 Will BTECs continue to be available to schools beyond 2011?
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Yes. The Government has been clear and consistent in its support of good vocational education. We know, through our own engagement with Professor Wolf during her consultations on this, that she supports and values BTECs, and the recent White Paper "The Importance of Teaching, November 2010" makes clear that:
“Schools will retain the freedom to innovate and offer the GCSEs, IGCSEs and other qualifications which best meet the needs of their pupils. Pupils will of course be able to achieve vocational qualifications alongside the English Baccalaureate.”
Our customers have consistently told us of the invaluable contribution BTECs have made to the engagement, retention and consequently improved performance amongst their students. As such, they will continue to have a leading role within the curriculum pathways in schools.
“BTECs have had a profound impact on students’ learning and achievement during the last 3 years across the whole of our school. Students who study a BTEC course are far more engaged, focused and driven, not only in their BTEC course but this has had a positive impact on their learning and achievement throughout many of their other subjects, particularly Maths and English.”
Tom Berni, Head of Business, Vocational Education & Quality Nominee, Orwell High School | | Will BTECs continue to carry the same points allocation?
| BTECs continue to carry the same A*-C equivalency points as they have in previous years. They will, therefore, continue to feed in to the school performance measures in the same way. No decisions have been made yet about the position for the next academic year. What we do know is that The Importance of Teaching White Paper states that vocational qualifications will continue to be reported within school performance data. Feedback from the Wolf Review of vocational education is due in March 2011 and this will also inform any thinking around this.
We understand that you may be currently planning your curriculum provision for September 2011 and would encourage you to do what you always do and base your decisions on the individual needs of your students. We will be supporting our centres further through curriculum planning, guidance and support. We plan to run a number of UK wide support workshops soon and will contacting you shortly with specific details. | | How will BTECs work alongside the English Bacc?
| There is a clear role for BTEC alongside the English Bacc (White Paper quote above).
We know that the priority for the schools that we work with is to maximize the achievement for each individual student.
While the English Bacc will provide an appropriate curriculum for some students, this will not be the case for others, so you will undoubtedly be looking to offer a range of pathways.
The English Bacc won’t take all your curriculum. For those students following that particular curriculum, it will be valuable to offer BTECs alongside. This will create the balanced curriculum that the White Paper advocates and is a combination that has been shown to both raise overall GCSE achievement and lead to an enhancement in lifelong earnings (Source: London Economics, October 2010, Returns to BTEC vocational qualifications.)
For the many students for whom the English Bacc curriculum will not be appropriate, BTECs will continue to offer an engaging and motivating route to achievement.
It is worth noting that only by matching the students for whom the EB subjects are the right choice will you maximize your EB score. The achievements of all the other students through the different pathways, including BTEC, will maximize your overall wider score. | | Why is BTEC Science not included in the English Bacc performance measure?
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Unfortunately, no vocational qualifications are included. Only mainstream GCSEs and some IGCSEs. In our view, the English Bacc has taken a far too narrow approach, excluding a number of subjects and highly-valued qualifications, e.g. Diploma, Applied GCSE, BTEC qualifications and subjects such as Engineering. There is still a lot of debate raging around this, and it is possible that there may be further changes in this area. | | What do I do with my BTEC Applied Science students?
| Again, it’s down to what best suits individual students and how you choose to approach your curriculum planning.
For example, if the BTEC and GCSE specifications that you follow are both based on the KS4 programme of study, this means that you will be working with shared content and therefore able to offer both Academic (GCSE) and Vocational (BTEC) pathways to your KS4 cohort.
To give you maximum flexibility in this situation, we have produced BTEC and GCSE Links to enable you to delay the decision on moving students completely to BTEC or GCSE, without incurring late fees or running out of teaching and learning time.
“Throughout my years teaching, I have observed how the vocational qualifications enable the pupils who do not succeed in exams to achieve a grade they are worthy of, progressing to the next level of learning. Without the Level 2 courses, many of my students would not have had the experience of further education in the sixth form and would not have developed into enthusiastic, self-motivated learners”
Sarah Millatt, Science Teacher, Newquay Tretherras School | | Will BTEC Science be removed from Section 96?
| At the moment, there is no indication that this will happen. There is no indication that any vocational qualifications are being removed. We will obviously keep you up to date with any developments, but there is currently nothing to suggest that this will be the case for BTEC Science or any other BTECs. | | Will taking a BTEC limit my students’ choice, going forward?
| Again, this comes down to selecting the right qualifications for your students. If BTEC is the right choice, then it will be an enabler, not a barrier – indeed we have evidence that it will help:
- In 2009, over 100,000 BTEC students applied to university in the UK
- Approximately 11.8% of learners who have achieved BTEC Level 1 qualifications have also gained an undergraduate degree or other higher education qualification
- At BTEC Level 2, the figure rises to 13.2%; at Level 3 it is 20.7%.
“I have seen these (BTEC) qualifications completely change the life chances of a significant number of young people. They have given them the chance to reach post-16 education, where they have blossomed into some of the most employable young people I have educated.”
Chris Elliott, Assistant Head, The Ravensbourne School |
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