The government has delayed plans to defund popular vocational qualifications taken after GCSEs, after outcry by further education leaders prompted it to rethink a central policy in its skills and training strategy.
Nadhim Zahawi, education secretary, on Monday announced that the government would delay by one year its timetable for defunding existing qualifications, such as BTECs, while it rolls out T-levels, a new qualification set to become a main vocational option for pupils after GCSEs.
“It is quite likely we will see many BTECs and other similar applied general-style qualifications continuing to play an important role in 16-19 education, for the foreseeable future,” Zahawi said at a reading of the government’s post-16 skills bill in the Commons.