The prime minister has undermined efforts to raise the parity of technical education through his “careless” and “undeliverable” announcement to replace T Levels and A-levels, the shadow education secretary has said.
Bridget Phillipson attacked Rishi Sunak’s 10-year plan to create the Advanced British Standard (ABS) during a fringe event this afternoon ahead of her mainstage speech at the Labour party conference on Wednesday morning.
She was asked how a Labour government would balance parity between academic and technical education routes for young people following the prime minister’s announcement last week that A-levels and T Levels would be merged to form the ABS, with increased classroom teaching hours.
T Levels were designed to be the Conservative government’s technical version of rigorous and respected A-level qualifications. But they only launched in 2020 and aren’t yet fully rolled out.
