The government has launched a consultation on proposals to simplify funding and accountability systems in further education.
As promised in the ‘Skills for Jobs White Paper’, the reforms aim to give colleges and providers more autonomy by relaxing ringfences, introducing a multi-year funding regime, and holding them to account for the outcomes they deliver.
The reforms to funding will only apply to adult streams and not 16 to 19 or apprenticeships.
Plans for simplifying the funding system that the government is seeking views on, in the words of the Department for Education, include:
Establishing a new Skills Fund to bring together all direct funding for adult skills.
Ensuring the system can support both qualification-based provision and non-qualification provision so adults can retrain and upskill in the most effective way.
How a needs-based approach could be introduced to distribute funding across the country.
How funding can be most effectively distributed between colleges in non-devolved areas, in particular:
O What a simpler formula might look like if a system based on funding learners is retained
O Moving to a lagged funding system
O Delivering a multi-year funding regime
What entitlements and eligibility rules should apply in a new system.
How funding for Independent Training Providers and other non-grant funded providers would work in a reformed system.
The accountability reforms will focus on “outcomes and will take a strategic approach to support and intervention”. Views, in the words of the DfE, are being sought on the following areas:
Specifying the outcomes we expect colleges to deliver through a new Performance Dashboard.
Introducing a new skills measure that will capture how well a college is delivering local and national skills needs.
Introducing a new Accountability Agreement that will reinforce colleges autonomy while providing a clear sense of mission.
Exploring an enhanced role for Ofsted to inspect how well a college is delivering local and national skills needs.
Enabling the FE Commissioner to enhance its existing leadership role, with a renewed focus on driving improvement and championing excellence.
Improving data quality and reducing the requirements we place on providers through student data collection and financial reporting.
Retaining the necessary regulation and oversight to ensure the effective operation of the market, including providing assurance on the use of public funds.
The employer representative bodies that will lead pilots for new local skills improvement plans (LSIP) have been named.
Eight different chambers of commerce will spearhead the development of the plans in eight trailblazer areas this year, backed with £4 million of revenue funding.
First mooted in the FE white paper, the plans will aim to make colleges to align the courses they offer to local employers’ needs.
They are hoped to address concerns that employers do not currently have enough influence over the skills provision offered in their locality and struggle to find staff to fill their skills gaps.
The LSIP trailblazers are:
In application guidance published in April, the Department for Education said the LSIPs will “set out the key changes needed to make technical skills training more responsive to employers’ skills needs within a local area”.
They should be created in collaboration with colleges and training providers, with employers “setting out a credible and evidence-based assessment of their skills needs, to which providers will be empowered to respond”.
“The plans will help ensure provision is more responsive to emerging and changing skills needs and being locally driven, can be tailored to the challenges and opportunities most relevant to the area,” the guidance added.
The Department for Education has revealed the pilot areas for the new Strategic Development Fund.
The £65 million fund, first mooted in the Skills for Jobs white paper, went to tender in April.
Eighteen winners have now been announced, of which eight will be Local Skills Improvement Plans trailblazer and development fund pilot areas.
The remaining ten will just be piloting the development fund, which the application guidance stated is intended to “begin building the local collaborations that will create a stronger and more efficient overall delivery infrastructure and support a more co-ordinated offer across the local area”.
The pilots will also “support the development of a high-value curriculum offer in support of longer-term skills priorities” in a local area and “strengthen the relationship with employers”.
Sixty per cent (£38 million) is meant to be spent on capital and 40 per cent (£27 million) is for revenue, and this money must be used by March 2022.
See the full list of joint-trailblazer and development fund pilot areas, and solely development fund pilot areas, below.
