New UK Qualification 'A Major Boost' For Vocational Training
Vocational training has received a major boost within the UK school curriculum with the announcement today that a "technical baccalaureate" is to be introduced. This will be designed to test young people's abilities in maths, literacy and a high level vocational qualification. It will be taken by 16 to 19 year olds.
It is aimed at teenagers who might want qualifications for jobs in areas such as information technology, construction, retail, hospitality and digital media.
The 'Tech Bacc' will not be another separate qualification, but will be evidence that a young person has a particular set of employer-friendly skills. It will be taught at a level of difficulty which is meant to show that pupils are able to carry out "complex and non-routine" skills, on a par with A-levels.
For schools and colleges, the Tech Bacc will become a league table performance measure from 2017, in the way that schools are measured by the percentage of pupils who have achieved academic English Baccalaureate subjects.
