Students face a “period of great uncertainty” after ministers rejected calls to withdraw applied general qualifications like BTECs from their defunding plans, or even delay the “damaging” reforms by a year.
The Department for Education will publish a list of new qualifications that will replace the current suite of applied generals in July 2024, for schools and colleges to start delivering in September 2025.
The expectation is that most level 3 alternatives to T Levels and A-levels, which must now go through a new strict approvals process, will be refused funding from this point forward.
Ministers have already made the “conscious choice” to exclude “certain” large academic qualifications, including in health and social care, applied science, and law, from this process.
