Post 16 education and skills consultation – have your say!

This information is about reforms affecting UAL Awarding Body Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in England only. We will keep monitoring developments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Government is consulting on wide-ranging plans to reform vocational qualifications. We need your help to influence the reforms and ensure they support high-quality, enabling and successful qualifications for creative learners and teachers.

The Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways consultation proposes a new system of qualifications based around “V Levels” alongside an expanded range of T levels and existing A Levels. The proposal is that new Level 3 V Levels would be available at 360 Guided Learning Hours only, to match A Levels and encourage mixed study programmes. The V Levels would also be linked to occupational standards, although less closely than T Levels.

At Level 2, two pathways are proposed. One is a further study pathway lasting one year and preparing students for Level 3. The other an occupational pathway lasting two years and leading to employment.

All the proposals involve a move toward more central government control on approved subject areas, qualification design and content, and delivery models.

At the current time funding remains in place for all our qualifications for 2026/27 starts and we expect for several years beyond that. We are monitoring the situation and will keep centres updated in a timely fashion. Eventually, all existing Level 2 and Level 3 vocational qualifications would gradually be phased out in favour of the new model, except for a few small exceptions such as graded exams and extended project qualifications.

The accompanying detailed documentation describes the possible rules of combination and design and nature of the qualifications envisaged.

Creative industries are largely a graduate-entry sector with clear and successful existing routes. 75% of those employed in creative occupations are qualified to degree-level or above compared to just 51% of those working across all industries. The creative sector is currently well-served by a simple and well-understood set of Level 3 Extended Diplomas plus the long-established Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. Given the significant scale of the proposed reforms and the likely cost and resource required to deliver them, the DfE could retain existing successful creative qualifications, with minor changes where required in support of their re-branding as V-levels, and prioritise other sectors which are in urgent need of reform.

Should government pursue the wider reforms outlined in the white paper we would make the following recommendations:

1. Government should support the development of large-sized V-levels (540, 720 and 1080 Guided Leaning Hours) in creative subjects, in line with the recommendations made in the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report. Insisting on allowing only one A-level sized qualifications will introduce logistical complexity for colleges and students, damage uptake of vocational qualifications overall, and in creative subjects specifically will suppress progression to HE and industry.
2. Creative V levels should not be tied to narrow occupational standards. These standards are often too prescriptive for the broad, future focused nature of creative careers. They risk locking qualifications into slow development cycles that cannot keep pace with innovation, rapid technological change and the evolving needs of the creative industries.  We are also concerned that overly prescribed content will not support those SEND learners who currently thrive under a flexible, adaptable and practical based curriculum.
3. Government should slow down the pace of reforms to ensure that they are designed and implemented properly, reducing the risks to students and potential negative impacts on retention, achievement and progression. Redesigning Level 2 and 3 pathways will require careful work and collaboration across the sector and within subject areas. Currently 84,000 learners pursue a Level 3 vocational creative qualifications. Creative T Levels were taken up by only 736 students by end of 2024. We must plan volumes and transition in a sensible way to avoid the reforms failing.
4. Funding should be retained for existing popular and successful creative qualifications until new V Levels and T Levels are available in those subjects. Current T Levels only partially cover the pathways available in Level 3 vocational qualifications. There are also no suitable occupational standards yet for many creative routes. A combination of new T Levels and a wide range of high-quality V Levels will be required to support the transition. The risk of rushing this process is a mass migration of students to A Levels, therefore which would damage, rather than enhance, vocational and technical routes.
5. UAL Awarding Body wants to be involved in and support developments that enhance vocational and creative education. The Government should consult with and listen to all relevant stakeholders during the implementation phase of the reforms. This should include robust representation from FE Colleges, Universities, schools and Awarding Organisations. These organisations will have to successfully design and deliver the reforms so they should be given equal weight to employers and skills experts in the process.
6. Government should consider the cost and resourcing required to deliver these reforms successfully. T-levels received significant investment (£1.75 billion end of 24/25 financial year) and more will be required to deliver these even bigger reforms. DfE must ensure that appropriate investment is in place for providers, and that the business model for suppliers such as awarding organisation rewards engagement and avoids market failure.
7. The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (FAD) provides a unique and vital sector specific progression route into specialist creative HE. It should be exempted from the reforms in a similar way to Graded Exams and Extended Project Qualifications. Each year, FAD provides 7,000 learners with a critical bridging year, developing confidence, creative identity and specialist skills. However, because of its distinct purpose and structure, it does not align neatly with new proposed qualification frameworks, placing it at risk within the system.

We have also produced an interim report (PDF 564.3KB) with some key facts, stats and recommendations we will be raising in response to the consultation. We would be very happy for centres and stakeholder to review and echo this information as is useful.

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to answer this short survey on these themes, so that we can reflect your views in our response as an awarding organisation and University.

We would urge all colleges and sector bodies to submit responses to the consultation, both with creative education options in mind and more broadly. Please do share this information with your senior leaders and networks to encourage that and ensure the sector has its voice heard!

UAL Awarding Body ran an online briefing session for centres in December. Thank you to the many centres who attended - we will be using feedback and insights from that in our consultation response. We will continue to update centres and offer further opportunities to engage with us as new information becomes available.