‘Invaluable’ qualification or GCSE equivalent?
Thousands of vocational qualifications will no longer count towards schools’ GCSE performance in league tables. One headteacher tells Channel 4 News why he welcomes the plans.
More than 3,000 qualifications currently equivalent to GCSEs in league tables will be reduced to just 125, which will be included from 2014. And only 70 will count towards the main performance measure of five A* to C grades at GCSE.
Subjects to be dropped from the league table include nail technology and fish husbandry.
The move is part of an attempt by the government to stop schools encouraging youngsters to take qualifications that it says will boost their league table position but do not help a pupil’s prospects.
At present, a level 2 BTEC in horse care, for example – one of the qualifications to be cut from the new style tables – is worth four GCSEs at grade C or higher. The new system will see every qualification count equally in the tables.
For too long the system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young people have taken courses that have led nowhere. Education Secretary Michael Gove
The number of equivalent qualifications achieved by pupils up to age 16 has skyrocketed in recent years: from 15,000 in 2004, to 575,000 in 2010.
Plans to slash the numbers of “equivalent” qualifications were first announced by ministers last year following Professor Alison Wolf’s review of vocational education.
Some of the courses which will count in the tables are still subject to further review because they are either too new, or still have to demonstrate they have all the characteristics needed to be included, the Department for Education said.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said that Professor Wolf’s “incisive and far-reaching” review highlighted weaknesses in the system.
“The changes we are making will take time but will transform the lives of young people,” he said. “For too long the system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young people have taken courses that have led nowhere.”
Professor Wolf said that vocational studies can be a “stimulating and demanding” part of the curriculum.
“But pretending that all vocational qualifications are equally valuable does not bring them respect,” she said. “On the contrary, it devalues vocational education in people’s eyes.”
Equivalencies ‘boost performance’
Her report found that the current system, with its different strands of qualifications, creates a “perverse incentive” for some schools to boost their performance by putting pupils on courses worth more GCSEs, but which do not benefit pupils’ prospects.
The most recent GCSE figures, released last week, show that 56 per cent of state school pupils achieved 5 A* to C grades at GCSE. But this figure rose to 80 per cent when the results of ‘equivalent’ qualifications were considered.
Russell Hobby, head of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said that the importance placed on league tables by the government is part of the problem.
“Schools must focus on what is right for every individual pupil, not on their standing in the league tables. However, when your school can be closed and your staff sacked for a fall in league table standings, it can be hard to do so,” he added.
“A system which placed more trust in teachers would help them make judgments that are right for children rather than the school’s position in a league table.”
At Perry Beeches School in Birmingham, the most improved comprehensive in England last year, pupils currently take an average of 12 GCSEs or equivalent. It might sound like a lot, but this is to ensure pupils get their core GCSE subjects and then study vocational subjects as an added extra.
“We have already prepared ourselves for the fact that there are qualifications that are considered ‘invaluable’,” headteacher Liam Nolan told Channel 4 News.
Including Btechs and GNVQ’s, the school’s pass rate last year was 75 per cent A* to C at GCSE including English and Maths – this would fall to 67 per cent if the government’s planned changes were applied this year.
But Mr Nolan agrees with the proposals: “I think schools now have got to provide youngsters with qualifications that have a value. What I’m saying is that the value of those qualifications have been overblown,” he told Channel 4 News.
“I have a responsibility to ensure that youngsters who walk out at 16 have some value in the wider world.”
Did vocational courses help with your career? What you told Channel 4 News on Facebook and twitter:
Nawaz: I did a vocational course in ICT along w/ GCSEs. Equivalent, in theory, to 4 GCSEs. In practice, a redundant pile of rubbish.
Samantha Ash: I studied Leisure & Tourism at GCSE and that was one out of two subjects where I received a high grade. It was the most interesting course at school for me and because of the content we frequently went on trips. I also was interesting in a career in the tourism field for a long time after.
Catrina Kirkland (teacher): It gave my students variety in their curriculum which is gradually being eroded.
G Kelly: The joke on building sites was NVQ meant Not Very Qualified. Most learning is done on the job. Desire to work preferred.
Mark Vincent: Dam silly idea [to remove vocational subjects from league tables]. kids need these practical skills to help get them employment.