Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
(): Today I am
notifying Parliament of the next stage of the government’s
reforms to post-16 qualifications at level 3 in England – the
publication of the final list of qualifications that overlap with
the T Levels in Education and Childcare, Digital, and
Construction and the Built Environment.
In our response to the second stage consultation of the review of
post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below, we set out our aims
to streamline the qualifications landscape at level 3.
The review aims to ensure that only qualifications that
are necessary and lead to good outcomes are approved for public
funding, delivering greater value for money for the taxpayer. It
is important to ensure that all qualifications serve a clear and
distinct purpose and lead to good progression and good outcomes
for students. Supporting students to make a
choice at 16 between an excellent academic or an excellent
technical route will prepare students better for the next phase
of their lives.
We have already removed funding approval from over 5,000
qualifications at level 3 and below that had no or low
enrolments.
On 11 May Parliament was notified of the commencement of the next
stage of our review - to remove funding approval for
qualifications that overlap with T Levels. The rigour of T
Levels, combined with the meaningful industry placement of at
least 45 days, will equip more young people with the skills,
knowledge, and experience necessary to access skilled employment
or further technical study. The results for the first
three T Levels awarded in Summer 2022 were fantastic with a 92%
pass rate – and feedback from this first group of students
indicates that they have progressed to a variety of destinations
including higher education, apprenticeships or skilled
employment. The removal of overlapping qualifications
will give T Levels the space needed to flourish and maximise the
number of learners on these important qualifications.
We published the provisional list of qualifications that overlap
with waves 1 and 2 T Levels in May, and awarding organisations
had 8 weeks to appeal their qualifications’ inclusion on the
list.
I can now confirm the final list of qualifications that will have
funding approval removed at 16-19 because they overlap with the T
Levels in Education and Childcare, Digital, and Construction and
the Built Environment. These qualifications will have funding
approval removed in August 2024.
As the outline content of the T Levels in the Health and Science
route is currently being reviewed by the Institute for
Apprenticeships and Technical Education, this list does not
include qualifications that overlap with these T Levels. Once the
review has concluded, expected later this calendar year, we will
confirm the final list of qualifications that overlap with these
T Levels. Qualifications overlapping with these T Levels will
have funding approval removed in 2024, at the same time as those
overlapping with the other waves 1 and 2 T Levels.
This review has been led by evidence. We commissioned independent
assessors to conduct in depth reviews of the qualifications. All
qualifications placed on the final overlap list were rigorously
assessed and considered against three tests:
- That they are technical qualifications
- That they have demonstrable overlap of content and outcomes
with waves 1 and 2 T Levels already on offer
- That they are aimed at supporting entry to the same
occupation(s) as those T Levels
We will run another process to identify qualifications that
overlap with T Levels in the remaining T Level routes in 2023,
and qualifications that overlap with these T Levels will have
funding approval removed in 2025.
The next phase of the qualifications review will approve the
qualifications that will sit alongside A levels and T Levels in
the new landscape. We are clear that other qualifications,
including BTECs and similar qualifications, will continue to play
an important role and we will fund these qualifications where
they are high quality and where there is a clear need for them.
We expect to publish details shortly of the process by which
academic and technical qualifications at level 3 will be
approved, and I will update Parliament on this.
