and Alton campuses said: “We are currently investigating the cause of this, and we have requested copies of the exam papers and student responses in order to determine our next steps.”

A spokesperson from Gateshead College added: “We understand that this is a national issue and we are seeking clarification from NCFE so we can better understand this and provide the right support for students and parents about the options they have going forward.”

Ofqual confirmed it had heard from some students and parents about the issue and recommended students raise their concerns with their provider.

A spokesperson added: “Ofqual takes its role in monitoring how qualifications work very seriously and we are in contact with NCFE.”

Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow further education and skills minister, said: “It’s a basic requirement that students are examined on what they’ve been taught but between a chaotic government and exam boards they can’t even get that right.

“I have contacted the education secretary, and put down a written parliamentary question, to ask for a thorough investigation for these findings to be made public in order to reassure learners, their families, teaching professionals and others across the sector.”

The Department for Education has been approached for comment.

T Levels are the government’s flagship new post-16 qualifications, designed to be the technical equivalent of A-levels.

The first wave of T Level students completed their studies this year in three subjects and received their full results last Thursday. These subjects, which started in September 2020, were: education and childcare; design, surveying and planning for construction; and digital production, design and development.

The health and science T Level was added to the second wave, which began teaching in September 2021 and is due to complete in the summer of 2023.

Ofqual launches BTECs delay review – but Pearson tight-lipped on number in limbo

Exams watchdog Ofqual has pledged a review to ensure BTECs are not delayed again – but Pearson is still refusing to say how many students have been left in limbo. 

Ofqual said this evening that it is currently making sure exam boards get results out to students but added it is “clearly important that we review what has happened to make sure students in future years receive results when they expect them”. 

It comes as Labour and sector leaders demand answers from government and exam boards on how long they have known there would be a problem and how many students are impacted.

Currently, some BTEC and Cambridge Technical students are still awaiting their grades – four days since results day. 

Pearson – which issues BTECs – is refusing to say how many students have been impacted in total, aside from an update this evening saying since Thursday it has sent out another 1,950 results to UCAS.

The board said a “tiny” percentage of the more than 200,000 students due to receive their grades were still waiting for their results. Pearson claimed that less than 1 per cent are still waiting for their grades as of this evening, but it’s not clear how many that is. It is also not clear if the issue will happen again this Thursday, when level 2 BTECs are released. Pearson also claimed its not a “systemic issue” with delays “unique” to each school or college.

A spokesperson said: “We will continue to issue results during the days ahead as new information becomes available to us. We are also working closely with UCAS and higher education institutions to keep them updated.”

OCR – which issues Cambridge Technicals – has also refused to say how many students are still waiting on results.

An update this evening only said over 30,000 have been issued before or on results day, with 2,000 more since. Of those 2,000 – more than 800 were sent to UCAS to support university applications.

A spokesperson said: “This remains our top priority and we are working to resolve it as a matter of urgency.”

Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow minister for skills, said government “need to come clean about the numbers of students affected and make a public statement, instead of hiding in their offices”.

“The education secretary should be ensuring that the exam boards involved in this incident set out the steps they are taking to rectify it. It is vital that the government ensures that no BTEC student will lose out on their chance of higher education.”

More than 100 college leaders met with Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton in an online call on Monday to share their concerns.

David Hughes, chief executive at the Association of College, said thousands of students were still in limbo, adding: “ It is simply unfair that they must wait longer and for many they cannot progress onto their next course or job.”

He added: “We have a lot of questions about what went wrong and the timing and sequence of events. We need to know at what point the awarding organisations became aware of problems and why they did not act more swiftly. We need to understand why they have not yet released any statement on the numbers of students without results and why they have failed to put up any spokesperson for the media.

“Students deserve better than distant and incomplete statements from the awarding organisations who should show more care for the ultimate customers of their qualifications.”

An Ofqual spokesperson said it has asked boards to give “regular updates so that the public can be confident that awarding organisations are swiftly issuing valid results”. 

“We will continue to work across the sector, in addition to using our regulatory relationship with awarding organisations, to this end.”

Students deserve to see accountability over delayed results

Awarding organisations, education institutions and the exams regulator should be open and honest about what’s led to delayed qualification results, writes Bernie Savage.

