The education secretary has announced a set of reforms to try and promote the uptake of higher technical qualifications – including a national approval scheme for these qualifications run by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) that could see funding removed from those that fall short of that standard.
Just one in 10 adults in England holds a higher technical qualification as their highest qualification. There are over 4,000 such qualifications at level 4 and 5 on offer and over 40 per cent have five students or fewer studying them, according to the government. Plans to rebadge and quality-approve level 4 and 5 qualifications to help boost their popularity were first announced by Damian Hinds, then education secretary, in July last year.
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The first qualifications approved by the IfATE in the new scheme, in digital routes, are expected to be available from September 2022, with others in construction and health and science routes expected from September 2023. They will be supported by “a government-backed brand and quality mark”, according to today's announcement.
Promoting higher technical qualifications
Qualifications would only be approved, the government said, where they provided the skills that employers need. This, it added, would provide clarity for students and employers. Where higher technical qualifications failed to meet those standards, action would be taken, the government said, and from 2023, funding available for them would be reduced to make sure public money is focused on qualifications that “lead to great jobs”.
With both colleges and universities offering the qualifications, the government also promised to work with Ofsted and the Office for Students to make sure that the quality of courses is consistently high across HE and FE institutions.
A new public awareness campaign will also be launched, the government said today, working in partnership with employers and careers advisers to showcase “the benefits and the wide range of opportunities that studying a higher technical qualification can open up”
The changes would boost the quality and take-up of higher technical education to help plug skill gaps, level up opportunities and support the UK’s economic recovery, the government said. It added that research had shown that the quality of courses on offer could be variable and it can be hard for students and employers to find the ones that are right for them.
According to the government, the reforms build on work already underway to transform technical and vocational education, including the introduction of new T levels from September and establishing a network of Institutes of Technology. Higher technical qualifications will provide a progression route for young people taking A levels or the new T levels from 2020, and adults looking to upskill or retrain.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “For too long we have been training people for the jobs of yesterday instead of the jobs of today and tomorrow. Employers are struggling to find the computer programmers, engineers, electricians and technicians they need, and students of all ages are missing out on the high-skill, high-wage jobs that higher technical education can lead to.
“The measures I have announced today will boost the quality and take-up of these qualifications to help plug skill gaps, level up opportunities and support our economic recovery.”
Lord Sainsbury of Turville, chair of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, said: “At the present time there is a serious mismatch between the skills and knowledge delivered by our education system and the needs of our economy and society. This announcement of a major reform of higher technical education, together with the introduction of T levels, should go a long way to ending this mismatch and should be strongly supported by all political parties and industry.”
Matthew Percival, people and skills director of CBI, said: “Higher technical qualifications help people to develop the skills that build careers. It’s fantastic to see this commitment from government to boost their uptake. Putting employers in the driving seat will give them confidence that courses on offer meet their needs.
“With four-fifths of employers expecting to increase higher skilled roles in the coming years, offering clear progression routes through higher technical qualifications will be essential to creating a sustainable and inclusive future economy.”
Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, said: “Awarding bodies want to play a leading role in meeting the skills and productivity needs of the nation. We agree with the government that there has not been enough focus and investment in higher technical education spanning decades. For too long we’ve prioritised young learners jumping straight from Level 3 to Level 6 at the expense of adult learners.”
He added: "We wholeheartedly support the need for a more balanced qualifications framework that allows adults in work to access a range of intermediate qualifications at Levels 4 and 5 at any stage in their careers. However, the federation does not believe that by placing artificial restrictions on the market in future HTE qualifications, including a new government-led brand and process, will necessarily deliver better outcomes.
"There is no evidence that a top-down, Whitehall-run qualifications system will deliver the innovation, agility, resilience and responsiveness that will be required as the country emerges from Covid-19 and the end of the Brexit transition.”
Recommendations of the post-18 review
Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Today’s measures take forwards a key recommendation of the post-18 review – that government should act to improve the status of higher technical qualifications. There are very low numbers studying at this level in England, partly because young people are channelled towards full-time degrees and partly because of the obstacles in the way of adult reskill at other points in their lives.
The pandemic has shown that the UK needs a plan for skills. The DfE’s plans focus first on digital, health and construction skills. Colleges have a huge role to play in providing routes into skilled work. Meanwhile, the DfE should act on other post-18 review recommendations including the need to provide funding and to level up financial support for courses at Level 4 and 5.”
Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “We understand why the government is doing this and, in the same way that the introduction of apprenticeship standards has improved the quality of apprenticeships, this initiative could improve the quality of technical education.
“But this same old siloed approach is not going to get us anywhere and there’s a real danger that the government just repeats past mistakes. Instead we need to see reforms to technical education closely aligned with apprenticeships at all levels by ensuring, for example, that the learner can progress o nto a high-level apprenticeship after completing a T level. The evidence shows that progression with work-based learning options often leads to sustainable employment and good salaries.”
Mark Smith, chief executive at Ada, the national college for digital skills, said: “At Ada we know technical skills and industry knowledge are the two essential cards young people need to play to stand out in the jobs market, so we welcome the government’s announcement."
He added that the college's model of teaching improved the life chances of young people and plugged vital skills gaps. “As the economic reverberations of the coronavirus crisis continue to be felt, students need to know their investment in education will pay dividends," Mr Smith said. "I believe colleges like ours are, now more than ever, an increasingly shrewd alternative to university, especially for those most in need of a step up the ladder.”
