“Schools will be banned from promoting A-levels to teenagers under the Government’s radical plans to reform careers advice.” Press Association.
We say...
The Education and Skills Bill does no such thing. The clause referred to does not even mention A-levels. It merely says secondary schools must provide careers advice with “a full range of options available in respect of 16-18 education or training”.
The basis of the story - run by The Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail - is a sentence saying that schools must not “unduly promote any particular options over any others”. The key word is “unduly”. There is no ban, and no qualifications are named.
The Bill also says careers advice must “promote the best interests of the pupils concerned”. So if a school believed A-levels would suit a pupil, this would not stop them from saying so as long as they also set out other options.
