The Government needs to act urgently to address the “disappointing” number of students starting T-levels, the Association of Colleges has warned.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), is calling on the Government to look at how its flagship technical qualifications will be promoted, following the announcement of major reforms to post-16 education.
In a letter to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Mr Hughes said the numbers starting T-levels – which were launched in September 2020 and are still being rolled out in England – were “falling short” of the Government’s ambitions.
He added: “A large part of this is that many potential T-level students did not achieve good GCSEs and are therefore not ready.”
In October, the Prime Minister announced plans to introduce the Advanced British Standard (ABS) – a new single post-16 qualification which will eventually replace A-levels and T-levels when fully implemented.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said previously that T-levels will continue to roll out as they will “provide the technical options” for the ABS, which is expected to take a decade to deliver in full.
