Students face uncertainty in BTec funding 'mess'

Hundreds of schools and colleges have urged the government to delay for a further year a decision on vocational courses

More than 450 schools and colleges in England say the uncertainty over the future of vocational courses such as BTecs is a "mess”.

The government is conducting a review into post-16 education, after pausing the previous government’s plans to defund many Level 3 courses in favour of T-levels.

The Department for Education (DfE) says the review will support BTec students - but the results are not due until December.

And the lack of clarity has left schools and colleges unsure which courses they can offer prospective students in 2025, despite many having open days scheduled in the coming weeks.

Now, 455 schools have written to the government, saying the uncertainty is making it "extremely difficult" to plan for the future.

"It's like I've got a shop and I've got nothing on the shelves," Luton Sixth Form College principal and chief executive Altaf Hussain said.

He is planning to start visiting local schools in the next few weeks, to speak to students, but said the current situation was "a minefield".

"The whole thing is absolute madness," Mr Hussain said.

And he was unable to tell some staff members which courses they would be teaching next year and whether they would need retrain.

"What can I say to them? I don't know," Mr Hussain said.

Altaf Hussain says the uncertainty engulfing colleges is "madness"

At Hartlepool College of Further Education, principal Darren Hankey is preparing for open days next month.

But he is currently unable to tell new students exactly which courses will be available for the 2025-26 academic year - or even what to put in the college's prospectus.

"We don’t really know what our curriculum offer will be until that review is done," he said.

"If this happened in A-levels, there would probably be an outcry.

"All in all, this is a bit of a mess."

Darren Hankey says he cannot yet confirm which courses Hartlepool College of Further Education will be able to offer from 2025 onwards

More than 200 vocational qualifications, including BTecs and other post-GCSE courses, were due to be scrapped by the previous government.

But days before the first changes to funding were due, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the new Labour government would "pause and review" the plans.

And no final decision will be made until the end of the year at the earliest - less than 12 months before schools and colleges welcome new students in September 2025.

In response, 455 schools and colleges in England have joined the Protect Student Choice campaign, a coalition of 25 education organisations and unions.

They educate about a third of all 16- to 19-year-olds.

In a letter to Ms Phillipson, they have asked for more clarity on the future of applied general qualifications (AGQs), such as BTecs.

And they want the pause to be extended by a further year "to ensure that young people are not disadvantaged by your proposed reforms".

The DfE said it had taken “immediate action” to pause the proposed defunding before the start of August - and the continuing review would “bring certainty to the sector”.

'Major failings'

The changes come against a backdrop of issues that have plagued the rollout of T-levels, introduced three years ago.

Ms Phillipson has confirmed T-levels will continue despite delays and an exam board being fined £300,000 over "major failings" with papers in 2022.

Dropout rates for T-levels also remain high.

Just 71% of the 10,253 students starting in 2022 finished their course after the two years, compared with retention rates of more than 90% for most A-levels and applied general qualifications.

T-levels are roughly equivalent to three A-levels.