Everyone remembers the day they got their exam results. It’s one of those occasions in our lives that everyone’s got a story about. Countless hours of studying, practicing, rehearsing and revising all culminate in that one moment. 

Hundreds of thousands of students had their moment on Thursday and, for the vast majority of them, they were able to share their news with friends and families in a way that most of us take for granted. 

For some though, the anticipation culminated in disappointment, worry and anger. Not because they didn’t get the grades they were expecting, but because they didn’t get any grades at all. 

Just imagine; after a restless night’s sleep you head off to college, you stand in line and wait your turn, only to find an empty box where your final grade should be. 

It’s no wonder the students affected, and their parents, reacted with outrage. 

They should have been spending the weekend planning their next steps – sorting out university accommodation or applying for jobs or apprenticeships – not spending hours on hold to an exam body just to be told they’ll have to wait. 

It’s of little reassurance to be told, as ministers and exams bodies keep saying, that universities will hold on to students’ places while this mess gets sorted. 

Because the reality for those students who do not get the grades they need for their first choice, is that they now go to the back of the clearing queue at least five days after it opened. We’ve all seen the headlines about how this year is the most competitive clearing ever.

For there to be any BTEC and Cambridge Technical students still waiting for their final results is a disgrace. 

And the response from the awarding organisations involved, Pearson and OCR, has been woeful. It even took Pearson 13 hours to issue an apology on results day.

To add insult to injury, Pearson and OCR are keeping quiet on the numbers of students affected. They won’t say exactly what happened, why they didn’t spot any data errors sooner or even how long it’s going to take to resolve.

Let’s be clear, these organisations are not some chronically under-funded public sector regulators. They are massive commercial operators turning over huge sums on profit margins that FE colleges can only dream of. 

This is yet another example of private companies within our education system letting students down. By persisting with its failed marketisation of education, the government is continuing to send the message that profits come before students.

The prime minister’s caretaker ministers at DfE have given students no reason to believe they are on our side. James Cleverly and Andrea Jenkyns should be using whatever time they have left at the department aggressively defending students’ interests and holding Pearson and OCR to account. Yet so far, they are missing in in-action. 

We can’t and shouldn’t have to wait for a new government to see some accountability. 

Firstly, Ofqual’s chief regulator, Jo Saxton, should immediately make a public statement ordering an investigation into what’s gone wrong. Awarding bodies, education institutions and Ofqual’s own oversight should all be under the spotlight. The inquiry should be swift and completely transparent. 

“I have been explicit, that, on my watch, all of Ofqual’s statutory powers, resources and focus, will be to regulate in the interests of students of all ages and apprentices. Students will be out true north, our compass” Saxton said at a conference earlier this year. 

Time to show us what that means, Jo. 

Secondly, UCAS, universities and student housing companies must ensure that anyone that is delayed from confirming their place in higher education because of this mess is not disadvantaged. Students that have not yet been able to access clearing because they’ve not received their final grades, should still get a fair shot at the higher education place they want. 

And thirdly, we have to make sure this doesn’t ever happen again. Parliament’s education select committee should run accountability sessions in the House of Commons and demand to see proof that Ofqual and the awarding bodies have the systems and processes to ensure every student gets their qualification results on time.

Former Conservative party adviser appointed in Ofsted board shake-up

A former special adviser to a Conservative education secretary is one of six new appointments to Ofsted’s board.

Jon Yates was previously policy adviser to Damian Hinds during his tenure in the role between 2018 and 2019.

Yates has been executive director of the Youth Endowment Fund since 2019.

Frank Young, editorial director at the Civitas think tank and a former Tory councillor candidate, has also joined the board.

The other new members are Felicity Gillespie, director at early education foundation Kindred, Christopher Hanvey, a Care Quality Commission adviser, David Meyer, executive director of Partnerships for Jewish Schools and former Marks & Spencer head of communications Joanne Moran.

They will each be paid £8,282 per year for around 20 days’ work a year. The role of the board is to ensure the work of Ofsted is carried out “efficiently and effectively”.

Yates, who tweeted that he was “honoured” to take up the new role, has worked within the youth and community sector for around 15 years, founding and developing a number of schemes.

