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Improving quality is key to the government's vision of a dual-track academic-vocational post-compulsory education system, Baroness Blackstone said this week, writes Alan Thomson.

Further and higher education minister Baroness Blackstone, who spoke at a conference on qualifications reform in London, said that reform is necessary so that students and employers can be assured that the vocational route is a "robust alternative" to the traditional academic route based on A levels.

From September, students taking advanced GNVQs will face tougher tests, tighter rules on re-sits and more external assessment. The advanced GNVQ will be renamed the vocational A level.

Soapbox, page 18