The government’s granting of a stay of execution to popular courses including health and business studies BTecs, while alternatives are developed, is a victory for common sense. It should not have taken a years‑long campaign by the college sector to prevent the over‑hasty defunding of qualifications that are taken by more than 200,000 students each year in England and Wales. Belatedly, the government has admitted as much. Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, said that the previous timetable was “too aggressive”.
Welcome though this admission is, the problems with this package of reforms to 16-19 education go beyond the timetable. Other questionable decisions remain to be either justified or unpicked. The most important of these is the replacement of numerous existing diplomas with brand-new V-levels, which are being designed as A-level-size equivalents, with a view to enabling students to mix and match (for example, studying an education V-level alongside sociology and drama A-levels). Education is one of the first three V-levels due to be launched, along with finance and digital, next year.
