Guidelines to stamp out 'perverse incentives' on vocational qualifications
Janaki Mahadevan
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Vocational qualifications will only count in school league tables if they are equivalent or more advanced than GCSEs and offer pupils progress into a broad range of options, under guidance announced by the Department for Education today (27 October).
Following a 10-week consultation, guidance released by the department lists the characteristics vocational qualifications need to include to be counted within school performance tables.
The purpose of the change is to stop schools from picking subjects that will simply boost their position in the league tables, but not benefit pupils in their journey to further education or employment.
Currently, all qualifications count in performance tables even if they do not include external assessment.
But from 2014, only qualifications that offer pupils proven progression into a broad range of further qualifications or careers post-16; are the same level as a GCSE or more advanced; or have a substantial proportion of external assessment and grades such as A*-G not rather than pass or fail, will be counted.
Schools minister Nick Gibb said: "We want to be sure that the vocational qualifications taken by 14- to 16-year-olds genuinely lead on to further education and are valued by employers. No pupil should be preparing for a vocational qualification simply to boost the schools ‘GCSE or equivalent’ score in the performance tables.
"These reforms introduce a systematic and fair set of rules that will determine which of the many thousands of qualifications taught in schools can be included in performance tables for 2014 onwards."
The changes follow Professor Alison Wolf's report on vocational qualifications, which said the current performance tables create perverse incentives.