Joint Trailblazer and Development Fund pilot areas
Pilot area
Collaboration members
Endorsing Employer Representative Body
College Business Centre
Weston College
Bath College, City of Bristol College, Gloucestershire College, Hartpury College, South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, University of West of England and Yeovil College
Business West Chamber of Commerce
No
Lakes College Cumbria
Carlisle College, Furness College, Kendall College and Cumbria University
Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Barnsley College
Barnsley College, Sheffield College, RNN Group, DN Colleges Group, University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Linkage College, Thomas Rotherham College and Oakwood High School, Sheffield Hallam University, Landmarks College, Mears Group Aspire/Igen
Doncaster Chamber of Commerce
No
Loughborough College
Leicester College, SMB Group, North Warwickshire & South Leicestershire College, Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport & Physical Activity, Leicester and Rutland Sport
East Midlands Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Mid-Kent College
EKC Group (East Kent Colleges) and North Kent College
Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce
No
The Education Training Collective
Hartlepool College of FE, Middlesbrough College, Darlington College, Teesside University, Learning Curve Group, Tees Valley Collaborative Trust and Queen Elizabeth SFC
North-East England Chamber of Commerce
No
Myerscough College
Blackburn College, Blackpool & the Fylde College, Blackpool SFC, Burnley College, Cardinal Newman College, Lancaster & Morecombe College, Nelson & Colne College Group, Preston’s College, Runshaw College and West Lancashire College
North and West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce
No
Chichester College
Bexhill College, BHASVIC, College of Richard Collyer, East Sussex Colleges Group, Greater Brighton Met College, Plumpton College and Vardean College
Sussex Chamber of Commerce
No
Development Fund only pilot areas
Pilot area
Collaboration members
Endorsing Employer Representative Body
College Business Centre
Cheshire South and West
Cheshire College South and West, Warrington and Vale Royal College, Macclesfield College, Reasheath College and Priestly College
West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Derby College
Nottingham College, Burton and South Derbyshire College, The University of Derby and Nottingham Trent University
East Midlands Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Fareham College
Isle of Wight College, Havant and South Downs, Eastleigh College, Blackburn College, Southampton City College, Highbury College Portsmouth, Portsmouth College, Itchen College, Barton Peveril College and Lighthouse Learning Trust
Hampshire Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Halesowen College
Halesowen College, Dudley College of Technology, Walsall College, Sandwell College, City of Wolverhampton College
Black Country Chamber of Commerce
No
Milton Keynes College
South Central Institute of Technology, Open University, Cranfield University, Learning 2050 and Milton Keynes Artificial Intelligence (MKAI)
Milton Keynes and Northants Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Tech Partnership Grimsby
East Riding College, University of Hull, Bishops Burton College, DN Gorup, Selby College, Wilberforce Sixth Form College, Grimsby Institute of F&HE, Hull College, Modal Training Ltd and Scarborough TEC
Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce
No
Telford College
Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College, Shrewsbury Colleges Group and SBC
Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Ltd
Yes
Truro & Penwith College
Cornwall College Group
Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
Yes
Warwickshire Colleges Group
Coventry College, North Warwickshire & South Leicestershire College, Solihull College and University Centre
Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce
No
West Nottinghamshire College
West Notts College, Chesterfield College, RNN College Group, Lincoln College Group, Futures, Inspire
University and College Union members in 15 colleges across England have voted for strike action in a row over pay.
College bosses have until September to increase staff pay by more than 5 per cent or they will face walkouts, the union said today.
Eighty nine per cent of members who voted backed strike action, on an average turnout of 62 per cent.
Pay ballots covered Carshalton College, City College Plymouth, City of Bristol College, City of Liverpool College, Croydon College, Kingston College, Lambeth College, Merton College, New College Swindon, Sheffield College, Wandsworth & Tooting College and Weymouth College.
Separate ballots over working conditions, compulsory redundancies and pay covered City & Islington College, Westminster Kingsway College and the College of North East London, which are all part of Capital City College Group. The group is planning to make 30 staff redundant while investing in a controversial “teacherless” tech venture, as revealed by FE Week in June.
In December, the Association of Colleges recommended colleges give their staff a 1 per cent pay rise because of the unforeseen and “severe financial pressure” colleges are facing owing to the Covid-19 pandemic that has “forced many into deficit”.
The UCU said staff are “angry” about this offer after years of joint campaigning with colleges, which won further education £400 million of increased government funding.
A spokesperson added that £224 million of the funding arrived in August 2020 and “should have been used for staff pay, with the AoC indicating it would make a more significant pay recommendation as a result”.
The pay gap between college and schoolteachers currently stands at £9,000 as staff working in further education have suffered real terms pay cuts of over 30 per cent in the past decade.
