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The UK government has been accused of being “short-sighted” with its decision to scrap travel and tourism qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds living in England.
The Department for Education has announced that Level 3 travel and tourism courses will no longer be funded after 2025, as the government looks to streamline the range of academic and technical qualifications available for the post-GCSE age group.
But the Business Travel Association called the decision “another blow” to the travel sector, which is continuing to suffer staff shortages in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Clive Wratten, CEO of the association, added: “The government’s decision to scrap travel and tourism courses for students in England is extremely short-sighted.
“The Department for Education should not be discouraging students away from any career choice, especially those that have a huge impact on the economic prosperity of our country, such as travel. As a sector, we must lobby and do all we can to ensure this does not go forward.”
Travel association Abta has also voiced its opposition to the government’s decision and added that there was “still high demand” for these courses and it was an important pathway into the industry.
Following the government’s decision, vocational skills and apprenticeship specialist City & Guilds announced that it had “unfortunately made the decision” to withdraw qualifications covering the aviation, travel and tourism sectors from later this year.
“City & Guilds has decided to focus on delivering industry specific qualifications to a smaller number of sectors in the future,” said the organisation in a statement.
“This is to enable us to provide a broader range of services to our learners and customers in the industries where we believe we can have the most significant impact.
“In the short term, we wanted to reassure all learners and customers that we will continue to support people who are already enrolled on our aviation, travel and tourism courses. Affected qualifications will close to new entrants between December 2023 and August 2024.”
The Department for Education said it was “streamlining and improving the quality” of the post-16 Level 3 qualifications system with the move.
“We are strengthening progression pathways, creating clearly defined academic and technical routes with high quality qualifications leading to further study, and/or skilled employment,” said the department in a statement. “This will help students to make good choices and see more easily how their study will help them to progress.”
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