2 days ago
More than one in four students who start T-level courses do not complete them
More than a quarter of students in England who started T-level courses did not complete them this summer, figures suggest, but the drop-out rate has fallen.
About 16,081 students began two-year T-level courses in 2023, but just 11,724 completed their course and were assessed, according to provisional data from the Department for Education (DfE).
Nearly three out of four (73%) completed the technical qualifications, which is up on last year when 71% finished their courses, the figures suggest.
Students in England have received their T-level results in the fourth year that the qualification has been awarded.
Overall, 11,909 students in England were awarded results on Thursday for the Government's technical qualification, which was introduced to be broadly equivalent to three A-levels.
Across all 18 T-level subjects, 91.4% of students achieved at least a pass.
The DfE said learners can elect to complete the T-level course over two or more academic years.
The number of T-level entries in England has increased by 61.4% on last year, while the number of A-level entries has fallen by 0.5% compared to 2024.
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said there are 'some significant changes' taking place in the 18-year-old cohort this year.
He told the PA news agency: 'T-levels are intended to be a high-quality, rigorous, full-time level-three course for students to prepare them directly for a particular occupational field.
'The extent to which they draw from people who might have done A-levels, or might have done other vocational and technical qualifications, is very hard to demonstrate because we don't know what people would have done had T-levels not existed.'
Sir Ian added: 'I'm confident that T-level entries will continue to rise in the years ahead.
'Clearly when students make one choice over another then the shape of the cohort that they're not choosing – so in this case the shape of the A-level cohort – will be affected.'
More than 250,000 results were also issued to students who took level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year, which include BTecs.
