If next month’s A-level results will be subject to detailed scrutiny – in particular for indications that grade distribution is now ‘back to normal’ after Covid; results for the second cohort of T-level students will also be published.
Last year, the first cohort, just over a thousand (1,029) students, received results in the three subject areas launched in 2020. A 92.2 % pass rate was achieved, the proportion receiving a Distinction or Distinction* was 34.6%, while 39.8 per cent were awarded Merit – the overall T Level grade is calculated from a core component (graded like A-level) an occupational specialism and an industry placement. Though still a comparatively small number (there are around 10,200 students enrolled with around 6000 expecting to complete this summer) a clearer analysis of the qualification’s potential should be possible.
Though originally intended as a technical/occupation-based qualification for work place entry and to fill ‘skills gaps’; like the other English vocational qualifications that preceded it, the Ts have not attracted employer enthusiasm and a large number (over a third) of those completing the T-level last year entered higher education instead. But though the number of universities accepting T-level applicants continues to grow, as has also been the case previously with vocational awards, only a minority of Russell universities are currently prepared to.
The T-level reforms (part of a wider Skills Bill) have completed the parliamentary process, helped by the large Tory majority, though held up in the Lords by an alliance of previous Secretaries of State (see box below) who raised serious concerns about the defunding of existing qualifications (including BTECs ) that are considered to overlap with the Ts.
Earlier this year the Commons Education Committee raised further concerns. It noted in particular:
- The low rates of progression from the transition programme an additional year for young people lacking the entrance qualifications required for T-level courses. (Only around 14% of students had successfully made the transition and only half of these had gone on the achieve the full T)
- The fact that about a third of the first full T-level cohort were not able to complete
- That up to 250,000 placements could be needed once T Levels are fully rolled out. Although T Levels were developed with the input of 250 leading employers, 2021 Department research found that almost two-thirds (63%) of employers were not interested in offering a placement.
- Due to the specialised nature of their qualification, T Level students who applied to university were restricted to a very limited range of courses closely related to the T Level subject and that some universities were also setting additional entry requirements —for example, requiring an A Level alongside a T Level for entry onto an engineering degree (though there had not been clear DofE guidance on how courses could be combined).
- T Level students may be unable to progress directly onto a level 4 Apprenticeship as a level 3 T Level course would be unlikely to provide the learner with the on-the-job training, knowledge and occupational competency required for entry onto a level 4 apprenticeship.
- That the introduction of the last block of T Levels was being deferred due to concerns about quality.
Now Ofsted has accused the new qualification of providing ‘poor value’ to students.
We found students who had not been told what to expect and were not well prepared…and had expected to complete more practical tasks………
‘They would wouldn’t run the BTEC course which is what I’d applied for…‘
But it also highlighted many of the issues identified by the MPs committee and expressed further concerns about low completion rates.
The T-level programme has cost over £1 billion so far, equivalent to about 1p in every £ of the education budget. Huge amounts of money have also been spent on previous vocational qualifications – remember New Labour’s ill fated and equally expensive Specialist Diplomas?(See box below)
But with so much uncertainty over the Ts, what’s been disappointing has been the lack of a real campaign to defend the interests of the thousands of students rejecting, or not able to continue with the academic route. It shouldn’t really have been left to the House of Commons committee or ex-education ministers in the Lords to highlight this.
Education, Economy and Society 
As you make clear, this is a £1 billion educational scandal pandering to the wishful thinking of politicians and those members of the public they can gull into believing T levels are a non-academic and ‘vocational’ alternative to A levels! Why is there not any exposure of it in the educational or other press?