These include The Challenge Network, aimed at helping young people gain employability skills. It provided the blueprint for the government-funded National Citizen Service – a personal and social development programme for teenagers – which Yates co-founded.

He is also one of 10 members currently on the children’s commissioner’s advisory board.

Yates’ role as special adviser (spad) to Hinds ended when Boris Johnson assumed office in 2019 and appointed Gavin Williamson as his education secretary.

Damian Hinds

Spad roles are not normally advertised, and those appointed to the role – as temporary civil servants – are often recruited through word of mouth.

Despite having the backing of former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, Young lost out on a contest to represent Godalming North in the Surrey County Council election last year after gaining 29.9 per cent of the vote.

The winning Liberal Democrat candidate Penny Rivers took a 59.6% share of the vote.

He joined Civitas as editorial director and lead researcher on children and families in 2021. He previously spent six years as a communications director at the Centre for Social Justice, which was founded by former Conservative work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

All six of the new board members were appointed on August 1. Gillespie, Moran and Yates will serve for four years, while Hanvey and Young will stay in the role for three years.

While the inspectorate’s board has grown from nine to 12 members with the new additions, three have departed.

These are former Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride, John Cridland, the former director general of the Confederation of British Industry and Venessa Willms, Ark Schools’ director of education.

Richmond College strike plans on ice as arbitration talks planned over ‘fire and rehire’ proposals

Planned strike action at Richmond upon Thames College over “fire and rehire” plans have been suspended to enable arbitration talks, the University and College Union has confirmed.

Union members at the college in June announced plans to picket over 14 consecutive days in August and September to coincide with the start of the new term.

It follows five days of industrial action in May after the UCU said management intended to “issue notices to sack every teacher at the college and force them to reapply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions if they wanted to stay.”

But the UCU late on Friday confirmed the latest walkout, which would have affected the enrolment of new students, has been put on ice for now so that talks through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) can take place.

“This is a remarkable show of goodwill from committed staff facing the threat of fire and rehire, so it’s crucial that RUTC senior management seize this opportunity to work with us to resolve the dispute,” the UCU said.

“UCU members have always been prepared to work with the employer to reach a fair and just negotiated settlement, but industrial action short of a strike continues and we cannot rule out further strike action in the coming weeks if talks are unsuccessful.”

The dispute arose over planned changes to annual leave which would have seen the 64 days of current annual leave (including bank holidays and efficiency days) reduced to what the college said was “a level in line with other FE colleges”.

The UCU said that would mean staff losing 10 days of holiday, but the college said this was a net loss of eight days of annual leave with full financial compensation.

In response to the strike freeze, a Richmond upon Thames College spokesperson said: “Our priority from the outset has been to reach a fair agreement regarding necessary teaching contract changes which support improvements in the learning experience for our students and bring pay and holiday in line with other colleges.

“A significant majority of teaching staff have signed up to the new contracts, recognising that the new offer is a fair one that compensates staff fully for the reduction in annual leave, and thereby increases their salary during a time of cost-of-living rises.”

The spokesperson added that they welcomed the opportunity to reach a resolution “over the next few days” with the withdrawal of the planned strike.

We are working with a fraction of the prisoners we could be

The next prime minister must take radical action on prison education as evidence shows education providers face multiple barriers, writes Peter Brammall

“While talent is spread equally across our country, opportunity is not. Levelling up is a mission to challenge, and change, that unfairness. Levelling up means giving everyone the opportunity to flourish.”

So said the levelling up white paper, published to much fanfare back in February.

While the man behind the slogan, Boris Johnson, is living on borrowed time in Downing Street, the two rivals to be his successor – Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak – have both insisted that the mission of levelling up the UK continues.

But what none of the proponents of this policy seem to have grasped is that, if levelling up is to have any real meaning, it has to start at the bottom.

And this shouldn’t just be about “left-behind” provincial towns.

When we think of what education select committee chair Robert Halfon calls the “ladder of opportunity”, we must not forget those left behind and isolated – all too literally – from their communities. Prisoners.

Even by the time they walk through the prison gate for the first time, these individuals are all too often already at a disadvantage.

