Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the recognition of vocational qualifications.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) provide an important and valued route for many young people and adults. We are streamlining and improving the quality of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below. Our reforms will put employers at the heart of the system, ensuring that all qualifications are fit for purpose, high quality and lead to good outcomes. We are creating clearly defined academic and technical routes at level 3, leading to future study and or skilled employment.
As set out in our level 3 consultation response published in July 2021, students will continue to be able to study qualifications similar to current Applied General qualifications where there is no overlap with T Levels. On 11 May we published a provisional list of 160 qualifications that overlap with the first two waves of T Levels. These qualifications will have funding approval withdrawn for anyone eligible to access the qualification through the 16-19 funding offer on 1 August 2024, unless awarding organisations successfully appeal their qualifications’ inclusion. The final list will be published in September 2022.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help promote the value of technical qualifications.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The department is strengthening routes for all students to progress through the system, by introducing high-quality technical qualifications that support young people’s progression and meet the needs of employers.
In January this year the department launched our ‘Get the Jump’ campaign, which helps 14-19 year olds explore all their education and training options. We recognise that technical education routes have lower levels of awareness, therefore this campaign spotlights T Levels, Apprenticeships, Traineeships and Higher Technical Qualifications in particular.
The department is also working closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company and Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme to ensure that teachers and careers leaders have the information and resources they need to communicate the benefits of T Levels to their students.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department is taking to support more young people into technical and further education.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
The Skills for Jobs White Paper sets our plans to transform technical education and is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost productivity.
Our reforms will put employers at the heart of the skills system and by 2030, almost all technical courses will be on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive are directly linked to the skills needed for jobs.
We have been raising the quality and prestige of technical education by introducing T Levels, which are a high-quality technical alternative to A levels with an industry placement, and are reforming higher technical education (Level 4/5) to make it a more popular and prestigious choice that provides the skills employers need.
The Plan for Jobs introduced last year provides a package of support to ensure young people have the skills and training to go on to high quality, secure and fulfilling employment. This includes incentives for employers to take on new apprentices, supporting the largest-ever expansion of Traineeships, giving school and college leavers the opportunity to study high value Level 2 and 3 courses, and funding more vocational training placements to support the delivery of sector-based work academy programme (SWAP) placements.