[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16789215

Ministers have cut the value of more than 3,100 vocational qualifications, ending their recognition in England's school league tables.

Courses such as a diploma in horse care can be worth the same as four GCSEs.

But from 2014 only 70 "equivalents" will count in the tables' headline GCSE measure and on a like-for-like basis with GCSEs.

The government says this has created "perverse incentives" for schools to offer them and boost their position.

The move is a clear disincentive for schools to continue offer such qualifications, and the government had instructed them to wait for its final list before changing their timetables for September 2012.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said the changes would extend opportunity because only qualifications which had demonstrated rigour, and had track records of taking young people into good jobs or university would count in the future.

The shake-up comes after a review of vocational qualifications for the government by Prof Alison Wolf suggested schools had been tempted to teach qualifications that attract the most points in school performance tables.

This had meant students had been steered into notching up qualifications which may not help them into work or higher education, she suggested.

Mr Gove said: "The weaknesses in our current system were laid bare by Prof Wolf's incisive and far-reaching review. The changes we are making will take time, but will transform the lives of young people.

"For too long the system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young people have taken courses that have led nowhere."

About time .....

Next stop .... degrees in PE, Hair Care and Pet Therapy .....