90% of T-level dropouts who transferred to other technical courses ended up getting their qualifications due to funding cuts.
90% of T-level dropouts who switched to other technical courses gained qualifications due to funding disruptions.
Shane Chowen
June 28, 2024, 15:25
Almost all students who dropped out of the second-year T-level course have switched to subjects that are set to be scrapped under controversial government plans.
It has sparked new calls for the government to abandon proposals to scrap funding for a number of level 3 qualifications over the next two years and for Labor to follow through on its promise to “pause and review” the reforms.
The Department for Education's latest T-level action plan, published in April, found that a third of students who started their qualifications in 2021 left their program early.
In 2021, a total of 5,321 students enrolled, but only 3,510 students completed the course. Of every third student who dropped out, 370 completed their apprenticeship, 716 transferred to another course and 682 left training.
But the freedom of information data obtained through sister titles FE Weekly Ninety per cent of students who transferred to other technical or vocational courses chose qualifications that will be abolished under Conservative reforms in 2026, it has been revealed.
70 students – one in 10 – converted their T-levels to A-levels, 50 gained another academic qualification and six gained another T-level.
However, 145 students, or one in five, moved up to a lower Level 1 or Level 2 qualification.
James Kewin, vice-president of the Sixth Year Colleges Association (SFCA), said ending funding for non-T-level qualifications and providing limited funding for alternative qualifications would lead to more students taking lower-level subjects as a post-16 option. He said he would do it.
Defunded Option
Three in five (439) converts moved into applied general, technical level or vocational and technical qualifications (VTQ).
These have been earmarked to lose public funding because they overlap with T-Levels or do not meet the government's “reformed” Level 3 criteria.
According to SFCA's analysis, 397 of the 439 students switched to a qualification that was set to be phased out.
Mr Kewin said: “It is difficult to understand how ministers would look at this kind of data and conclude that it would be in the best interests of students to push ahead with plans to abolish most non-T-level qualifications.”
“Despite the data published today showing very clear risks, the government has decided to remove the safety net these entitlements provide.”
The introduction of T-levels is not controversial and is a position supported in principle by many in the field. That's because of additional instructional hours, higher grant rates per student, and generous capital support to colleges and schools.
But removing public funding from competitive qualifications and severely limiting other options has been one of the Conservative government's most controversial education policies.
“I expect that after next week’s election we will see a very different approach,” said Kewin, who leads a coalition of 28 schools and higher education institutions that campaigns to protect student choice.
In June, the campaign secured a promise from Labor to “pause and review” disqualifications if it were to return to power.
Seema Malhotra, the shadow skills secretary, said in October that Labor would “work with universities to develop the skills the UK needs through a review and halt to disruptive funding of qualifications”.
But that promise was missing from Labour's manifesto this month.