GNVQs fail to deliver for higher hopefuls

ONLY a fifth of those who register for Advanced General National Vocational Qualifications get into higher education, a study published today by the Institute of Education has found.

Sir Ron Dearing's vision of "parity of esteem" between Advanced GNVQs and A-levels as a route to university is a long way from being realised, according to the report's author, Alison Wolf, head of the Institute's Centre for Research on Assessment.

Her study, The Evolution of GNVQs: Emerging enrolment and delivery patterns and their policy implications, finds that although GNVQs have become a major part of post-16 study and offer a coherent route for progression from GCSE to higher education, there are "major areas for concern". Professor Wolf found "very high drop-out rates, highly uneven delivery patterns and narrow course content".

The study was funded by the Further Education Development Agency and the Nuffield Foundation. "I think it is scandalous that it took money from FEDA and Nuffield to get this information out to the public," she said. "The Conservative government manipulated the figures no end, because of their obsession with parity of esteem. To imply that they have created a new route to higher education is simply not true. There were already as many Btec students going to universities."

The study found that almost two-thirds of first-year GNVQ students plan to continue to higher education. Those who complete the course and apply to university have a reasonable success rate, with just under two-thirds of 1996 applicants receiving offers for degree or HND courses.

But drop-out rates are high. Only 42 per cent of registrations and 58 per cent of the second-year student body complete. Professor Wolf said that only one-fifth who registered for Advanced GNVQs currently enter higher education. GNVQ students who also had A-levels were more likely to be offered a place at university. Professor Wolf also found:

* GNVQs are not appropriate for adult and part-time learners

* four subject areas dominate: art and design, business, health and social care, and leisure and tourism

* GNVQs tend to be mainly educational rather than vocational

* most GNVQ teams find core skills delivery highly problematic

* teachers have consistently doubted whether GNVQs could replace existing qualifications, such as the older Btec

* there are "large differences" in teaching and contact hours between providers

* group sizes are "much lower" in schools than in colleges.

Professor Wolf analysed data from 225 GNVQ centres between 1993 and 1997, and data from more than 5,000 GNVQ students.