Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe The proportion of top T Level grades achieved by students has risen to 18.1 per cent this year – and the drop out rate is continuing to fall. Of the 19,665 learners picking up results today for the two-year technical qualifications, 3,565 received distinction or distinction*. This is a 2.4 percentage point rise on the previous year when 15.7 per cent – 1,872 of 11,909 total students – achieved the feat. Starts data from the Department for Education shows that 25,508 young people started a T Level in 2024-25. As 19,665 students received T Level results today, it suggests 23 per cent left the course early. The drop out rate sat at 27 per cent in 2025, 29 per cent in 2024 and 34 per cent in 2023. Be wary of comparisons In an Ofqual press briefing, Phil Le Feuvre, chief operating officer of T Level awarding body NCFE, said it was “really positive” to see students achieving the top grades as these are “challenging qualifications”. However, he warned that caution should be taken when comparing previous results. “There can be limited value in comparing directly year-on-year results because the number of subjects and students are increasing as those T Levels are rolled out,” he told FE Week. “Variances in cohort sizes and in the subjects mean that those comparisons between years can be misleading.” T Levels were introduced in 2020 as the government’s new “gold standard” qualifications that are meant to be the technical equivalent of A-levels. A T Level has three parts – a core component involving an exam and employer set project, an occupational specialism where practical skills are tested and a minimum 315-hour, or 45-day, industry placement – and students must achieve all three to pass the overall qualification. This is the fifth year T Levels have been awarded. Results data now covers 21 individual T Levels, three of which have been awarded for the first time – animal care and management; craft and design; and media, broadcast and production. The number of students completing T Levels this summer increased by 65 per cent, from 11,909 in in 2025 to 19,665 in 2026, while the number of schools and colleges offering T Levels rose from 255 in 2025 to 307 in 2026 (a 20 per cent rise). This year’s overall pass rate hit 92.6 per cent, up from 91.4 per cent reported on results day 2025. However, the Joint Council for Qualifications said the 2025 results have now been revised as part of “standard statistical updates” to include late completion of industry placements, and outcomes of remarking/moderation. The pass rate for this cohort is now 93.5 per cent. The proportion of students achieving a pass this year was 23.7 per cent compared to 26.1 per cent last year, while merits were handed out to 50.8 per cent compared to 49.6 per cent. Distinctions were received by 17.8 per cent of this year’s cohort compared to 15.6 per cent last year, and distinction* was handed out to 0.4 per cent this year compared to 0.2 per cent last year. And 7.2 per cent of students received a “partial achievement” this year – which is where a learner attempts all elements of the T Level but does not achieve them all – down from 8.3 per cent in 2025. The Joint Council for Qualifications only releases partial T Level data to journalists before 9.30am on results day, unlike A-levels which benefit from a full analysis. The Department for Education will publish full T Level data later this morning, which includes breakdown by gender, region and other granular data including industry placement completions. A VTQ ‘first’ for JCQ Around a third of young people receiving results today would have completed other vocational and technical qualifications including BTECs and Cambridge Technicals. Margaret Farragher, JCQ’s chief executive, said today marks a “milestone” as it is the first time the council has published data for 300,000 results from across 421 VTQs by JCQ’s awarding organisations alongside results for AS and A-levels. It comes as the government prepares to replace VTQs with V Levels, which are being introduced from 2027. Farragher said she hopes that by introducing VTQ results to its data release this year that it brings “better transparency of the full range of qualifications schools and colleges offer to support students progress into work, apprenticeships or higher and further education”. JCQ’s VTQ data covers the whole of the UK. The number of top grades was 28,390 out of 271,615, about 10.5 per cent of the total. The most popular subject areas were business, administration and law, with 53,756 grades issued, followed by leisure, travel and tourism, which had 47,273 grades issued, the council said. Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said VTQs are “equally important” to A-levels. “They help students develop the knowledge and skills needed for apprenticeships, employment, and further study,” he added. “When an employer or university sees these qualifications, they can be confident they demonstrate students’ genuine achievement.”