‘Staff will not sit back while their pay is held down’
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “This ballot result is an emphatic message from college staff to principals that they will not sit back while their pay is held down. College leaders urgently need to come to the negotiating table or they will face severe disruption in the autumn.
“Colleges need to understand that delivering top class education is reliant on looking after your staff and ensuring they are paid fairly.
“The employers who engage with us on pay and conditions will receive a positive hearing, but those who refuse should not be surprised at the determination of staff to take action.
“Pay in further education is a problem, and it is time for colleges and the AoC to get serious and do something about it.”
There are 83 winners sharing £62.6 million from the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s adult education budget tender, FE Week can reveal.
Results for the delayed procurement were finally communicated to training providers last night.
They will now be observing a voluntary ten-day standstill period until July 26 before commencing contracts on August 1.
Tender documents, seen by FE Week, show that 25 of the winners have been awarded their full bid values while 58 received pro-rated awards of 48.4 per cent of their original bid.
A total of £66 million was available in the procurement. There is no explanation as to why only £62.6 million is being dished out.
According to the documents, potential contractors were ranked in order of “technical score” which resulted in “blocks of scoring”.
The process was as follows: “’Block 1’ comprised of the potential contractors with the highest final technical score (FTS). These scores ranged from 500 – 410.
“’Block 2’ comprised of potential contractors with the second highest FTS achieving scores of 400.
“The AEB Budget was allocated to the highest scoring potential contractors until the budget had been used in full blocks. Potential contractors in Block 2 whose bids included SWAPS (Sector-Based Work Academy Programme) as part of their delivery were prioritised.”
Results for the national AEB tender have been hit with multiple delays.
Outcomes were originally supposed to be communicated on June 24. The ESFA then said they could not meet that deadline and bidders were told the outcomes would be ready for June 28, only for this date to be further pushed back.
Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Jane Hickie said: “Congratulations to the precious few independent training providers (ITPs) who have won contracts in the latest AEB procurement and my commiserations to those of you who missed out. I am sure that among the hundreds of bids, there were many of high quality with a real focus on retraining adults as part of the pandemic recovery effort.
“Knowing that there are clawbacks in this programme and underspends in other programmes, it is so frustrating to know that ITPs are queuing up to spend a very small pot of funding in relation to the total budget and that much more funding could have been allocated to this procurement.”
She continued: “Here is a classic example of the levelling up agenda being failed miserably and we should see this in the context of the likelihood of a very tough Spending Review.
“The appalling handling of the procurement has resulted in stress and anxiety for our members and their staff, not knowing whether they would be in a position to deliver the programme after 31 July.
“The procurement has been another miserable experience all round and the whole process has been hugely damaging in a number of ways.”
The government has published its long-awaited response to the consultation for the level 3 qualifications review.
The Department for Education set out plans yesterday to streamline the qualifications offer by funnelling students onto an ‘academic’ or ‘technical’ route.
It followed a two-stage review, launched in 2019 to consider future funding for tech levels, technical certificates and applied general courses such as BTECs.
The government’s plans involve defunding most of them, to focus progression routes on A-levels, T Levels and apprenticeships.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education will approve other technical qualification categories, to be taught from 2024, if the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill passes Parliament.
IfATE will be publishing criteria for approving qualifications in each category next year.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency and qualifications regulator Ofqual will be reviewing the necessity and quality of academic qualifications.
The government’s consultation response explains technical qualifications which could overlap with T Levels will be assessed for funding according to whether they support entry to employment in specific occupations; if its outcomes are similar to those of T Levels; and if the qualification aims to support entry to the same occupations as a T Level.
Further guidance and approval criteria will be published in 2022.
Small alternative academic qualifications, equivalent to one A-level or smaller, will be approved for funding if they are studied alongside A-levels, even if they overlap with them or T Levels.
However, the DfE has said in a policy statement for the review this does not mean a “blanket approval” for qualifications in areas of applied general qualifications.
It will set a “high bar” for demonstrating their value, and will demand evidence of “successful outcomes for students taking those subjects and links to further study in important HE subjects”. Such a high bar that the government predicts…
2. BTECs will become ‘rare’
The government announced that other level 3 qualifications like BTECs could still access public funding if they “give employers the skills they need or lead to good higher education courses and demonstrate why there is a real need for them to be funded”.
