The bodies which provide them say they are keen to work with the government to implement the findings of the review.
A spokeswoman for Pearson, which provides the Btec qualification, said: “We were clear in our submission to Professor Wolf that we believe that any qualifications a young person takes must help them to progress in their lives.
“Research indicates that the value of our qualifications, like the Btec, is very strong in this respect.
“We welcome the moves to improve collaboration between schools, FE and employers to enable more learners to experience this.”
OCR said it wholeheartedly supported the findings of the Wolf review. A spokeswoman said: “The recommendations safeguard the interests of young people with measures that can support real progression, raise the quality of vocational provision and, crucially, secure core achievements in English and maths”.
Martin Doel, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the difficulties facing young people in today’s labour market were not a reflection of the quality of vocational education per se, but were related to the state of the economy and “the challenges colleges and others face in picking up the pieces where pupils leave school with few or no qualifications”.
He said: “We welcome Professor Wolf’s recommendation that colleges can play a leading role in vocational education for students from the age of 14 and the recognition that lecturers in colleges have much expertise to offer young people.”
The National Union of Teachers says it is pleased the report recognises that it is essential pupils are not “herded into one type of education or another at far too young an age”.
