Vocational T-levels offer England’s students poor value, Ofsted says

Ofsted inspected T-level courses and interviewed teachers and students taking subjects such as construction. Photograph: Mike Booth/Alamy

The government’s “gold standard” vocational qualifications, T-levels, have been strongly criticised by Ofsted for offering poor value, inappropriate work placements and having high dropout rates.

The report, the first independent evaluation of T-levels commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), is highly critical of the complex teaching and industry placements required during the two-year courses, which are intended as a vocational equivalent to A-levels in England.