100 plus MPs sign letter against scrapping BTECs

Over 100 MPs have signed a letter to the education secretary demanding that BTECs not be scrapped.

Co-organised by Labour MP Diana Johnson and the Conservative Jason McCartney of the all party parliamentary group on Sixth Form education, the letter warns against the defunding of the qualifications ahead of a review by new minister Nadhim Zahawi.

BTEC stands for the Business and Technology Education Council, and its qualifications are work-related and specialist, combining practical learning with subject and theory content.

The department is currently tipped to defund BTECS and provide ‘T Levels’ as a vocational option in further education. However the letter argues that BTECs are already well-respected by employers, and popular with students, with over 250,000 young people opting for BTECs each year.

While the T Levels the government began phasing in last September also combine classroom learning with training, they offer a much longer period of industry placement, usually up to almost 3 months.