Dr Anne Murdoch says the future of applied general qualifications (AGQs) is still up in the air, and this constant level of uncertainty is making life difficult for schools, colleges and students alike.

Where next for AGQs?

Qualifications reform of vocational provision has taken many forms over the years, but political parties have tended to disagree with one another over titles and what they should include. T levels, however, have consistently been agreed by the previous government, as well as the current Labour government. ASCL agrees that T levels are a good alternative to A levels for some students, but along with many of our partners, we don't agree that T levels should wholeheartedly replace advanced general qualifications (AGQs), as the latter are the qualifications of choice of a much wider group of young people (approximately 210,000 each year). 

Analysis (tinyurl.com/4pz7246s) by the Protect Student Choice (PSC) campaign (www.protectstudentchoice.org) indicates that the defunding of AGQs will lead to 52,000 fewer young people studying health and science courses each year, a reduction of 45%. There will also be 11,000 fewer young people studying digital courses each year, a fall of 33%. 

Life sciences, and digital and technologies are two of the eight priority sectors identified in the government's industrial strategy and reducing the numbers of students studying these subjects will undermine plans to upskill the workforce, acting as a barrier to achieving the government's key mission for economic growth. 

PSC campaign partners, including ASCL, wrote to Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chair of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) to urge her to recommend that the government reverses the ban on AGQ diplomas and extended diplomas in T level subjects when CAR publishes its final report in the autumn. 

The campaign's focus is on the 134 recently reformed AGQs currently included in the DfE's performance league tables where qualifications are being reviewed in two cycles. In total, 17 of the 55 popular subjects like applied science, IT, and health and social care that overlap with the first few waves of T levels have been reapproved as alternative academic qualifications (AAQs), but 20 were not, and the remaining 18 are due to be defunded over the next two years. There are 79 AGQs in cycle two; subjects that clash with T levels, such as business, are being defunded and there is still some uncertainty among providers about the future of the one A level equivalent AAQ. 

This comes after Skills England (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/skills-england) stated that while schools and colleges know about the government's Level 3 reforms, there is uncertainty about how the new qualifications will work in practice. 

Many AGQs have a high number of enrolments but government decisions on their future are unlikely to be made until the CAR report is published. This action will leave some young people without a suitable pathway to highly valued careers and some employers without the skilled workforce they need. The reform exacerbates the workforce crisis in sectors like care and digital, and again leaves providers unsure of what qualifications to recommend to young people at open days this autumn. 

The future 

The PSC campaign predicts that thousands of students could fall through a qualifications gap because of government plans for post-16 vocational programmes, and they will be left without a suitable pathway if funding is withdrawn for popular AGQs, and if the uptake of T levels remains low. This summer, 29,065 students undertook T levels with a pass rate of 91% compared to 210,640 taking vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) with a pass rate of 100%, with 9.6% achieving top grades in their VTQs (up from 8.9% in 2024). 

Schools and colleges have been told that the future of AGQs not yet reported on will be set out when the CAR reports this autumn. However, it seems unlikely that the CAR will make specific recommendations about individual AGQs by size and subject, and this raises the possibility of another qualifications review, again causing uncertainty for students, parents, employers and providers. 

Uncertainty is making it difficult for schools and colleges to plan their future curriculum, recruit and train staff, and provide appropriate information, advice and guidance to young people. We had this before in 2024, and it seems highly likely that we will have yet more uncertainty until final decisions are made about the defunding of the remaining AGQs. This uncertainty is not helping young people or employers and is doing nothing to address the fact that so many young people are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

Dr Anne Murdoch OBE
ASCL Senior Advisor, College Leadership
@ascl-uk.bsky.social

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