Education

(asked on 18th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is his policy to ensure that young people choose between a wholly technical and wholly academic education when aged 16.


Answered by
Anne Milton Portrait
Anne Milton
This question was answered on 26th June 2018

In line with the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, our ambition is that every young person, after an excellent grounding in the core academic subjects and a broad and balanced curriculum to age 16, is presented with two clear choices: the academic or the technical option. Reformed apprenticeships and new T Levels will ensure that the technical option is world-class and provides a high quality alternative to A levels.

T Levels will be substantial programmes, so we expect that in future the majority of students will follow either an academic programme (e.g. three A levels) or a technical programme (a T level). We do appreciate that students may change their minds, and we will ensure there are appropriate bridging courses to make movement between the two options easily accessible. In principle, we believe that a student should be able to take an A level alongside their T Level, particularly if it supports progression outcomes for their chosen T Level. We are particularly supportive of high attaining students who want to take Core maths or an A level in maths alongside their T Level.

In the response to the consultation on T Level implementation, we committed to reviewing qualifications that currently attract government funding for post-16 study. In designing this review, we will ensure that continued funding is only available for the group of qualifications that serve a genuine purpose, are of a high quality and enable students to progress to meaningful outcomes.

Reticulating Splines