'Bogus' vocational qualifications on the rise

In the Autumn, the independent think tank, Civitas, will publish a new book examining vocational qualifications in England. The book, "Unqualified Success: Investigating the State of Vocational Learning in the UK", argues that there has been a rise in the number of 'bogus versions of vocational qualifications', which is harming both academic and vocational education.

The book concludes that an education apartheid is developing because young people from less well off backgrounds are more likely to be entered for less rigorous 'vocationally related' subjects. 

Commenting on the research, Anastasia de Wall, Director of Education at Civitas, said: "Those defending qualifications mis-sold as vocational, in which you learn not skills but random bits of information tenuously connected to an area of work, are simply exposing their very low regard for vocational training".

Read Civitas press release
Read FE Focus news article