The #ProtectStudentChoice campaign is a coalition of 29 organisations that represent and support staff and students in schools, colleges and universities.
In July 2021, the Department for Education confirmed plans to replace the three-route model (A levels, Technical qualifications, and applied general qualifications such as BTECs) with a new two route model of A levels and T levels (a new suite of technical qualifications), where most young people pursue one of these qualifications at the age of 16. As a result, funding for the majority of BTEC qualifications will be removed.
The #ProtectStudentChoice latest report, Desperate Measures: Data and Reform of Level 3 Qualifications scrutinises the data that the government uses to justify its reform of level 3 qualifications and how this data is used to describe the performance of applied general qualifications (AGQs) and T levels. The report also explores how realistic the government’s plans are for T level growth and the implications of scrapping the majority of AGQs.
Key Findings
The #ProtectStudentChoice’s analysis indicates that at least 155,000 young people – 13% of all sixth form students in England – could be left without a suitable study programme from 2026, given the planned reduction in AGQs and slow growth of T levels.
The performance of students that take AGQs
- The government regularly uses data in a partial and misleading way to criticise the performance of students that take AGQs. Data on old-style, pre-reform applied general qualifications delivered in the past, is used to criticise the post-reform, more rigorous AGQs that are delivered today.
- AGQs were reformed and approved for first teaching between 2016 and 2020, where data on post-reform AGQs is available, the government uses it in a highly selective way.
- Positive data and research on the performance of AGQs is routinely ignored, as is the vital role these qualifications play in ensuring that students remain in sixth form education and achieve L3 qualifications.
The performance of students that take T levels
- There is simply no data to support the claim that T levels offer “the best progression for students until at least 2025 .
- The Government only publishes grade breakdowns and pass rates on T levels – refusing to provide additional performance data in response to parliamentary questions.
- T levels pass rate is down to 90,5% from 92,2% in 2022. Furthermore, 33% of the 5,210 students did not complete it, up from 17,7% in 2022. However, ministers still took to social media with ‘great improvements’ in this second year of T level results.
- The T level transition programme (a one year course of additional study time and preparation) is described as a “high quality pathway onto T levels” despite just 14% of students in the first cohort actually progressing to a T level.
The plan for T level growth and implications of scrapping BTECs
- Proposed timescale to replace most AGQs with T Levels is wildly unrealistic.
- This dramatic reduction in the number of AGQs and slow growth of T levels will create a significant gap in the qualifications landscape. At least 155,185 students are currently enrolled on an AGQ that will be scrapped by September 2026 and will not be able to enrol on a T level if growth follows our linear projection of 51,482 enrolments.
- Scrapping BTECs to drive up T level numbers is a high risk strategy that is not supported by evidence.
Recommendations
The government should wait for detailed, comparable data on T levels to be published (including on long term outcomes like destinations, as well as breakdowns of performance by socio-economic status, ethnicity, and SEND) before implementing this major and potential irreversible reform of Level 3 qualifications.
More broadly, the government should pause and review the implementation of its reforms and adopt an evidence-based approach to policy making in this area. Failing to do so will be disastrous for young people, social mobility and the economy.
