We’ve responded to the Department for Education (DfE) consultation on the proposed introduction of a new qualification framework for 16–19-year-olds. This is called the Advanced British Standard (ABS).
The ABS is intended to combine A levels and T levels into a single qualification that can include a mix of both technical and academic education with increased teaching time and will cover five subjects in a combination of major and minor study, with some form of maths and English to be compulsory to age 18.
We welcome the opportunity to explore how qualifications at level 3 (normally achieved by learners aged 16–19) can be reformed to better meet the needs of learners, employers, and support progression to higher education.
However, any reform of 16–19 qualifications would have significant implications for how higher education is delivered and so changes must be developed in close consultation with the university sector to ensure that the qualifications on offer deliver the knowledge, skills, and opportunity that young people need to succeed.
We welcome efforts in the ABS proposals to improve attainment at 16–19, especially in core skills of English and maths. Any new qualification framework must support equality of opportunity and widening access to higher education, facilitating a broad range of post-18 progression pathways.
Increasing the number of guided learning hours in the ABS will need capacity building in the teaching workforce and alter the balance between guided and self-led learning at level 3. Therefore, it’s important that the future teaching workforce pipeline is secured through encouraging more universities and learners to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and that the development of valuable independent study skills is retained in the ABS system.
While we welcome the aim for the ABS to deliver a broad education, it’s vital that the resultant loss of depth of study at level 3 does not hinder progression to higher education.
To support the sophisticated and nuanced process of university admissions and offer-making, there needs to be a shared understanding of how previous grading of achievement maps onto any new qualification. At this stage, we don’t believe that an overall ABS award would offer any additional value to the admissions process.
Given the scale and extent of change that the ABS would represent from the current 16–19 education landscape, care should be taken to ensure that the transition to this new system is as smooth as possible to avoid unequal outcomes and disruption for the first few cohorts. Until then, standards must remain rigorous for all current qualifications (including A levels and T levels) to support learners and their post-18 progression plans.
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