6th June 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The government has announced that from 2020 schools in England will begin to offer new technical qualifications called T-Levels. Reported on the BBC the first three courses will be construction, digital, and education and childcare, and they will include a 3 month work placement. The government says that the intention is to offer vocational alternatives to A Levels for post 16 students, but Labour claimed that the announcement is “little more than meaningless spin”.
There will be 52 schools initially teaching the qualifications, and there will be a further 22 courses on offer from 2021. The syllabuses will be created by panels of expert employers, and employer consultation is crucial to the plans because the government want businesses to be involved so that the courses genuinely prepare students to work in those sectors. In total, businesses would need to offer work placements to 100,000 students across the country, which presents an “operational challenge”.
It has been claimed that having the first three courses ready by 2020 is going to be very difficult, if we are to ensure that the courses are taught to a high standard. However, the education secretary, Damian Hinds, has rejected those claims, and say that this announcement is an important first step towards the new qualifications. Critics say that the rush to announce T-Levels and the doubt over their quality mean that young students will want more assurance that signing up to these vocational qualifications will not put their future at risk.