Low T-levels uptake in England prompts calls for urgent reform of qualification

T-levels, the UK government’s flagship technical qualification, is suffering from low take-up and a high dropout rate, with teaching unions and college leaders warning the program needs urgent reform.

Introduced in 2020 to provide a rigorous and attractive alternative to the academic A-level, T-levels drew just 1 per cent of English 16- and 17-year-olds in full-time education in 2022.

The government is facing fierce resistance to its plans to remove funding from rival qualifications, such as specialist work-related BTecs, in an attempt to push more students down the T-levels pathway.

Catherine Sezen, director of policy at the Association of Colleges, which represents the further education sector, urged ministers to slow the introduction of the technical qualification to give more time for parents, employers and students to adapt.

“The speed at which they are being rolled out alongside the scrapping of BTecs and other applied general qualifications is misguided,” she said after the government published a new action plan for T-levels last month.

Just over 16,000 students enrolled in 2023-24 for a range of 18 T-level courses. From September, 21 subjects will be offered, covering areas including construction, business administration, animal husbandry, design, accounting and legal services.

The government has so far invested £1.8bn in the qualification, which has been plagued by high dropout rates. Only two-thirds of 2021-22 entrants completed their course and assessment within two years, the length of a standard course.

College leaders have complained that the course requirement of a 45-day work placement is often difficult to fulfill, while many students who have not passed maths and English GCSE qualifications are in effect excluded from taking T-levels.

However, the government said in its action plan that it would push ahead with defunding rival BTecs to “simplify the market” and drive demand. “We expect T-level student numbers to grow as funding is removed from overlapping technical qualifications and additional T-level subjects are rolled out,” it added.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, which has argued strongly against defunding BTecs, said the low take-up of T-levels had left them “dead in the water”.

He added that removing funding from BTecs risked creating a “qualifications gap” which thousands of students who lacked the grades to progress to T-level would fall through.

“T-levels only appeal to a very small group of young people and must be reformed to ensure that all T-level students get a fair deal,” he added.

The National Education Union at its annual conference in April warned that defunding BTecs left students facing “fewer options and a narrowing curriculum”.

“Young people, employers and universities have not been convinced by the government’s ‘flagship’ qualification T-levels, which only a small number of young people can access,” NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said at the time.

Robert Halfon, Tory MP and former skills minister, defended the qualification, noting that a T-level foundation year had been introduced for students who were not ready to take the full course.

“T-levels are a rigorous, state of the art qualification which meets the demands of employers and should be embraced,” he added.

The Department for Education said the 16,000 students starting the technical qualification in the 2023-24 academic year represented a 58 percent increase on 2022-23. “We expect this growth to continue as more young people become aware of the opportunities a T-level provides,” a spokesperson said.