Education secretary delays funding removal from BTECs

Yesterday, Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, announced that plans to remove funding for most BTECs, and other applied general qualifications (AGQs), will be delayed for a year until 2024. Announcing the delay he told parliament that T levels and A levels would be a central part of the level 3 landscape but said:

“I am also convinced that we need other qualifications alongside them – many of which currently exist – that play a valuable role in supporting good outcomes for students.”

NEON is one of the 24 organisations that are part of the #ProtectStudentChoice: don’t scrap BTECs campaign[1] that believe T levels should complement, rather than replace, existing qualifications. Commenting on the announcement Director of the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON), Professor Graeme Atherton, stated:

“We know from research[2] we conducted earlier this year that the plans to defund the majority of AGQs, including BTECs, could threaten the progress that has been made in widening access as they provide a valuable route into higher education (HE) for thousands of young people. Whilst we welcome the introduction of T levels, the new qualification has not been designed to support HE progression and any progress in increasing numbers of students, entering HE from the lowest participation neighbourhoods, will be lost. We hope the government will use the extra time to ensure that qualifications, which already provide a proven, valued route into HE, are not defunded, and replaced by qualifications that the HE sector do not believe give potential students the skills to succeed and progress to degree level programmes.”

[1] https://www.protectstudentchoice.org/

[2] Atherton, G. (2021) Will abolishing BTECs mean reversing widening access to higher education? https://www.educationopportunities.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/BTEC-report-FINAL.pdf