“It’s not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand”.
These words from John Cleese (playing the role of headteacher Brian Stimson in the 1986 film, Clockwise) could very easily be applied to the ongoing saga of qualification reform.
There was no shortage of despair under the previous government, but at least you knew where you stood. Some qualifications were good (A Levels, T Levels) and others were bad (applied general qualifications such as BTECs). Evidence was routinely ignored and concerns addressed with a heavy dose of mindless optimism.
Qualification reform (at least before the end-of-administration fever dream that was the Advanced British Standard) was sharply focused on increasing the number of T Level enrolments.
AGQs had to go because they were regarded as a barrier to T Level growth. The former were regarded as an inferior version of the latter, rather than a different type of qualification that plays an invaluable role helping young people (particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds) to progress to higher education and/or skilled employment.
If scrapping AGQs meant students (at least 155,000 by our estimate) were left without a suitable qualification, they could always do another Level 2 qualification or enrol on the T Level foundation year (from which just 8 per cent of students actually progress to a T Level).
But in June last year, hope appeared on the horizon. Then-shadow secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson agreed to the Protect Student Choice campaign’s request to ‘pause and review’ the plan to defund AGQs if the Labour party formed the next government.
“Should the minister not now pause and review the defunding of alternative qualifications, as Labour would?” demanded then-shadow skills minister Seema Malhotra of Robert Halfon in December.
Labour would “pause and review the proposed removal of courses” parliament was told in February, a commitment repeated at the SFCA winter conference and other events across the country.
These are qualifications that one-third of students fail to complete
There was clear blue water between the two main parties on qualification reform. The sector dared to hope that the feared qualification gap that would appear in a world dominated by A Levels and T Levels might not materialise, and the inevitable increase in NEETs and students being forced onto inappropriate courses could be avoided.
Then Wednesday happened. It started so well: “I am pleased to announce that the department will undertake a short pause and review of post-16 qualification reform,” Bridget Phillipson told the House of Commons. Pandemonium, relief, hope. Then the kicker: “This means that the defunding scheduled for next week will be paused”.
Next week. The all-important pause would only apply to the small number of technical qualifications due to be defunded this year, but not the applied general qualifications due to be defunded in 2025 and 2026 (which are studied by eight times as many students).
Good news for the NVQ Diploma in Wood Occupations (0 enrolments in 23/24), which gets a one-year reprieve. Bad news for the Extended Certificate in Business (24,580 enrolments in 23/24), which gets none.
The proposed review will report by the end of the year. That means colleges and schools will not know what AGQs they can offer in September 2025 until December 2024 at the earliest. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this wildly unrealistic timescale is designed – you’ve guessed it – to encourage institutions to drop AGQs and pick up T Levels.
The written ministerial statement published yesterday was built around T Levels, which were described as “high-quality qualifications which provide young people with a firm foundation for their future”.
These are qualifications that one-third of students fail to complete and for which no comparable performance data is published. They need careful reform, not over-inflated praise.
The Conservatives became so focused on one output (increasing the number of T Level enrolments) that they lost sight of the much more important outcome (ensuring that all students are pursuing high quality qualifications that lead to positive destinations). The new government must not make the same mistake.
We are determined not to journey back from hope to despair. The Protect Student Choice campaign has written to Bridget Phillipson urging her to reconsider the decision not to pause the defunding of AGQs. We believe students should be able to enrol on all 134 AGQs up to and including the 2026/27 academic year.
It is hard to believe that a secretary of state committed to prioritising the education of working-class and disadvantaged students would abandon qualifications that are transformational for working-class and disadvantaged students (and many others besides).
A positive response to our letter would provide the sector with renewed hope and an assurance that no young person will be left behind as a result of the reforms set out this week. It’s time to review the pause.
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