The future of qualifications in England

NAHT head of policy (practice and research) SARAH HANNAFIN looks at the possible qualification pathways that lie ahead for students and explains why NAHT is calling for a more balanced and varied approach to assessment.

determine final grades using different evidence. Students taking VTQs with a more continuous form of assessment had already completed a number of modules to provide evidence to determine a final grade; simply put, there was more resilience built in to the VTQ qualification system.

The fragilities highlighted during the pandemic have fuelled an ongoing debate about reforming the assessment landscape in England.

Criticisms have been directed at the current system of linear, terminal exambased assessment (which emphasises short-term knowledge retention), the high-stakes nature of those exams and the potential impact on students’ well-being. This mode of assessment works well for some students but disadvantages others. And as demonstrated by the pandemic, this system is not robust in times of crisis if exams can’t be sat for whatever reason. However, at the other end of the scale, continuous, non-exam-based assessment faces criticism for being less accurate and consistent than exam-based assessments. More time is taken out of teaching and learning throughout the year, and there is an increased workload for teachers with marking and moderation processes.

the range of VTQ qualifications available. But, following the problems in summer 2022 with issuing the results for BTECs and Cambridge nationals/technicals, there is the potential that the government may seek to reform the very nature of some VTQs (ie reducing those inherent flexibilities). There is a risk that the government may decide that such qualifications should look (and act) more like general qualifications.

The introduction of T levels and the review of post-16 qualifications are changing the VTQ landscape significantly, with qualifications being withdrawn from funding and the development of new qualifications. The government’s approach creates a blunt choice for post-16 students: an academic or a technical route with limited qualification options. Some young people will be forced to make a choice that will have a lasting impact on their futures, and yet, they may not be ready to make that choice. Many students want, or need, more flexible pathways that include technical and academic study, creating a blended curriculum offer.

who perform relatively well at GCSE but who are not equipped to deal with the rigours of the new linear A levels. The applied general qualifications, including BTECs, are ideal for these groups of students, and in a comprehensive setting, they provide an offer of qualifications for post-16 students that is truly inclusive. School practitioners are duty-bound to be inclusive, and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ regarding suitable qualifications for post-16 students. But plans to remove funding for qualifications that overlap with T levels threaten the existence of applied generals, like BTECs. If school sixth forms are unable to offer these, those students seeking a blended offer of academic and vocational qualifications will be forced to move to a different provider, which may make some school sixth forms financially unviable. The government is making too many unnecessary changes to the VTQ landscape and seems unwilling to do anything to improve the GQ one. It seems to have forgotten what’s really important in all of this: that all students have the opportunity to access qualifications that are right for them, that motivate them to achieve, that enable them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in an appropriate way and that help them to progress to the next stage in their education, training or employment.

I n the current landscape, qualifications at key stage four and post-16 are generally split between general qualifications (GQ) and vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs).

Today GQs, GCSEs and A levels are linear qualifications assessed through a series of terminal exams taken at the end of, usually, a two-year curriculum, except for a small number of qualifications that still contain an element of non-exam assessment.

VTQs – including BTECs, T-levels and other level one, two and three qualifications – are assessed in a more continuous, modular manner.

Students are assessed throughout their course, completing work that contributes to an overall final grade.

The qualification landscape has not always looked like this. Historically, GQs have boasted more modular structures and contained more non-exam assessment (NEA) than they do today.

However, in 2013, reforms proposed by then-education secretary Michael Gove made exams the ‘default mode of assessment’, with internal assessment/NEA only being used

‘where exams cannot validly assess the skills and knowledge required’ (Ofqual, 2013). In addition, all GCSEs and A levels were to become linear qualifications, with exams to be sat only during the summer series, apart from English and maths resits. Although AS levels would be retained, these would become stand-alone qualifications and not a means of progression to A2. The covid-19 pandemic necessitated contingency arrangements to ensure that students still received grades for their qualifications in a world where exams could not be sat. This epidemic highlighted the fragility of a model of terminal assessment, and centres had to

NAHT’s Secondary Council has been debating these issues and believes that the reforms to GCSE and A level qualifications, which favour terminal assessment via external examinations, have led to a qualification system that does not meet the needs of all students or all subjects and has little resilience in the face of any challenging circumstances. As a result, NAHT is pressing the government for a more balanced and varied approach to assessment for the purpose of awarding general qualifications, which needs to include non-exam assessments and opportunities for modular assessments.

VTQ qualifications offer this variety of assessment opportunities. Many students don’t follow a purely ‘academic’ or ‘vocational’ pathway but follow a mixed curriculum, where qualifications from each pathway complement each other to meet their needs and ambitions. NAHT supports and values the flexibilities of learning, assessment and awarding provided by

Qualifications post-16, other than T levels and A levels, are chosen by schools to meet the needs of groups of students – those with special educational needs and disabilities, for example, or those