Skills minister Matthew Hancock has unveiled a new Technical Baccalaureate to “give vocational education the high status it deserved” – on a par with A-Level study – for students aged 16-19.

“We expect all bright students who want to go into technically skilled jobs or apprenticeships to aim for the TechBacc,” he says.

The three new measures are a Level 3 vocational qualification, a Level 3 “core maths” qualification and what the Department for Education (DfE) terms “the extended project”, which will “develop and test students’ skills in extended writing, communication, research, and self-discipline and self-motivation”. Level 3 qualifications are equivalent to A-Levels.

Hancock adds: “We are being clear to our young people about the skills they need to succeed and get good jobs. We want an education system in which everyone can reach their potential.

He also pointed to the success of countries such as Germany, Japan and South Korea, where vocational training is already highly regarded and provides good talent to business.

The announcement represents one of the final 27 plans to be implemented following Professor Alison Wolf’s March 2011 ‘Review of Vocational Education'.

Neil Carberry, director for employment and skills at the Confederation of British Industry, welcomes the move to put vocational subjects on par with academic qualifications: “Business prefers this approach, rather than creating another new qualification which would struggle for recognition – like the Diploma did.”

Christine Blower, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, says the union believes “vocational qualifications should be part of a wider 14-19 integrated system of education where the emphasis is on the opportunity to study general education, [alongside] specialist areas and vocational learning”.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg has claimed that the plans represent the government “trying to catch up” with a Labour proposal launched seven months ago.

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