Critical report into exam reform throws future of flagship T-level qualifications into doubt

The future of the government’s flagship technical qualifications has been thrown into doubt by a major new report into post-16 examination reform, just months after the first students enrolled on courses.

T-levels were introduced last September to offered in a phased implementation as an alternative to A-levels, apprenticeships and other 16–19 courses, and are the equivalent of three A-levels. Each subject focuses on vocational skills, including digital and engineering, and is intended to be a pathway into skilled employment and higher education. Students do a work placement and there are minimum requirements for English and maths.

T-levels were designed to offer world-class courses and parity of esteem between academic and vocational qualifications.

However, the EDSK think tank is highly critical of the qualifications. Its report suggests that T-levels do not fit the models for examination and assessment that are currently the subject of deliberation by education experts and campaigners, who are veering towards a broader curriculum post-16 — in the vein of the International Baccalaureate — in place of narrow, specialist study.

The EDSK’s study, Reassessing the Future (Part 2), The final years of secondary education, points to the “enormous size” of T-levels. “Given the existing concerns about the minimal breadth offered by studying three A-levels, allowing students to study nothing but a single T-level for two years at the end of secondary education looks highly questionable,” the report said.

It also criticises the requirement for students to pass English and maths at GCSE standard by the end of the two-year T-level, meaning that many institutions offering the qualification are shunning students they fear will not meet the required level.

“Instead, these students are forced onto a ‘transition programme’, even though there is no guarantee that they will ever be let onto a T-level afterwards,” the report said. “Leaving students in a holding pattern with little or no assurance that they can eventually train towards their chosen occupation is unlikely to promote aspiration and engagement. In those institutions that have begun offering T-levels this year, almost as many students were put onto the ‘transition programme’ as were allowed to start a T-level, illustrating the potential scale of disappointed (and dejected) learners.”

There were also serious concerns — exacerbated by the Covid pandemic — about the availability of sufficient work placements for every T-level student in their chosen occupation. “The logistical issues inherent in providing a large volume of work placements for as-yet-unqualified students should not be underestimated,” the EDSK said. “These include safeguarding, IT access and security, providing equipment both in and out of the office, pastoral care and support with travel to and from work.”

It went on: “The persistently low levels of awareness of T-levels presents a further challenge. A survey of employers in 2019 found that just 3 per cent felt they had a ‘real understanding’ of T-levels, while another survey in the same year found that three in five parents with children aged 11 to 18 had not even heard of T-levels and only 11 per cent felt they knew a lot about them. Meanwhile, only 41 per cent of teachers have heard of T-levels. This is the inevitable consequence of introducing T-levels with little or no consideration for how they might fit into the wider secondary education system; a problem that is compounded by the decision to set up T-levels and apprenticeships as competitors to each other.”

The concept of T-Levels was first introduced in the Post-16 Skills Plan published in July 2016. The idea behind the plan was that at 16, following their GCSEs, students would choose to study either an academic (A Levels) or technical (T-Levels) route. It set out 15 pathways based on the recommendations set out in the Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education led by Lord Sainsbury, which recommended grouping technical education options by the skills required to work in 15 different industries.

The first three T-Levels, launched in 2020, were: Education and Childcare; Digital Production, Design and Development and Design, Surveying and Planning. From September 2021 they will be offered in: Digital Business Services; Digital support and services; Health; Healthcare Science; Science; Building Services Engineering and Onsite Construction.

A further two waves will be launched, in 2022 and 2023 respectively, offering students the choice of an additional 15 pathways.