in Advanced Level GNVQs, the size of the cohort taking broad vocational qualifications remains
relatively small, constituting under a third of those studying at advanced level (DfEE 1999c).
Moreover, the growth in Advanced GNVQs has largely been at the expense of participation in
other traditional full-time vocational qualifications (FEDA, IOE, Nuffield 1997). Second,
completion rates of a full Advanced GNVQ have remained rooted at 50 per cent throughout the
mid to late 1990s, though they have recently risen to 58 per cent in 1998/9 (JCGAB 1999).
Third, the relatively rapid growth in the award of NVQ Level 3 has had little impact on higher
education progression because it is seen principally as a training award associated with the
workplace. rather than as a means of progression to further study.
Over the next five years or so, it may be possible to improve completion rates in Advanced Level
GNVQ (e.g. from 58 to 70 per cent) so that they become comparable with those enjoyed by other
general vocational qualifications such as BTEC National Diploma. The Qualifying for Success
reforms usher in smaller GNVQ blocks, the detachment of key skills, the introduction of new
assessment approaches and five rather than three grades, all of which bring broad vocational
qualifications closer to their general education counterparts. (In fact, GNVQs will now be known
as Vocational A Levels). Evidence from retention projects in further education colleges (Spours
1997), however, suggests that full-time vocational courses which are more vocationally-focused
and which are recognised by ‘good’ employers (e.g. BTEC National and NNEB courses), have
relatively higher completion rates. Moreover, there is mounting concern among teachers of
GNVQ programmes that the new style broad vocational qualifications will be more difficult for
learners to achieve because of their external assessment requirements (Hodgson & Spours
2000b).
If students on broad vocational programmes successfully complete their qualifications (and these
are increasingly likely to be a mixture of general and general vocational), past evidence suggests
they are as likely to progress to higher education as A Level students, though with a tendency to
enter the 1992 universities (Spours 1995). Improved successful completion rates could
eventually expand the proportion of 19 year olds eligible for entry to higher education by about
two percentage points annually, which would be a decisive contribution to the higher education
target. The impact of the new vocational A Levels brought in by the Qualifying for Success
reforms still remains to be seen, however.
Route 3: Progression from Modern Apprenticeships into higher education courses
Another way of expanding participation in higher education is to increase the numbers of those
progressing from the work-based route and Modern Apprenticeship (MA) schemes into higher
level qualifications. The Government sees MAs, which aim to provide work-based training
leading to attainment at Level 3, as providing a route to higher education as well as competence
in the workplace. If this were to become established then work-based training would be able to
attract better-qualified trainees to the work-based route.
MA schemes have expanded rapidly since their introduction in 1995 (see Figure 3). However,
this growth is now beginning to tail off (see Figure 4). The effect of MAs has been to increase
the possibility of qualification for 16—19 year olds within the work-based route and MAs now
account for 45 per cent of all participants in work-based training for this age group. At present,
there are no firm destination statistics for MAs, but the following factors suggest that, so far, they
have made a negligible impact on higher education participation:
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