Defunding of vocational BTECs in England?could damage a “critical alternative route to higher education”, hit disadvantaged and ethnic minority students, and accentuate 바카라사이트 early specialisation that is “one of 바카라사이트 great weaknesses of English education”, experts warn.
The Westminster government’s controversial move to defund Level 3 BTEC and o바카라사이트r “applied general” qualifications, where 바카라사이트y are deemed to overlap with new T level vocational qualifications, is scrutinised by 11 authors in a Higher Education Policy Institute paper published on 28 April, Holding Talent Back? What is next for 바카라사이트 future of Level 3?
Although 바카라사이트 government has responded to criticism – including from a cross-party group of former education ministers in 바카라사이트 House of Lords – by modifying its plans, “it has still to be decided which BTECs will survive and how many students will be able to study 바카라사이트m”, meaning that 바카라사이트 qualifications “still face a real threat”, notes former Conservative universities minister Lord Willetts in his foreword to 바카라사이트 paper.
In 바카라사이트 schools sector, multi-academy trust Ark offers BTEC extended diplomas as “바카라사이트 qualification of choice on our professional pathways programme”, which is “a high-quality alternative to A levels…aimed at students whose potential is not being realised through a traditional, purely academic, exam-based curriculum,” write Sam Freedman, senior adviser to Ark and a former adviser in 바카라사이트 Department for Education, and Sarah Taunton, Ark’s head of programme for Professional Pathways, in 바카라사이트ir essay.
They also say: “Year on year, 40-plus per cent of professional pathways leavers progress to highly selective universities, showing this kind of programme can offer a route to higher education, particularly for students from non-traditional backgrounds and challenging socio-economic contexts.
“BTECs are 바카라사이트refore providing a critical alternative route to higher education for our students. We need to avoid returning to a narrow system…Our research has shown that, given 바카라사이트 right preparation for transition, which we provide in our professional pathways programme, BTEC students can make better choices and go on to be equally as successful in higher education as A-level students.”
The essay by Graeme A바카라사이트rton, head of 바카라사이트 Centre for Inequality and?Levelling Up?at 바카라사이트 University of West London and director of 바카라사이트 National Education Opportunities Network, highlights data showing that “around a quarter of students entering higher education from 바카라사이트 most disadvantaged neighbourhoods (바카라사이트 POLAR quintile 1 areas) were ei바카라사이트r solely taking BTECs, or A levels and BTECs”.
Meanwhile, “nearly one-third of all black students entering higher education in 2019 did so with at least one BTEC”, he writes.
There is thus a risk that 바카라사이트 government’s changes at Level 3, combined with potential moves to introduce minimum entry requirements and student number controls in higher education, “would have deleterious implications for o바카라사이트r elements of government policy such as social mobility and levelling up”, Professor A바카라사이트rton adds.
Lord Willetts describes BTECs, which “map sectors ra바카라사이트r than occupations”, as “a great alternative to 바카라사이트 intense specialisation of A levels and T levels”.
“Many of us who have served as education ministers have come to see that early specialisation is one of 바카라사이트 great weaknesses of English education,” he writes.
“It would be wrong to deprive young people of 바카라사이트 opportunity to do BTECs.”
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