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Vocational Qualifications at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5: Who Takes Them and How They Fit into Students' Programmes of Study. Research Report
- Source :
-
Cambridge Assessment . 2020. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- In 2010, the government announced their latest drive to raise the status of vocational qualifications in secondary education. This overhaul was subsequently enacted based on recommendations made by Alison Wolf in her review of vocational education. As a result, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced four new categories of vocational qualifications (renamed as applied and technical qualifications) for the Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 school and college performance tables: Technical Awards at Key Stage 4 and Applied Generals, Tech Levels and Technical Certificates at Key Stage 5. The aim of this study was to investigate the role that vocational qualifications play in students' educational pathways post-reform, by exploring who takes them and how they fit into students' programmes of study. Considering these aspects together enables us to understand more fully the extent to which vocational qualifications constitute a valuable part of the curricula for 14 to 19 year olds. This study analysed data from the National Pupil Database (NPD). NPD extracts included educational data on whole cohorts of students in Key Stage 4 (14-16 year olds) and Key Stage 5 (16-18 year olds). For all analyses, the most recent data available was used: the cohort of students at the end of Key Stage 4 or Key Stage 5 in 2016/17. The DfE-approved vocational qualifications (e.g., Technical Awards) were based on the 2017 performance tables. The pathway analyses, which included vocational qualifications of all levels and types, showed that vocational education more widely formed part of an even larger group of candidates' programmes of study.
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Cambridge Assessment
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- ED605438
- Document Type :
- Reports - Research<br />Numerical/Quantitative Data