Vocational reform will only work if people trust it

Qualifications open doors for young people – but only as far as society and employers recognise their value. That is why getting them right carries such high stakes, and why changes to post-16 vocational and technical qualifications should be viewed in the context of those who take them and those who accept them. They need to be understood and they need to be trusted.

Vocational qualifications are valued by students, colleges and employers. But they have lacked the national elements – the common content and grading scales – that give GCSEs and A Levels their universal recognition. The upcoming post-16 qualification reforms are the opportunity to build that in from the ground up.

This reform programme is the most significant attempt to address this imbalance in vocational qualifications in a generation. Following the curriculum and assessment review and the skills white paper, three new types of qualification are being introduced by the Department for Education (DfE): V Levels at level 3, and foundation certificates and occupational certificates at level 2.

T Levels remain the high-quality technical route for students committed to a specific occupational direction. A Levels remain the academic route. Now in addition, V Levels (which can be taken alongside A Levels) will allow students to explore a broad vocational area without committing to it at the depth of a T Level.

V Levels are not a rebadging, or an academic qualification in disguise. They open a new vocational route, designed for students who want to develop real skills and knowledge in a sector, but with the national rigour and recognition that has historically been the preserve of academic qualifications.

Together, A Levels, V Levels and T Levels will form a family of well-recognised and valued qualifications, underpinned by nationally-set content and common grading scales – the same foundations that have made GCSEs and A Levels trusted and understood by students, teachers, universities and employers.

That degree of consistency is something we have not had before with vocational qualifications, and it matters enormously for how students’ achievements are understood and valued beyond the college gates.

However, simply understanding what a qualification means is not enough – we must trust them. This means ensuring high quality from the start. That’s why earlier this year Ofqual proposed the clear expectations and high standards that awarding organisations must meet before they can deliver the first tranche of V Levels.

Our latest consultation sets out our proposals for how awarding organisations will be regulated to deliver these level 3 and level 2 qualifications. It is open alongside DfE’s consultation on subject content, because content and the way it is assessed must be developed together to secure qualifications that are coherent and trusted.

The starting point for our regulation is clarity around the purpose of the qualifications. V Levels are intended to support progression to higher study, higher technical training or apprenticeships. To support this, our regulations must ensure V Level results provide accurate information about student attainment for recruiters and decision-makers in these areas – and that students have the knowledge, understanding and skills set out in DfE’s subject content.

Qualifications need a grading scale that is a reliable indicator of attainment, and that can be understood by students, employers and institutions. Our proposed alphabetical seven-point grading scale for V Levels is intended to differentiate a wide range of attainment of students taking the qualification, to aid progression decisions.

We propose that V Levels will be modular, with a balance of assessment methods reflecting their vocational and applied nature. This includes timetabled assessments set and marked by awarding organisations, alongside assessments set by the awarding organisation and marked by teachers and quality assured by awarding organisations. A significant proportion of timetabled assessment will take place at the end of the two-year course to ensure standards are upheld. This balance of assessment methods will be considered on a subject-by-subject basis.

For the first time, young people will have a genuine choice of high-quality, nationally standardised vocational alternatives to A Levels – qualifications whose grades are widely understood, and that universities and employers can rely on. For students, and for the colleges that support them, that is good news.