Cash pulled from popular BTecs in move to T-levels

BTecs in engineering and health and social care are to be phased out for teenagers in England as part of a move to T-level technical qualifications.

The government has published a draft list of 160 qualifications it says overlap with T-levels.

Plans to end funding for most BTecs and other applied general qualifications from 2024 have been criticized over the past year.

Colleges said BTecs opened doors for poorer students.

Other BTec Nationals on the list are:

It is estimated that more than 230,000 students will have graduated from BTec Nationals in 2021.

In 2020 T-Levels were introduced, which are studied over a year or two and are each worth three A-Levels for college application.

The 10 courses available so far include:

BTecs can also be used for university applications, although many use them to gain job-specific skills.

The engineering and health and social care BTecs are popular at Leyton Sixth Form College in London, says Principal Gill Burbridge and their scrapping would be ‘a real cause for concern’.

T-levels are important, she says, and she’s introducing the college’s first ones in September — but she’s worried about the pace of rollout — because they require “a lot of preparation.”

“We will not be able to expand our T-Level offering quickly, so other professional qualifications – particularly general practitioners – are imperative to ensure young people get the education that suits them,” Ms Burbridge says.

And the changes could limit student choices, as it’s possible to only take T-levels at a time.

“How confident are you at 16, knowing so clearly, ‘I want to work in this sector?’” asks Ms Burbridge.

She’s also concerned about the possibility of finding internships for the students – and the financial impact on those who may have to seek courses elsewhere.

“Maybe that’s not an option they have because of the cost of travel,” she says.

Skills Minister Alex Burghart said this is the “next step” in rolling out T-Levels and some 175 colleges would be offering them from September.

“Young people deserve a clear path and understanding of the qualifications and training pathways that lead to great careers,” he said.

And “withdrawing” some qualifications would “help end the confusion and complexity that we know discourages some young people from studying technical options.”

Award organizations with qualifications on the tentative list can appeal, and a final list is expected to be published in September.

Bill Watkin, executive director of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, is pleased that only a “small subset” of more than 2,000 Applied Level Three General Qualifications makes the list.

But he said: “Although there are only 160 qualifications on today’s list, some – like the BTec Diploma in Health and Social Care – are hugely popular and held in high esteem by universities and employers and the impact of their removal is being felt by a significant number to be felt by young people.”

BTecs “play an important role in the future qualifications landscape,” added Mr. Watkin.

He has previously described the restructuring as a “hammer blow to social mobility”.

The funding for most BTecs was originally supposed to expire between 2023 and 2025.

But a campaign to prevent them from being scrapped so quickly won the support of MPs and colleagues from all parties in October.

The move was then delayed a year as education leaders warned that scrapping the qualifications would be “reckless” and hurt poorer students’ prospects.

Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi also announced that English and math requirements for T-levels would be scrapped so the government would not “unnecessarily inhibit gifted students”.