However, the policy statement reads: “Study programmes made up of alternative academic qualifications such as applied general qualifications will be rare.
“In the new landscape, large academic qualifications that overlap in content with T Levels, which might include AGQs such as Pearson BTEC and OCR Cambridge Technical qualifications, will no longer receive public funding,” it adds.
Instead, most students on the academic pathway who are progressing to HE without any A-levels will be “those taking large alternative programmes such as in the performing arts”.
The DfE estimates it will be defunding 43 per cent of non A-level level 3 qualifications by 2025, accounting 15 per cent (276,000) of level 3 enrolments.
3. Tough funding future for awarding bodies
An impact assessment report for the proposals sets out how ten awarding organisations out of more than 130 could lose at least a fifth of their publicly funded 16-to-19 enrolments at level 3 and below.
The assessment states three of them have over 500 16-to-19 enrolments at these levels funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
And up to seven awarding organisations’ publicly funded 16-to-19 enrolments could drop by 80 per cent or more.
The revised assessment finds no change for funded adult enrolments from its predecessor: up to five awarding bodies could lose at least 80 per cent of their funded adult enrolments under the changes.
The combined impact of 16-to-19 and adult enrolments means an estimated four awarding bodies could lose at least 80 per cent of their funded enrolments.
The DfE said it is taking a phased approach to these plans to mitigate against resourcing issues for awarding bodies.
4. Impact on disadvantaged ‘justified’ by overall student benefit
The consultation response and impact assessment for the plans note how students from SEND, Asian ethnic, and disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as males “are disproportionately likely to be affected by the changes”.
They “may no longer be able to progress to level 3,” the impact assessment posits.
The assessment explains these students are disproportionately represented on these courses, something the Association of Colleges and Ofqual have raised.
Yet the DfE argues this will be a minority and the proposals will be “justified by the overall benefits to students”.
The department said it is trying to improve transition provision for students who take three years to complete their level 3 and are bringing forward proposals to improve outcomes at level 2.
5. Nearly everyone disagrees with slashing courses which overlap T Levels
Almost 1,350 people responded to the consultation and a vast majority – 86 per cent – disagreed with the DfE’s plan to strip funding from qualifications which overlap with T Levels.
Respondents “typically raised concerns around the accessibility of T Levels, as opposed to the approach to overlap, citing that T Levels may reduce flexibility and choice for students.”
Many called for the retention of applied general qualifications, as they believed the “breadth and stretch of T Levels would not be appropriate for all students and levels of achievement”.
6. Widespread concern about narrowing options
Respondents expressed concern en masse about narrowing options for students finishing their GCSEs.
It was cited as a reason for 56 per cent disagreeing with proposals to approve qualifications for funding if they provide occupational competence against employer-led standards not covered by T Levels or if they develop specialist skills.
Respondents were also cautious about narrowing options for alternative programmes of study and of pathways into HE, in response to plans to fund a small number of qualifications supporting progression to specialist HE courses as A-level alternatives.
Its board voted unanimously on the appointment on June 30, the same day that FE Week revealed Milner had told staff that the “time has come” for her to “go to a new challenge”.
Milner, who is based in the greater Cambridge area, was appointed to lead the ESFA in 2017 shortly after the organisation formed through the merger of the Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency.
She said she was “delighted and honoured” to have been appointed into the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. She will earn just over £200,000 annually as its chief executive.
“The area covered by the combined authority is an extraordinary one, rich in history, talent, innovation and opportunity and I am excited to join an organisation that has such an important remit in respect of making our area the very best place to live, work, invest and learn,” she added.
Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Nik Johnson, described Milner as an “outstanding, experienced individual”.
“She is a dedicated and determined public servant and will be challenged to help me continue to embed the 3Cs of Compassion, Co-operation and Community in the delivery of our projects and to help improve the lives of everyone in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough,” he said.
Milner joined the ESFA from the Care Quality Commission, where she was an executive director. According to her profile on the government’s website, she started her career in local government, specialising in education services, before moving into higher education.
A recruitment process for Milner’s successor at the ESFA has not yet been launched.
