Government must boost student numbers on T-levels to realise full benefits – NAO

Issues with student take-up, awareness and availability of industry placements should be addressed to cement T-levels as the main post-16 technical qualification, a Government spending watchdog has suggested.

The Department for Education (DfE) must make more efforts to boost the number of students on T-level courses to realise all the potential benefits of the technical qualification, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

The first T-levels were introduced in September 2020 to help meet the needs of industry and prepare students for work.

The two-year courses, which are considered to be broadly equivalent to three A-levels, are being gradually rolled out in England.

The NAO report said the future economic benefits of T-levels are “uncertain” – as students’ earnings data is not yet available and student numbers are hard to estimate – and it will “take time” for them to be realised.

Concerns have been raised about low student numbers, the value of awarding organisation contracts, challenges recruiting students, and the cost of T-levels to the government compared with other qualifications, the watchdog said.

The NAO has called on the DfE to better understand the potential impacts on the demand, benefits and cost of T-levels before making decisions “around the development of the technical qualifications landscape”.

It comes after the Government announced plans in December to scrap a series of vocational courses as part of a review of post-16 qualifications.

Education minister Janet Daby said at the time that the current post-16 education environment was “too confusing” as too many courses, including BTecs and apprenticeships, overlap with T-levels in England.

More than 200 qualifications that had either no enrolments, or fewer than 100 per year over the last three years, will be cancelled from August 2025.

The report from the watchdog said low student numbers, the announcement of the Advanced British Standard – which is no longer being introduced – and delays defunding overlapping qualifications have “affected market interest” from organisations contracted to award individual T-levels.

The DfE’s ambition for T-level student numbers was “significantly overstated” initially, but the DfE has since revised down its estimates, the NAO said.

In September 2024, 25,508 students started a T-level in England – which was 42% of the DfE’s November 2022 estimate, 85% of its August 2023 estimate and 1% higher than its October 2023 estimate.

The report said the DfE has identified a lack of student awareness and prior attainment as “barriers” to increasing numbers wanting to enrol on T-levels.

The DfE also considered the availability of industry placements as a “potential constraint” to scaling up the programme, although it downgraded this risk earlier this month, the NAO said.

The watchdog has called on the DfE to continue efforts to expand industry placements and monitor the impact of student take-up on revised commercial arrangements with awarding bodies, the watchdog has said.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said T-levels have “the potential to offer new opportunities for young people and address critical skills gaps”.

He added: “Although the DfE has made progress in delivering the wide range of courses available, efforts must be made to increase student numbers and realise all the potential benefits of T-levels.”

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said: “Today’s NAO report shows that a lack of widespread awareness, declining pass rates and challenges securing industry placements risk the Department’s ability to scale up T-levels.

“For T-levels to be a success, the Department has much to do to convince students and providers of their worth as a desirable and valuable qualification.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), said the NAO report “reinforces the need to retain a middle pathway of applied general qualifications for students for whom neither A-level nor T-level presents the best way forward”.

He added: “Today’s report is clear that the DfE cannot yet measure whether T-levels are achieving their aims.

“Until it can, we believe the Department should change its current policy to allow medium and large AGQs (applied general qualifications) to co-exist with T-levels.

“This would ensure that the pipeline of skilled workers to key sectors of the economy is not disrupted and avoid the creation of a qualifications gap that tens of thousands of students could fall through.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “The £28 million investment recently announced by the Prime Minister shows the Government’s clear commitment to T-levels as a high-quality technical qualification which offers young people a great route into further study and a rewarding career.

“T-levels continue to grow, with nearly 60% more young people taking them last year than in the previous year.

“Based on employer-designed standards and with a substantial industry placement on every course, T-levels will be important contributors to our mission to grow the economy under the Plan for Change.”