Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.
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With Parliament prorogued ahead of the Queen’s Speech and local election purdah it has been a quieter week. That’s not to say it has been quiet. Ofqual published its three-year plan to 2025. There was a heavy emphasis on the potential use of technology in assessment – which chimes with the findings of the recent Future of Qualifications and Assessment research published by Pearson.
It’s been a busy week for publications. Ofsted set out its five-year strategy, which promises more longer inspections, looks to hold MATs to account, and will widen its research work. The latest edition of Ofqual’s research into the perceptions of qualifications (GCSEs, A levels, Applied Generals) was published showing confidence levels holding up, though understanding in some parts down (perhaps as a result of the pandemic impact). We’ve also seen several policy reports launched. HEPI’s report into the future of level 3 qualifications, which includes a number of distinguished authors including former Universities Minister Lord Willetts, calls for the defence or proven qualifications, such as BTEC, and not their defunding. The Lifelong Education Commission set out its thoughts on the Future of Higher Technical Education in England, including how numbers studying these qualifications can be increased.
The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill completed its ten-month journey through parliament after peers agreed to the withdrawal of Lord Blunkett’s amendment that would have applied a three-year wait to the defunding of applied qualifications at level 3. This came after ministers clarified their position in order to address Lords’ concerns. This included Baroness Barran’s announcement that the government “expect(s) to remove just a small proportion of the total level 3 BTEC and other applied general style qualification offer – significantly less than half”. This represents a change in position from the start of the Bill’s passage when it was said only on small number of such qualifications would remain.
As MPs head into the Easter recess, we’ve seen a busy week of announcements and publications, not least the launch of the long-awaited Schools White Paper and SEND Green Paper.
This week the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill returned to the Lords. When the Commons, the Government were able to overturn amendments made by Peers, namely a four-year funding removal delay to those qualifications deemed to overlap with T Levels. Once again, the Lords defeated the Government, this time voting through an amendment that would see a three-year delay to the removal of funding, with a fourth should there be no employer consultation on the decision). The Bill makes its way back to the Commons on Monday for MPs to consider the change. The Lords accepted a Government proposal to increase the number of careers advice interactions. We await to see the response to the latest Lords’ amendment relating to the defunding of qualifications and whether there is scope for compromise, as there was on careers advice.
