A GOVERNMENT decision to cut the value of vocational courses in school league tables has been backed by the chief executive of Luton’s two Barnfield academies.
Education secretary Michael Gove has announced that from 2014, the majority of vocational courses will no longer count as GCSE equivalents.
He said many vocational courses boosted schools’ league table positions but did not improve their career prospects.
Both Barnfield West and Barnfield South academies offer vocational qualifications at GCSE level, but chief executive Pete Birkett said it was to early to say if the changes would affect their league table rankings.
He said: “We believe that all vocational courses should be as rigorous as GCSEs and should lead to further training or higher education.
“League tables should not be the focus here, the important thing is that vocational courses should be used to ensure students receive a broad, balanced and well-rounded curriculum that will set them up in a suitable career later in life.”
A Barnfield spokesperson added: “We await the confirmed list of GCSE equivalent vocational qualifications from the government before we are able to say if our league table rankings would be affected.”
Currently, more than 3,000 vocational qualifications are equivalent to a GCSE course, with some courses equivalent to up to six GCSEs.
Under the new plans, there will be only 125 courses that count, and only 70 of these will count towards a school’s main performance measure of how many pupils achieve five A* to C grades.
Schools will be free to offer the vocational courses, but Mr Gove said only those that met his department’s “rigorous requirements” would count in the league tables.