The first question that should be asked about plans to launch a batch of vocational GCSEs is: how will these differ from the roughly 50 similar courses that already exist? Is this primarily a rebadging exercise, aimed at boosting the qualifications’ status and name recognition, while signalling how seriously non-academic education is taken by Andy Burnham and his education secretary, Lucy Powell? Or is there something the matter with the existing courses that they want to put right?

The independent curriculum review completed last year recommended a moratorium on new technical  awards, except where there is an “exceptionally compelling” case for change. It also proposed that the Department for Education analyse existing ones, including how well they prepare pupils for 16-19 education; no such research has appeared.

Last year, around 170,000 16-year-olds in........

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