National Drama Response: New V Levels and the Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways Government Consultation
Actions
National Drama encourages everyone to take part in the consultation and make their mark.
National Drama urges all members and friends to engage with the consultation here: Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways – Department for Education – Citizen Space
National Drama encourages all our members and friends to read the 2025 Cultural Learning Alliance report card. The current picture in Drama and the Arts in education is one of erosion, social inequality, lack of opportunity and injustice, with those schools serving the poorest areas least likely to offer Expressive Arts qualifications.
We strongly believe solutions lie in a high-quality Drama education for all in in primary schools, equivalent to the offer in visual art, (Drama education is not interchangeable with creative learning, although they might overlap) and at KS3 for all learners.
This might enable a more level educational landscape at 16, and post 16.
National Drama believes that creative BTEC Nationals qualifications and larger three A Level equivalent qualifications should continue to be funded until T and V Levels are widely available. They provide a valued and robust practical and theoretical qualification, which is more inclusive, more accessible, and supports progression for all. At the very least, there should be a commitment made to fund T and V Levels in Drama and all Performing Arts.
National Drama also believes this positive evolution would improve teacher recruitment and retention in Drama and the Arts, and that funding must be part of this review for teacher training and provider training post 16.
Key Points
- We remain concerned about the lack of a T Level in Drama, Dance, Music, Performing Arts Technical and Design Skills, or the Theatre and Cultural Industries. The 2025 consultation documents suggest this might be addressed with new T Levels.
- The Government feel the current landscape post 16 is confusing, overcrowded and for students doing small / medium sized qualifications, (BTECs, foundation T levels, and other AGQs (applied general qualifications) inconsistent, with weaker progression rates and higher dropout numbers.
- The reports recognise excellence in T Levels and A Levels in terms of results, retention, content, lower dropout rates and student progression into higher education, training or employment.
- The government is suggesting V Qualifications to enable learners who are failed by the current system, particularly those from more disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. They might have lower attainment at GCSE/Level 2, have gaps in terms of fundamental skills, might be one of the majority of retakers who do not do well on a retake-fail-retake carousel, or might do better at applied methods of learning but are not yet ready to specialise.
- The qualifications are imagined as being clear, robust, standardised, complimentary and flexible to work with A Levels, or other V Levels with a ’clear line of sight’ to work and further training.
- National Drama welcomes the focus on providing better options especially for disadvantaged and under-represented communities and stopping the requirement to retake, which has not been successful.
- National Drama is concerned about this phrase in the Government Consultation supporting documents,
“As V Levels are vocational, they should only be offered in subjects which support the development of knowledge and skills that employers and the economy need. This is why they will be linked to occupational standards which are set by Skills England in consultation with employers – so we can be sure that study of V Levels provides a clear line of sight to careers.”
- The current indicative list does contain Performing Arts
Context
Currently, there is no T Level in Drama or Performing Arts.
National Drama have long stated that the previous administration did not value the arts, and in fact implemented policies and values that actively damaged the value of drama in schools and universities. We are waiting for the outcome of the curriculum review under Labour, but nothing has significantly changed on the ground in Drama education, in schools or in teacher training. We continue to campaign for Drama as a foundation subject, for all at KS 2 and 3, for its canon, its subject specific skills, its heritage and contribution to national life, its contribution to personal development, wellbeing, creative and employment skills. With the Cultural Learning Alliance, and others, we believe that Drama and the arts should be part of the currently limited EBacc.
We have also campaigned for bursaries for PGCE and ITT trainees in Drama.
Universities and educators have seen the limitations of the EBacc, but the numbers for GCSEs, A Levels, and BTECs in the arts tell a worrying story of decline, despite tireless work and enthusiasm from our members, friends and allies. There is a clear hierarchy of subjects that this proposal of T, V and A Levels will reinforce, with the arts subjects firmly at the bottom, and harder than ever to access, especially for those learners without privilege or the private after-school lessons and theatre trips that implies, and from global majority (or in UK terms, ethnic minority) communities, and with SEND/PP.
“The CLA wants England to have a world class practical and theoretical education system with low value qualifications removed. We believe these proposed reforms risk creating an unhelpful binary pathway between academic and technical routes that does not work for the creative industries, arts and cultural sector, in which many roles require both practical and theoretical knowledge.
We are also concerned that these reforms risk decreasing the number of young people progressing to study creative subjects at degree level, and will have a detrimental impact on the ethnic and economic diversity of the cohorts progressing to university.
Further Reading and Sources
- The future of post-16 qualifications: Government response to the Committee’s Third Report of Session 2022–23 – Education Committee
- Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways – Department for Education – Citizen Space
- Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways
- New V-level courses to be brought in for students after GCSEs – BBC News
- V Levels, new T Levels and the end of the foundation year
- New ‘V-level’ qualification to be rolled out for post-GCSE pupils | The Independent
- Compulsory maths and English GCSE resits too inflexible, says curriculum chief | GCSEs | The Guardian
- CLA-2025-Report-Card_AW.pdf
