“In the corridors of Whitehall and Westminster, post-16 Level 2 students risk being seen as ‘other people’s children’. As a result, they have been overshadowed by the larger and better understood majority who progress directly onto Level 3 study after completing GCSEs”.

This is the headline from Ofsted’s recent research into the curriculum available to post-16 Level 2 students – around 170,000 learners each year, mostly in FE colleges.

The report commentary from Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector, claims that the education sector “has lost its understanding of curriculum” and that the focus on assessment without consideration for curriculum has been particularly constraining for Level 2 study programmes.

A number of recommendations are made for colleges in the report to improve the Level 2 curriculum including:

• Work with local employers in the design of the curriculum, to assess learners and to provide meaningful work experience.
• Evaluate the benefits of programmes by tracking destinations, particularly about employment to different industries, make that data more available to potential students, and evaluate whether Level 2 learners improve their progression into careers by going on to take a Level 3 qualification.
• Recognise the importance of promoting personal, social and employability skills and give greater emphasis to building learner confidence and self-esteem.

The report, which is part of Ofsted’s programme of research into the curriculum at all stages of education, also calls for the government to:

• Review the policy requiring students who have not achieved well pre-16 in English and maths GCSEs, to continue to study these subjects at GCSE post-16
• Learn from good practice in Level 2 programmes to help design the transition offer in T Levels.