School tables to exclude 3,000 VQs

About 3,000 vocational qualifications will no longer be allowed to count towards secondary schools’ scores in league tables from 2014, under new reforms to be unveiled today by the government – but schools will receive credit for AS levels and music exams at grade six and above.

Of 125 vocational qualifications (VQs) that will be permitted to remain, 70 will count as the equivalent of a GCSE on the main performance measures used by schools. The remainder, including the ASs and music exams, will count towards some of the less important measures.

Some VQs, some of which were issued by Pearson, the education company that owns the Financial Times, used to carry the weight of several GCSEs in the league table.

Under the new system, all qualifications counting towards the measures will carry the same weight.

Prof Alison Wolf, who holds a chair at King’s College London, said: “Pretending that all vocational qualifications are equally valuable does not bring them respect. On the contrary, it devalues vocational education in people’s eyes.”

Michael Gove, education secretary, said: “For too long the system has been devalued by attempts to pretend all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young people have taken courses leading nowhere.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The distorting effect that league tables have on our children and young people’s education will not be changed by these reforms and could make matters worse by limiting the subjects which will now count towards them.”