Many have had limited or negative previous experiences of education; Ministry of Justice data shows that 57 per cent of adult prisoners have literacy levels below those expected of an 11-year-old.

Prison education offers the best opportunity of providing prisoners with the support, training and skills they need to escape the cycle of reoffending by finding stable employment at the end of their sentence – not to mention a means of reducing the astonishing £18 billion-a year cost of reoffending to society.

So why does it receive so little focus from politicians and policymakers?

Analysis by Novus suggests that the funding rate for the male prison population stands at less than one fifth of the equivalent rate for students in community-based adult education.

Education providers in this most complex and challenges of contexts are, quite simply, expected to do more with less.

And it’s not just about money: insightful reports published this year by the education and justice select committees shine a light on the structural and cultural obstacles providers face in delivering the standard of education and support that prisoners so badly need.

But while it’s easy to look on in consternation at the list of issues which need to be addressed, there is no need to be despondent about the future of prison education.

As anyone who attended Novus’ ‘moving on’ Conference last month can attest, it’s impossible not to be caught up in the energy, enthusiasm and expertise which pervades the sector.

There is a real passion from those who are engaged with this cohort, helping to maximise their educational opportunity on a daily basis.

We are working with a fraction of the prisoners we could be supporting

As conference speaker Fred Sirieix, maître d’hôtel in Channel 4’s First Dates and founder of The Right Course, pointed out, there are myriad examples of outstanding practice which have emerged. That’s despite some of the systemic challenges and structures which exist.

Through its partnership with The Right Course, Novus helps to deliver professional hospitality and catering training using prison staff canteens as the vehicle for work experience.

We have many other innovative collaborations with employers across the country, including Green King, Willmott Dixon and Premier Waste Recycling.

But we are working with a fraction of the prisoners we could be supporting, often aided by relatively small pockets of discretionary funding, a bit of innovative thinking and leveraging the sector ‘nous’ and contacts of partners such as Fred and his team.

In pockets, this entrepreneurial approach works phenomenally well.

But with up to half of prisoners not having access to education in the first place, and many who are allocated to education regularly failing to find their way to the classroom, even the scarce resources in play are often not being used as effectively as they could be.

Collectively, we can, and must, do better.

As a national provider of prison education with a wealth of expertise developed through 30 years of supporting the hardest-to-reach learners, Novus is determined to be part of this conversation – and to contribute towards building a prison education service fit for the 21st century.

This is not the time for settling for how things currently are.

If things are to improve, we collectively have to make the case for ambitious change.

At our conference we were treated to valuable workshops from practitioners and employers, outlining what is working well and areas where real change is desperately needed.

We also heard insights by representatives from the likes of the Prisoners’ Education Trust, the Learning and Work Institute and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

We are all aspirational for the system and the potential for real change it could offer and believe it is time for a New Deal for prison education.

Together, we can achieve so much more – and create a movement for genuine levelling up that starts at the bottom rung of the ladder.

The first T Level results mark a milestone in level 3 qualification reform

Yesterday’s T Level results show the new qualification is off to a fine start, writes Jennifer Coupland, CEO of the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education

I would like to say a massive congratulations to all the trailblazing students who found out how they did with their T Levels yesterday.

It took guts to invest their futures in something completely new but it’s fantastic to think of them being repaid with seriously enhanced career prospects. 

They have also of course paved the way for thousands of other people to follow in their footsteps.

We started intentionally small in terms of numbers taking the first T Levels launched in September 2020.

We now know that students have achieved a 92% pass rate and most who applied to university were accepted. T Levels are also proving to be a really good way into apprenticeships and skilled work. The thing that students we’ve spoken to have been most fired up about has been the substantial industry placements, typically lasting 45 days. It’s what makes T Levels stand out and has in many cases led directly to job offers.

T Levels must be a brilliant springboard onto even bigger and better things and we’ve worked with employers and industry experts to develop new progression profiles as a guide to where they can lead for the next generation of students. 

Feedback on these new qualifications has also been really encouraging from the FE sector – which I was delighted to read about in FE Week.

The next step will of course be to scale everything up and make sure there is good coverage of T levels across the country and that they are accessible for people from all backgrounds.

As of October 2021, there were around 100 schools and colleges providers offering T Levels. It’s widening out to many more from September 2022 which will obviously make a big difference.

