FPQ0012

Written evidence submitted by Katie Finlayson

Background

I am a parent of four home educated children who are soon to be moving into college provision for post-16 qualifications. I also support home educating parents across the UK as they navigate the exam years, including home educating through to 18 and moving into post-16 education after home educating through GCSEs or other Level 2 qualifications. My comments are my personal views, drawing on the experiences and feedback of a large number of families.

• The experience to date of those taking or delivering T Levels, and any changes to T Levels that may be needed to ensure they are accessible to all students.

There is not yet much feedback on T Levels, other than that not much is known about them or how they will work (in particular the work placement aspects and whether students are supposed to organise these themselves, and how they would go about doing so); or how they will be received by universities. Colleges don’t seem to know very much either. Better communications around these aspects are needed, and of course time for the system to bed in.

• The strengths and weaknesses of the current system of post-16 qualifications, with reference to A Levels, T Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships, in preparing young people for work or further and higher education.

The variety of qualifications on offer is a strength, in that it allows students to choose the path that best suits their individual aptitudes and interests. Home educated children cross the spectrum from highly academic students who suit the structure of A levels to those with a definite interest or career path that is best suited to BTECs (or in future, possibly T levels). Apprenticeships should also be a valued part of this picture, although in practice they seem to be very variable and hard to navigate, so are not used as much as they could be.

The variety of options also supports students coming in with different levels of pre-existing qualifications. This is a particular benefit for home educated students who for a variety of reasons may not have the usual complement of GCSEs.

In many areas the split at 16 also means that post-16 education (both academic and vocational) is available in colleges. This has a different ethos from school-based education and allows young people more autonomy and choices, which students from all backgrounds may appreciate, but particularly those who have been home educated. It is very common for home educated young people to move on to a college-based education at 16.

It is also possible to study A levels through home education, outside of the mainstream system, although it is more difficult and costly than for GCSEs, which is an important feature of the current system. However only a very few BTECs can be delivered outside of a school or college, which is a weakness, and one that does not appear to be addressed by T levels.

However the current system does involve an enforced narrowing of options – with typically only one BTEC subject or 3 A levels being available. This is great for the students who want it, but not so much for the students who would still like a wider range of options. Smaller qualifications, able to be delivered in parallel, could allow 16-19 year olds to explore a wider range of options before deciding on a definite career path. This is particularly important for hands on career options that have not been widely available in school.

• The benefits and challenges the Government’s proposed changes to Level 3 qualifications would bring, with reference to any implications for BTECs and routes into apprenticeships.

A simplification of the Level 3 landscape brings long term advantages, but runs the risk of losing qualifications that are valued at the moment, and potentially devaluing existing BTEC qualifications.

• The extent to which the Government’s review of level 3 qualifications will impact disadvantaged groups, students from minority ethnic backgrounds, students known to the care system, and students with special educational needs or disabilities, and what measures might be put in place to mitigate any negative impacts

It’s important that any consideration of the post-16 landscape includes home educated students – both those that wish to continue with home education and those that may be moving into the post-16 system following home education.

Some key aspects here are:

Communication: communication of the new options needs to be available to students outside of school as well as through school transition services.

Availability to independent learners: At a minimum, qualifications already accessible to independent learners, mostly A levels, should remain so (key difficulties here are coursework components and practical requirements – these could be considered in a way that allows them to be undertaken separately from preparation for a written exam). Ideally, consideration would be given to making more qualifications accessible. This could be through making aspects of the more flexible adult offer available from 16+.

Progression from non-mainstream settings: post-16 qualifications need to be accessible to those who may have a missing or inconsistent profile of L2 qualifications, which may be a reflection of other difficulties and not related to ability (particularly in recent years where exam cancellations and lack of exam centre availability have presented barriers to home educated children gaining qualifications). This may be through flexibility in admissions, and/or through the forthcoming review of the L2 offer, as well as directly through the L3 landscape.

• The benefits and disadvantages of introducing a baccalaureate system in post-16 education that allows students to take a variety of subjects, including both academic and vocational options.

In principle this seems a good idea, but an absolutely key point is that this has to be an allow not a require. For many students the ability to focus down to a core subject or set of subjects is welcome and gives them the opportunity to develop the expertise they need to progress through skill levels on a particular path. Other students are not ready to make that decision and would like to keep a broader range of studies. Both should be catered for.

A fixed requirement to take, eg, a foreign language, arts subject, or applied science through to 18 would alienate many of the students who are re-engaged at 16 by the opportunity to pursue their individual interests. On the other hand, a more flexible range may allow a student to progress academic interests in, say, maths and physics, while pairing with a vocational interest in electrical work, in order to decide which is the right route for them; or for an academic student to study a variety of both arts and science courses.

This could be catered for by splitting courses into smaller module sized packages (with eg 2 or 4 equivalent to ‘1 A level’), to be mixed and matched to create a similar size overall to the current offer (eg 12-16 total modules). A student could still take 4 modules of Maths, 4 Physics and 4 Chemistry for an equivalent to the current A levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry; or they could take 3 Maths, 4 Physics, 6 English, 2 Music and 1 Mechanical Engineering, with an eye to a degree in Physics but with a wider range of interests and skills. These modules could also cross over between L2 and L3, providing a more coherent 14-19 offer and allowing more able students to take challenging L3 modules at 14-16, or providing 16-19 students with the opportunity to ‘catch-up’ or simply study for interest L2 modules they may have missed earlier.

A key aspect is that this study should be able to be completed independently (not in a school or college setting) in as many cases as possible. This is not the case with eg the International Baccalaureate, and would be a massive step backwards in the opportunities for young people in the UK to choose the route that best suits them.  

• The benefits and disadvantages of a post-qualifications admission system.

Post-qualifications admissions would be a huge benefit for home educated students, who can find it difficult to provide accepted predicted grades and academic references for university applications. Being able to apply with achieved grades provides a level playing field.

• International good practice examples of systems for post-16 education and qualifications.

While the US education system has many issues, the ‘high school credit’ approach does provide an example of a combined 14-19 phase which allows the opportunity to develop a broad set of skills at levels appropriate to the individual student. 

January 2022