The DfE has announced new measures designed to boost the quality and take-up of higher technical education. These include introducing newly approved higher technical qualifications from September 2022 and working with Ofsted and the Office for Students to make sure the quality of courses is consistently high across HE and FE institutions. They will also be launching a new public awareness campaign to encourage people of all ages looking to upskill or retrain to study higher technical courses. Alongside the announcement, they have published the government’s response to its consultation on reforming higher technical education and their policy paper for higher technical education reforms, outlining the reforms that have been announced. Ofqual have added their support to the reforms, which can be read here. The IfATE’s role in the reforms has been outlined by the government in a statutory notice to the IfATE which can be read here, and the IfATE’s announcement about their role in awarding quality marks to the new higher technical qualifications can be read here. Comment on the news can be read here.