Make no mistake, we want to get to a point where equal numbers of young people take T Levels as A Levels. I know that’s a long way off, but we have made a fine start and it can be done.

With regards to defunding of alternatives, the reform process isn’t about targeting a particular type of qualification, it is about making sure all the qualifications available are really high quality and match up to employers’ skills needs. That’s best for students because it will ensure they are taught skills that are relevant and truly needed by employers. 

Only a small number of qualifications that overlap with T Levels are being retired at present and IfATE will introduce a new employer-led approval system for upholding the quality of technical qualifications in future.

A provisional list of 160 level 3 qualifications up for retirement was published in May. This is a small proportion of the qualifications available at this level – so does not represent the cull feared in some quarters. What it does amount to is recognition of the vital importance of T Levels and setting a higher employer-led quality bar for all qualifications which will benefit everyone.

So, the first T Level results day has been a massive positive, but it is just the beginning and must point the way to even better things ahead. 

Let’s capitalise together on all the goodwill and positivity around what they have delivered to date, the dedication and hard work of providers, and the wonderful young people who made up that first cohort. We can and will ensure that the wider rollout of the programme is a big success.

T Level results are welcome but need further scrutiny

Almost a third of T Level students did not receive their university offer which merits closer investigation, writes Lisa Morrison Coulthard

We are delighted to see the results for the first three T Levels in construction, digital and education and childcare. They offer the first insights into the impact of the government’s flagship technical alternative to A-levels.

With an overall pass rate of 92.2 per cent (compared to 98.4 per cent for A-levels), we congratulate this first cohort – not just for taking the new qualification but for overcoming the challenging impacts of Covid-19.

However, in addition to the actual results achieved, we feel it is important to reflect on the view of the students completing these qualifications.

The findings of the first Technical Education Learner Survey, commissioned by Department for Education and undertaken by NatCen and NFER, provide unique perspectives and rich data from over 700 students.

Students’ views were positive with high levels of satisfaction reported both overall and with different course elements, including the industry placement, despite the impact of Covid-19 on programme delivery and securing placements.

The results published by DfE show that, despite the difficulties arising from the pandemic, 94 per cent of learners successfully completed their industry placement.

Our research also showed that most students found the workload to be manageable and their course suitably challenging.

The results published by DfE for both the core component and occupational specialist elements of the course are promising – with 99.5 per cent achieving an E or above (for the core component) and 97.5 per cent a pass or above for the specialist course elements.

More than 34 per cent of T Level students receiving results today were awarded a Distinction or Distinction* overall.

It will be important to evaluate whether students’ positive experience of T Levels carries through to successful progression into higher education, apprenticeships and employment.

It will also be crucial to see how valuable they are perceived to be by industry and HE.

The news from UCAS today is that 71 per cent of T Level university applicants have received their places.

This suggests that 29 per cent of T Level students did not. The reasons for this require some investigating.

We also note that around a fifth of learners did not complete their T Level course and this also merits further scrutiny.

We note that a fifth of learners did not complete their T Level course and this merits further scrutiny

In considering the experience and grades achieved by this cohort, it is important to be mindful of the unique characteristics of this first intake and remember that the first two years of T Levels have been far from “normal”.

Covid-19 aside, the cohort size was quite modest (around 1,300 students in 2020 compared to 5450 in 2021), in turn, class sizes were much smaller than would be anticipated for future intakes.

All providers were rated good or outstanding by Ofsted and, due to the smaller intake, there was less competition for industry placements than will be the case in the future as T Levels are rolled out.

So, it would be reasonable to consider the experiences of the 2020 cohort to not be representative of those of subsequent intakes.

It is, therefore, still early days for T Levels and how well they are received and valued both by industry and higher education needs to be carefully monitored.

The longitudinal Technical Education Learner Survey which NFER is working on with NatCen will continue to provide decision-makers with survey-based evidence capturing T Level students’ experiences, journeys and outcomes until 2024.

Nevertheless, this year’s results are testament to the hard work and dedication of both students and providers during a very difficult and unique set of circumstances.

We wish these students every success in their next steps, whether in higher education, an apprenticeship or employment.