'Long way to go' before V-levels offered in Jersey

Education Minister Rob Ward said he would study what V-levels could "mean for us"

Jersey is "able to adapt" if it decides to run the new V-level vocational courses for 16-year-olds if they were right for islanders, the education minister has said.

Rob Ward told BBC Jersey there was not "a huge amount of information" available yet about the new V-level courses to replace Level 3 BTecs and other post-16 technical qualifications in England.

But he added: "We would welcome any qualification that bridges what I think is a false gap between academic and vocational study.

"We have to look at what they mean for us and how it would actually work."

He said BTecs had been available "extensively" in Jersey, adding: "We would absolutely be able to adapt if that's what we chose to do and if that was the right thing to do for Jersey."

Ward said: "There's a long way to go in terms of what these qualifications mean for us yet."

The new qualifications were discussed at a recent cross-nation conference, he also said.

The V-levels were designed to simplify a "confusing" system for young people and help them with their careers, UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said.