Designating four entire occupational routes for T levels as “apprenticeship-only” amounts to a “secretive cull of FE provision”, a FE policy analyst has said.
The first T levels are due to start in 2020, with the rest due to be implemented by 2022.
The Sainsbury review set out 15 occupational routes. Four of these - confirmed by the government’s T-level Action Plan it published last October - are expected to be delivered through apprenticeships only. The four routes are protective services; transport and logistics; sales, marketing and procurement; and social care.
Need for debate
FE policy analyst Mick Fletcher said there needs to be an open debate about this. “My main concern is that decisions are being made that potentially affect the opportunities for young people and the jobs of college staff without any public debate,” he added.
“We know that the unintended consequence of the apprenticeship reforms has been to cut opportunities for 16-18s. It seems likely that this secretive cull of FE provision could make matters worse.”
It is not just the learners on these four routes who face losing out on a classroom-based learning experience. From September, the Institute for Apprenticeships, soon to be renamed the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, will take on responsibility for T levels through its expanded remit.
Ahead of the roll-out of T levels, the institute has drawn up an occupational “map” to help to shape the way that the new qualifications are governed. On this map, the 15 routes are spilt into 35 career pathways, which each branch out into a number of technical occupation clusters at three levels of seniority. Each cluster then contains a number of specific occupations the career pathway could lead to.
An early version, which is currently subject to a public consultation, shows that a further 11 out of 63 T-level occupation clusters are also listed as apprenticeship-only. In total, a third of the occupation clusters might not be delivered in the classroom, when the four apprenticeship-only routes are included.
‘Classroom learning is fantastic’
Sam Parrett, the principal of London South East Colleges, said she accepts the merits of the T-level concept in trying to bring about parity of esteem with more academic A levels, but worries about the details of the plans.
“Any young person wanting to pursue a subject within an apprenticeship-only area will be reliant on finding a willing employer in their area who happens to have a requirement for such a role,” she said.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are not developing T levels in four routes because the occupations in these areas are better suited to apprenticeships.
“We are transforming technical education through the introduction of new T levels, and will be investing an extra half a billion pounds a year in England’s technical education system once they are up and running.”
This is an edited version of an article in the 27 April edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. Tes magazine is available at all good newsagents
Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow Tes FE News on Twitter, like us on Facebook and follow us on LinkedIn
