Government unveils new 'V-Level' qualifications to rewire education system and 'get young people into work'
Unveiled on Monday, Education Minister Bridgett Phillipson pledged stronger support for students to get vital pass in English and maths GCSEs
The government has unveiled a new 'V-level' qualifications that it claims will 'rewire' the UK's education system and get young people into work.
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The new qualification, known as V-Levels, will support young people into either jobs or study and streamline around 900 existing qualifications available alongside A and T-Levels, the government has pledged.
Unveiled on Monday, Education Minister Bridgett Phillipson pledged stronger support for students to get vital pass in English and maths GCSEs to end the treadmill of resits.
Speaking with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, the minister described it as a new "simpler system".
Currently, T-Levels are two-year technical course taken by 16-19-year-olds in England and Wales, a qualification that equates to three A-Levels and combines classroom learning with practical, on-the-job learning.
Ms Phillipson insisted the new qualification will aid young people in gaining employment, highlighting the education system as a vital "backbone" of the British economy.
The reforms have been unveiled as part of the government's Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper - a plan they say is "pivotal in delivering plan for national renewal".
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Speaking with LBC, the Education Secretary said: "At the moment we have A-Levels, which have been around for a long time, that a lot of people will know about, T-Levels, which are a newer qualification, the equivalent of three A levels that are focused on technical education and have a big work placement element to that.
"And we're going to expand them further. But then alongside that we've got over 900 other qualifications that sit alongside A-levels and T-levels. They will become V-levels.
"T-levels are very specialist, you've got to be really clear about what you want to go and study," she continued.
"They're really high quality, but specialist. But V levels will allow young people to have good vocational routes, but combining that with A level study too, just making the system more simpler, more coherent, but also easier for businesses and for parents and young people to understand.
"So we'll be moving away from that quite confused mix of other qualifications to a more simpler system which where young people will be able to combine study of A levels with V levels."
“Technical and vocational education is the backbone of this country’s economy and central to breaking the link between background and success, helping hundreds of thousands of young people get the skills they need to get good jobs.
“But for too long it has been an afterthought. Young people have been left to navigate an overcomplicated landscape and repeatedly labelled as ‘failures’ by a system that has held them back from all-important English and maths grades.
“Through our Plan for Change we are turning the tide. Our reforms are building a post-16 education system that truly matches young people’s aspirations and abilities, delivering the opportunity and growth our economy needs.”
It comes as the Labour leadership battle enters its final week, with two rivals remaining in a bit to become Labour’s next deputy leader.
Their final week of campaigning before the polls in the contest close.