T-levels roll-out to see more than 200 courses scrapped

Hannah Cheesman is one of 600 students at Harlow College studying a course that will be defunded by 2025

The government has updated its list of over 200 qualifications to be scrapped as part of the rollout of T-levels.

The qualifications, including BTecs and other post-GCSE courses, were taken by a total of over 50,000 students per year in England in 2020-21, according to the government's enrolment data.

They are being removed to "streamline further education", the Department for Education (DfE) said.

But some college principals have said it could be damaging to students.

First launched in 2020, a T-level is roughly equivalent to three A-levels.

They are two-year vocational courses aimed at 16 to 19-year-olds which focus on a particular area of employment, like construction, education or healthcare, and include 45 days of industry placement.

T-levels are central to the prime minister's long-term plans to combine them with A-levels to form a single baccalaureate-style qualification called the Advanced British Standard.

But there have been issues with the DfE's rollout of T-levels.

• What are T-levels and what are the grades worth?

• A-levels to be replaced by new qualification

• Rushed T-level plans may hold teens back – report

• Colleges face disruption over T-level delays

In March, colleges faced disruption as the government said it was delaying four forthcoming programmes to ensure they could be "delivered to a high standard".

And in April, the Education Select Committee said the DfE risked "constricting student choice" if it progressed with plans to withdraw funding for more established vocational courses like BTecs, collectively known as applied general qualifications.

More than 130 such courses which "overlap" with the first T-level programmes will have their funding removed from next August. According to DfE data, more than 39,500 students were enrolled on these courses in 2020-21.

Another 85, published in a new list on Thursday, will see their funding withdrawn from August 2025. The same data showed another 17,500 enrolments on these courses.

The courses to be defunded across both years (with number of enrolments in brackets) include:

• Pearson BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in IT (4,840)

• NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education (4,070)

• NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Certificate in Health and Social Care (4,010)

• Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Engineering (3,790)

Hannah Cheesman, 17, is in the second year of her BTec in IT at Harlow College in Essex. She is one of 600 students at the college currently studying a course scheduled for defunding by 2025. Hers will be unavailable to new students from next year.

"It's quite scary," she said.

"If I'm going into the workplace and I'm up against someone who's done this T-level they're taking as the new standard, it worries me that down the line my courses aren't going to be recognised as highly."

Some college principals have said they are concerned the take-up of T-levels has been too slow to bridge the gap that will be left behind by the defunded courses.

At Harlow College, 70 students out of 2,800 are doing T-levels, principal Karen Spencer said.

She believes the current plan is too "high-risk".

"The issue for me with defunding qualifications is that we're ploughing ahead defunding things without actually knowing what we've got in their place," she said.

IT student Hannah says she is worried her course will be taken less seriously by employers once funding is withdrawn

There are no national entry requirements for T-levels, but the high standard of assessment means most colleges require strong GCSE grades to get on to a programme - leaving some principals worrying about a lack of options for those who do not achieve those grades once the alternative qualifications disappear.

Bill Webster, principal of Bolton College, said he "sees the value" of T-levels - as do the local employers running the work placements, he said - but there is still appetite for alternative courses.

"Where we switched off other courses for one of our T-levels, we lost students who went to do the BTec," he said.

Cath Sezen, director of education at the Association of Colleges, advised on the development of T-levels, but says focus should now be on "students for whom a T-level is not the right option".

"Often people who are left behind are people who, for whatever reason, have struggled in the school system," she said.

"We can't have people left behind - that's really important."

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, has helped co-ordinate the Protect Student Choice campaign, which is calling on the government "to stop the scrapping of BTecs in its tracks".

"For some students, the T-level is a fantastic qualification, but our view is it's not a mass market qualification," he said.

"The government is attempting to replace, in the BTec, a mass market product with a minority product. And that's the problem."

Robert Halfon, minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, said T-levels were a "robust" qualification, supporting the government's goal to "future-proof education".

He said most of the 85 courses to be defunded from 2025 had fewer than 100 enrolments in 2020-21.

"Removing funding from the list of qualifications published today streamlines further education and ensures that anyone taking a technical course can be confident that they are getting a qualification respected by employers," he added.