26th February 2020 14:54
By Blue Tutors
More than 5,000 post-GCSE qualifications are being discontinued it has been announced. Reported on the BBC, the Department for Education has decided to stop funding these qualifications as the new T-Levels begin in September. Many of the qualifications being dropped are studied by very few or, in some cases, no students, despite accounting for roughly 40% of the total number of courses.
Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said that fewer available courses make choices easier for students, rather than searching through many more courses and potentially making a bad choice leaving them without the required skills when leaving secondary education.
There have been criticisms of the changes, with the head of City and Guilds claiming that it will prevent social mobility, with students essentially given 3 options aged 16: A Levels, apprenticeships or T Levels. Tom Berwick, head of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, questioned the understanding of people within the government about post-16 education. He said that the reality is that politician’s children will study A Levels, and everything else is for “other people’s” children.
The DfE has said that the aim of the changes is ensure that every course on offer is a high quality one, and help students to continue into employment or further education. Many of the courses being removed are for very specific career paths, and a broader course will still give students the necessary skills to make a career choice when they are 18.
The government is still seeking opinion on the courses being removed to ensure no mistakes are made. Mr Berwick gave an example of an aromatherapy course designed for blind people to give them the skills to work in therapeutic and spa industries. Despite not having a lot of students enrolled, it is a niche course which needs to be continued to help those students into the labour market.