Following the news of Milner’s departure, ESFA chair Irene Lucas-Hayes said today: “Eileen has been responsible for successfully overseeing billions of pounds worth of funding into the education and skills system and delivering on its promise, as a funding agency, to ensure year-on-year funding is delivered on time and with accuracy, including throughout the past year during the pandemic.
“I, and her colleagues at ESFA, have welcomed and very much appreciated Eileen’s measured and calm approach, and her authentic communications and leadership style. I truly believe that Eileen has led the ESFA with great skill and competency and it has been a pleasure working with her.”
The Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced colleges will be allowed to submit business cases to avoid adult education funding being clawed back.
An update published this afternoon said the agency is developing a process for grant-funded providers to plead as to why they should be given leniency for missing their allocation by more than 10 per cent in 2020/21.
The ESFA had ruled out such a process when they announced the controversial threshold in March.
Grant-funded providers will be allowed to apply for a business case where “local circumstances made it impossible for the provider to deliver at or close to the 90 per cent level and recovery of funds based on the 90 per cent threshold would lead to the provider’s costs of AEB delivery not being covered,” today’s update reads.
Or, if “applying the full amount of AEB clawback would cause significant financial difficulties for the provider”.
ESFA chief executive Eileen Milner said they had “recognised that there is a risk that some colleges will face financial difficulty so we will continue to monitor them, offer early support, and intervene when necessary.
“As part of the support offer, after extensive talks and listening to the sector, we are developing a process to consider business cases through which providers apply for support.
“The process will consider whether local circumstances made it impossible for the provider to deliver at or close to the 90 per cent level and whether recovery of funds based on the 90 per cent threshold would lead to the provider’s costs of AEB delivery not being covered. It will then determine how much (if any) help should be provided.”
AEB reconciliation arrangements will return to the normal clawback threshold of 97 per cent in 2020-21, she added.
Colleges have been up in arms about the threshold being set at 90 per cent in a year when they have still suffered from the knock-on effects of Covid-19.
Leicester College told FE Week in March it was forecast to spend 53 per cent of its £11 million allocation for 2020/21, so would have to hand back 37 per cent up to the threshold.
When business cases were ruled out, Leicester’s principal and former Skills Funding Agency executive director Verity Hancock said she did not “understand the basis for a decision that refuses to recognise the very exceptional position that Leicester College is in, given that it was the worst affected city in the country from continuous lockdowns, and has the largest AEB offer in the country”.
Adult education network HOLEX’s policy director Sue Pember, who previously worked on the DfE’s post-19 education policy as a civil servant, said about today’s announcement: “Although we would have liked the DfE to have accepted that grant providers needed assurance about their funding last year, we welcome this clarity and decision to accept a business cases.
“We hope the process is not over complex and doesn’t put further administrative burden on providers who are now working hard to get learners through assessments and progress on to further learning.”
The Association of Colleges’ deputy chief executive Julian Gravatt said they were “pleased” colleges will be able to submit business cases, as: “The hardline 10 per cent tolerance was never going to be fair in a year disrupted by the pandemic from the outset and now more than ever, colleges need to stabilise their finances.
“The timing will be tight, with colleges given just a few weeks to return financial information, but ESFA’s flexibility is better late than never.”
Shadow further education and skills minister Toby Perkins said the decision had come “so late colleges may well have already made redundancies based on the financial crisis they expected”.
It is expected the process will be set out in early September 2021.
Milner also said the government will still fund delivery up to 103 per cent of providers’ nationally-funded AEB grant allocation.
They have also increased the threshold from 110 per cent to 130 per cent for 16-18 and 19-24 traineeships in 2020-21.
BTECs will survive the government’s bonfire of level 3 qualifications if they can demonstrate there is a “real need” for them, it has been announced.
The Department for Education has today confirmed a new streamlined system for students finishing their GCSEs will be phased in between 2023 and 2025.
Gavin Williamson
This will involve stripping public funding from “poor quality” qualifications which duplicate other courses and overlap with T Levels or A-levels, with education secretary Gavin Williamson warning: “As we recover from the pandemic, there can be no room in our education system for second rate qualifications.”
