Phillipson defends ‘risible’ partial level 3 defunding pause

Students starting at sixth forms and colleges next year will need to wait until December to know what courses will be available, the education secretary has confirmed, following last week’s controversial qualifications pause and review announcement.

In her response to a letter from the Protect Student Choice campaign, Bridget Phillipson stood by her decision to only commit to pausing the defunding of BTECs and applied general qualifications that were due to be scrapped this month and not for future years. 

Department for Education officials will carry out a “short review” by the end of December 2024 that will confirm what level 3 qualifications will be available to students from September 2025 and 2026. 

Phillipson has now explained that pausing future defunding of qualifications at this stage could “prejudice the findings of this short review” and has advised colleges to make clear which of their courses may not be available. 

“When communicating with prospective students, colleges should be clear if a qualification they are interested in offering may not be available because it is currently on a defunding list.

“However, the position will be clarified before the turn of the year and colleges will be able to reflect this in their planning and marketing materials in the new year.”

But this timetable will cause “widespread disruption,” college leaders argue.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has identified 30 colleges where at least 50 per cent of its level 3 provision is in scope of the government’s review, two of which with 100 per cent. 

Courses are typically finalised in July, 13 months before the new academic year begins, the SFCA said. This means that colleges won’t be able to offer students and families certainty about their post-16 options at open days this October this year, they association added.

Analysis of over 1 million 16-18 year-olds in full-time education suggests that 54 per cent study at least one qualification now under review.  

The row stems from a pre-election commitment made by Labour to the Protect Student Choice campaign to “pause and review” the previous government’s policy of scrapping applied general qualifications, including popular BTECs, to make way for T Levels. 

The campaign, made up of 25 organisations including unions, university representatives and employer bodies and led by SFCA, wrote to Phillipson after last week’s announcement urging the government to consider a longer pause. 

Phillipson rejected the call in her response. James Kewin, deputy chief executive of SFCA, said today it “suggests policy makers are disconnected from the reality of delivery.”

Kewin described Phillipson’s advice, that colleges should tell upcoming school leavers that certain qualifications may be unavailable, as “risible”.

“It is impossible to square this decision with the secretary of state’s aspiration to support working class and disadvantaged students, as these are the young people that disproportionately study applied general qualifications, or with the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity” he said.

Phillipson has promised to “engage and collaborate with stakeholders as part of the focused post-16 qualifications reforms review.”

She wrote: “The work that sixth form colleges, training and apprenticeship providers and the FE sector do is essential to the change this government wants to achieve across the country.”