Extracts from Petitions Committee debate on BTEC Qualifications - July 18

Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab):...The petition is about choice, and not forcing students to choose between studying only A-levels or T-Levels from the age of 16. I begin by acknowledging and congratulating the #ProtectStudentChoice coalition, an unprecedented gathering of 30 organisations from various sectors, including the Association of School and College Leaders  national teachers’ unions and the National Union of Students, for its brilliant campaigning against the defunding of BTECs...

Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD):...We really need to see where those completing T-level courses go next. The Association of School and College Leaders has stated:

“We are…watching the number of T level students who end up in university with real interest. If T level students are going to end up in university in large numbers, and not in further technical training, then it brings into question why BTECs are being defunded. After all,”

that is

“the government’s main argument for scrapping BTECs in order to introduce T levels…The government can’t have it both ways.”

I completely agree with that point...

To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE