Applied courses are essential for choice and social mobility

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Applied courses are essential for choice and social mobility
Date22nd Mar 2021AuthorDr Catherine RichardsCategoriesPolicy and News

Applied courses (such as BTECs and Cambridge Technicals) been under scrutiny for at least two decades and their value questioned. Compared to A levels which have largely stayed the same, applied courses have continually been reinvented, constantly moving from exams with coursework to coursework only and back again.  Unlike A levels, applied courses have also often had their names changed and their value or rigour questioned.

Choice and opportunity

In areas where aspirations are low and disadvantage is high, applied courses offer something unique and different. These qualifications offer a taste of what it is like to work in different sectors in interesting and novel ways that go beyond academic study. They offer opportunity and choice. The opportunity to do something different that a student and their family have never experienced before. The choice to go to university if they wish to for students who may struggle to persuade their parents that this is an option for them, or to go into work with skills. At East Norfolk, 54% of our students that went on to HE in 2020 had studied at least one Level 3 applied general qualification.

Purpose and relevance

A level Psychology is very different to Applied Psychology. The students who opt for these courses both enjoy the subject, but their choice between the qualifications identifies the purpose and relevance of each.  

A level Psychologists seek to develop very academic and theoretical skills which are tested through rigorous examination and timed essay writing. Applied Psychologists often choose these qualifications because they combine them with other practical subjects such as Health and Social Care or Uniformed Services. These students are looking for careers in the NHS, the Police or Fire Service, for example, and having good knowledge of psychology including its practical application and terminology helps them to quickly adjust to the workplace.

With many public service professions requiring graduate entry, applied courses offer options between apprenticeships and higher education whilst preparing young people for work.  Extended pieces of coursework help students to write reports. Problem solving and working as team members to give presentations are skills highly regarded and sought after by employers. Applied courses develop employability skills in a way that A levels do not. It is this love of the subject and development of skills that also then encourages students from non-traditional backgrounds to consider university even if they are the first generation in their family.

Parental acceptance

In areas where disadvantage is high students benefit hugely from applied courses. Parents accept that ‘practical courses’ can lead to employment or training and therefore are much more accepting of their purpose, whilst young people can learn about subjects in a way that is not examined alone and can enrich their knowledge and love of their subjects.  This offers students a chance to explore thinking, creativity and interest without the pressure of having to link them explicitly to a job or career choice.  Subjects like Games Design, for example, offer great skills in terms of design and computer programming that could be taken straight into the workplace or offer opportunity for further study.

Employers and skills

Although it is often suggested that the qualification landscape is too complex for employers and requires simplification, most employers in our experience have good understanding of a BTEC and many have practical knowledge of these qualifications. An employer looking for a new engineering apprentice gets the best of both worlds when they employ a young person who has been studying a BTEC Level 3 Engineering course with A level Maths and Physics. Having practical and academic skills makes young people extremely employable and if young people do go on to apprenticeships, by gaining skills in both areas, they are more quickly able to complete their apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship studies.

Social mobility

Helping young people to be socially mobile through opportunities and support from their communities means removing barriers and providing networks of support for them. Such support includes them accessing qualifications which help them to make choices about their next steps. Applied courses offer such springboards and remove barriers for those young people.  Students taking Applied Law go on to suitable careers or higher education in the same way that young people with A levels do. However, the confidence and skills that the former group gain from their choice of an applied course helps them to be successful in their own ways.

Future career and jobs

Too often we hear about the jobs of the future or how the world of work is changing. At the same time, we hear little about the skills that will be essential for our students leaving sixth form such as resilience, communication, adaptability, time management, or organisation.  Applied courses offer opportunities to develop these skills through the extended nature of the work and the requirement to organise themselves. The development of these ‘soft’ skills is combined with different subject areas which extend our students’ thinking and allow them to consider the careers of the future. For example, skills gained through Esports or Criminology can be applied to roles that don’t even exist yet.  Jobs such as ‘shoutcaster’ or ‘social media influencer’ are continually emerging and skills from applied subjects help students to seek such employment.

Remove perceptions of mutual exclusivity

Applied and academic qualifications both have a role and purpose to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain the most that they possibly can from education with the highest level of benefit. Each offers skills and benefits that are distinct from the other and a rounded, rich education full of knowledge and practical application is best achieved by offering them in combination.

It is likely that the debate about applied qualifications will continue well into the future and even after the full introduction of T levels. However, what is key to that debate is not whether applied, technical or academic qualifications offer the most rigorous or valuable experiences, but whether their practical application leads to higher numbers of young people having the barriers of disadvantage removed for them. The aim should be for qualifications to lead to the very highest levels of retention, achievement and progress to positive destinations, regardless of whether these are directly into work or on to higher education.

Dr Catherine Richards is the Principal of East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Great Yarmouth and has taught, assessed and advocated her support for applied qualifications for more than 25 years in Further Education.

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