The government has launched a consultation on its plans for new V Level courses as well as the expansion of T Levels and sweeping reforms to level 2 courses, including the end of the T Level foundation year.
Here’s what you need to know, including an update to the defunding timeline of applied general qualifications (AGQs) like BTECs.
V Levels incoming from 2027
Ministers have taken aim at the “significant variability” in assessment, grading and content of current vocational qualifications available to young people.
The government’s answer – V Levels – will sit alongside A Levels and T Levels and “offer a vocational alternative to these academic and technical routes”.
V Levels will be regulated by Ofqual in a similar way to A Levels. Awarding organisations will have strict rules to follow about the design of V Levels, including how they’re structured, how students should be assessed and how they should be graded.
A grading scale for V Levels wasn’t proposed, but it should be consistent across all of the qualifications, like A Levels and T Levels. There are currently six different grading scales for level 3 applied general qualifications.
V Levels will also be a similar size to A Levels, 360 guided learning hours, with the intention being that students can mix and match between the two.
But they will “have an increased proportion of non-exam assessment” compared to their academic cousins, some of which can be marked by providers.
The size difference between V Levels and T Levels means the former will be broader, subject based qualifications rather than occupationally specialised. But both V and T Levels will be designed against occupational standards.
A proposed list of 19 proposed subjects for V Levels was published in the consultation. It includes arts, craft and design; criminology; education and early years; hair, beauty and aesthetics; protective services; retail and travel and tourism.
The plan is for the first V Level classes to start in September 2027, but the full roll out will take four years.
Similar to the T Level rollout in 2020, V Levels will be introduced by route-by-route. A full timetable will be confirmed when the government responds to the consultation feedback next year.
Defunding timetable
Some qualifications will no longer be defunded as planned while V Levels are introduced.
Small qualifications that were due to be defunded in 2026 or 2027 with 420 guided learning hours or less will now be funded until the relevant V Level has been introduced. It means providers can continue to offer small “unreformed qualifications” or the replacement alternative academic qualifications (AAQs) or technical occupational qualification (TOQs).
Students aiming for a large qualification should do a T Level, the consultation stressed. Courses of 720 or more guided learning hours in T Level subject areas will continue to have their funding removed in 2026 and 2027, as previously announced.
Qualifications of between 421 and 719 guided learning hours will have their funding retained until the corresponding V Level has been introduced.
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association that leads the Protect Student Choice campaign, said the government’s confirmation that medium and large AGQs will be defunded will leave a “large qualifications gap”.
He told FE Week: “In July, the Protect Student Choice campaign published a report that showed tens of thousands of students would be left without a pathway to higher education or skilled employment if the government did not reverse its ban on diploma and extended diploma size AGQs in subjects where there is a T Level. The consultation document published today is clear that the government will not reverse this ban.
“As a result, colleges and schools will not be able to enrol students on well-respected AGQs in subjects such as Health and Social Care, Applied Science and IT next year. That will leave a significant qualification gap, particularly as the government’s new V levels will not be available until 2027 at the earliest.
“We are unclear how scrapping AGQs before viable alternatives are in place will help the government to break down barriers to opportunity, particularly as these qualifications are disproportionately studied by disadvantaged students and those with lower levels of prior attainment. This decision will also come as unwelcome news for BTEC teachers in colleges and schools, and the huge number of employers that value these qualifications so highly.”
More ‘strong performing’ T Levels
The DfE’s consultation said the “strong performance” of T Levels warrants expansion into more subjects.
It proposes not only new subjects, but also new specialisms within existing T Levels, highlighting the low carbon heating specialism being introduced in to construction T Level next year.
Areas such as sports science and care services, which have level 3 occupational standards and current “viable” level 3 qualifications will now be considered for T Levels.
New T Level subjects could also be in areas where occupational standards are not currently set at level 3, such as music technology, production arts and visual effects, and in subjects where there are level 3 qualifications but no corresponding occupational standards, such as music performance and art and design.
Like V Levels, the government has set an ambition to begin introducing new T Levels on rolling basis from academic year 2027.
T Level foundation year to go
The T Level foundation year programme will be replaced as part of sweeping reforms to level 2 provision set out in today’s white paper and consultation on post-16 qualifications.
While much of the attention has been on level 3 qualifications, the white paper acknowledges “limited progress” has been made on reforming level 2 qualifications for young people.
Like the level 3 space, DfE believes there are too many qualifications available, which is “confusing for students and difficult for providers and awarding organisations to deliver”.
DfE’s proposed solution is to offer two study programme led pathways for post-16 level 2 students. The first will be known as a “further study pathway”.
This will eventually replace the T Level foundation year, which has suffered from high drop out and poor progression rates.
This one-year pathway will be for students who wish to progress to level 3 apprenticeships, A Levels, V Levels or T Levels. Students on this pathway will work towards qualifications called foundation certificates.
The second is a two-year “occupational pathway” for students “progressing to employment in level 2 roles, including an apprenticeship.” Leavers will achieve qualifications called occupational certificated.
Both pathways will require learning towards GCSE English and maths where it’s required.
For the further study pathway, there will be qualifications for the foundation certificates of 240 guided learning hours that are linked to T Level and V Level subjects.
The occupational pathway will include an occupational standard-linked technical qualification, and has been proposed to be a two-year programme in part to ensure students can’t leave education before they turn 18 and to give more time to achieve a GCSE English and maths pass.
Like V Levels, foundation certificates and occupational certificates will be rolled out gradually from 2027. This means the T Level foundation year will continue as normal in 2026. In 2027 it will be renamed ‘foundation year’ and then will be gradually replaced by the further study pathway.
The consultation closes on January 12, 2026.
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