Following its inquiry into FE and skills, the Education Select Committee has recommended that the government retains Applied General Qualifications.

Throughout its inquiry, the cross-Party committee, chaired by Labour MP Helen Hayes, heard “wide-spread discontent” with the proposals to remove funding from many post-16 Level 3 qualifications as well as “uncertainty that the review had created”.

Recommendations from the inquiry include retaining a post-16 three-route qualification model – the inquiry report refers to those three routes as “academic (A Levels), applied (AGQs), and technical (T Levels)".  

T Levels receive significant coverage in the report with the Committee calling for enhanced promotion campaigns, an overhaul of the T Level transition programme, and the introduction of smaller, modular T Levels so that students are better able to blend academic and technical education.

Whilst alternative forms of post-16 Level 3 qualifications are supported by the Committee so that a wider range of blended pathways is open to students, recommendations from the inquiry do not address where newly developed AAQs will fit in its three-route model.

The Committee also heard extensive criticism of the GCSE English and maths re-sit policy and its impact on post-16 learning.  The current re-sit requirement “is not working for the majority of post-16 students” says the inquiry report and “an alternative approach is needed”.  The committee recommends a three-route model for those who have not attained grade 4 GCSE in maths or English based on attainment at age 16 and the chosen post-16 qualification or employment pathway.

The Committee’s report contains 40 recommendations in total across an extensive range of FE and skills areas.  Other recommendations cover devolution, Skills England, the Baker Clause, access to more vocational courses via UCAS, apprenticeships, SEND, and funding, amongst many others.  

The Education Select Committee examines the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Education. Although the Committee is influential, the government has yet to decide whether to accept any of the Committee’s recommendations. The current Curriculum and Assessment Review which is nearing its closure, will make its own recommendations for post-16 education which may or may not reflect the views of the Committee.