Former ministers attack vocational qualifications plan

The Guardian 03 February 2023

A coalition of former education ministers has attacked the United Kingdom government’s “disastrous” plan to scrap dozens of popular vocational qualifications and push students into taking its favoured new T-levels, writes Richard Adams for The Guardian.

David Blunkett, the former Labour education secretary, said he feared that widespread scrapping of qualifications such as BTecs from 2025 could backfire and lead to more 17- and 18-year-olds opting to take A-levels rather than the vital vocational qualifications the country needs.

“At this moment in time, every high-quality route to employment and filling the vast vacancies which exist should be encouraged rather than abolished, and clear commitments given in parliament should be honoured,” Lord Blunkett said. A joint letter from the group to the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, accuses the Department for Education of breaking earlier pledges that only a small percentage of the applied qualifications would have their funding cut off and replaced by T-levels.
Full report on The Guardian site

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