Perceptions of quality and the shaping or misshaping of vocational education: the case of T level qualifications in England

T level technical qualifications for 16–19-year-old students (International Standard Classification of Education level 3) were introduced in England in 2020. Ten T levels are currently available and more are planned, each one corresponding to a specific occupational area. The claim that T levels are high qual¬ity is central to their introduction and politicians have repeat¬edly described them as “gold standard”. That claim of quality is associated with T levels being developed “in collaboration with employers and businesses”; and quality is also linked to the form of their final assessment. Significantly, the quality of T levels is also associated with their stated equivalence to A levels, which are long established academic qualifications. This paper draws on interviews with T level teachers to examine these perceptions of quality and how they have influenced the design and deliv¬ery of T levels, leading to some divergence from their technical focus. We conclude by arguing that beyond a rhetoric of skills and employment, perceptions of quality in English vocational education and training (VET) including T levels, reflect the val¬ues of society, especially the primacy of academic and universi¬ty-based education, and that consequently T levels will struggle to gain favour among young people or wider society.