But the Association of Colleges has warned “hastily scrapping hundreds of level 3 qualifications, starting in 2023, risks leaving some of the most disadvantaged young people without routes into meaningful work”.
The Sixth Form Colleges Association has also warned the proposals have the potential to be “hugely damaging” to the life chances of young people because it is “clear that the government intends to sweep away the vast majority of applied general qualifications like BTECs”.
Pearson, the awarding body of BTECs, said it is “good” to see that some of its feedback to the review has been taken into consideration in the government’s decision, and they will now take time to fully understand the implications.
This new streamlined system will make apprenticeships, A-levels and new T Levels the main progression options after GCSEs, the DfE stated.
However, other level 3 applied general qualifications in areas like creative and performing arts will continue to be on offer, so long as awarding bodies can prove those qualifications “give employers the skills they need or lead to good higher education courses and demonstrate why there is a real need for them to be funded”.
The department has yet to say the process for deciding which qualifications will be retained.
The government also promised today more level 3 qualifications will be made available to adults, including T Levels, from 2023. This was originally mooted last year.
A consultation, attached to the review, had sought views on only providing public funding to qualifications which meet quality, purpose, necessity, and progression criteria.
Stakeholders were also asked about defunding qualifications which overlapped with T Levels or A-levels.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency announced in 2019 a “moratorium” on approving funding for new qualifications at level 3 from last September.
Jennifer Coupland
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education chief executive Jennifer Coupland has emphasised level 3 qualifications’ “important role for people at the start of their careers and those looking to build new skills.
“This review will help us to do even more to help people gain the knowledge and skills they need for prosperous and successful careers in their chosen industry,” she said today.
DfE warned defunding qualifications could hurt disadvantaged
However, sector bodies and even qualifications watchdog Ofqual have warned the DfE defunding existing level 3 qualifications could more heavily impact disadvantaged learners.
Responding to today’s announcement, the Association of Colleges argued disadvantaged students will be “disproportionately affected” by the changes.
That is because the qualifications likely to be withdrawn are taken by higher proportions of black and minority ethnic students, those with lower prior attainment, SEND students, and those eligible for free school meals.
Ofqual, in its response to the review in January, made many of the same points, and that some learners, including those with SEND, “may find T Levels less well-suited, too big or not sufficiently flexible for their individual study needs”.
Eleven education representative bodies issued a joint statement last month saying defunding applied general qualifications will hamper students’ progress to employment or further study.
Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said today that closing down the route of BTECs means that “thousands of students will be left without a viable pathway after they have finished their GCSEs – that’s bad for young people, bad for social mobility and bad for the economy”.
AoC chief executive David Hughes has urged the DfE to “take a moment” and create a new roll-out plan which ensures T Levels’ success “while not inadvertently disadvantaging thousands of already disadvantaged students with their quest for speed”.
Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Tom Bewick called it “disappointing” the government was supporting some regulated qualifications “instead of supporting course diversity and real careers choices for young people post-16”.
“The notion in a British economy, with over 75,000 different job roles currently available, that the number of qualifications made available can be reduced to a mere handful is fanciful. If policymakers listened to parents, learners and college community leaders, as much as to employers, they would know that.
“Frankly, learners deserve better.”
Current set of qualifications ‘confusing’
Yet some employers are impatient for the proposed changes to be rolled out.
Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace Division’s chief of industrialisation Ruth Ginever today said: “The current proliferation of different qualifications and lack of standardised content is confusing to both employers, seeking to recruit and to young people, and their parents, looking to make decisions on qualifications to study.”
She called the lack of standardisation “disruptive,” and said it led to extra costs bringing an apprentice into the business, as “often funding for extra academic support for learners has to be found to cover gaps emanating from non-standard level 3 qualifications”.
Cindy Rampersaud, senior vice president for BTEC and apprenticeships at Pearson, said: “While we welcome the government’s aim to raise standards in further education, we have always warned that policy makers should not lose sight of what is working well already – namely existing high-quality qualifications that are respected by employers, universities and students alike, be they BTECs or other vocational qualifications.
“It is good to see that some of this feedback, from us and a wealth of other respondents to the consultation, has been taken into consideration. We will take the time now to review the government’s response to the consultation in full and understand the implications for BTEC students and colleges.”
