IfATE welcomes the PM’s announcement of the new Advanced British Standard (ABS) qualification. Since our establishment 6 years ago, IfATE has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of technical education, applying employer set standards to T Levels and helping grow the programme. It is great to hear that employers’ occupational standards will underpin the technical options within the ABS and that the technical route to achieving ABS will build on the T Level design.

Preserving a high quality technical route for young people who are focused on work, apprenticeships or higher levels of vocational study will be key to realising the PMs vision for parity of esteem.

As this is long term reform programme, we must ensure that students have access to high quality T Levels in the intervening years. We will continue to work closely with employers, education providers, awarding bodies and DfE to grow and extend the T Level offer – including launching our procurement for the next generation of T Levels very shortly.