Introducing break points in degree programmes will help drive the UK¡¯s lifelong learning mission, but success will require a rethink of existing graduate outcome measures and increased recognition of lower-level stand-alone qualifications, advocates have said.

In the recently published Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the government announced plans to consult on the inclusion of break points in degree programmes ¡°to create a more flexible learning offer¡± that allows students to pause or end their studies partway through.

¡°This will enable more further education and higher education providers, working together or individually, to deliver high-quality higher education level 4 and 5 courses that meet employer needs and lead to positive economic returns,¡± the paper says.

It continues: ¡°The introduction of break points will ensure that learners are acquiring vital, usable skills in every year of higher education.

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¡°It will give them the option to break down their learning, achieving a qualification at level 4 after the first year and level 5 after their second year of studies, while also ensuring institutions are incentivised to support those who wish to continue their studies.¡±

Advocates of lifelong learning have welcomed the proposal. ¡°Learners and employers are looking for increasingly flexible opportunities to access higher education and we know creating educational ladders ¨C or perhaps in the future scramble nets with both horizontal and vertical progression pathways ¨C will be key,¡± said Dave Phoenix, vice-chancellor of the Open University.

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Andy Forbes, executive director at the Lifelong Education Institute, added that greater flexibility is ¡°an essential prerequisite for widening access to working adults and to those from low-income backgrounds for whom the cost of going to university is increasingly prohibitive¡±.

He said that the introduction of break points will make more subject areas ¡°suitable for the kind of flexible, modular study envisaged¡± as part of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement ¨C a revamp of the student finance system that will allow learners to access funding throughout their lifetimes.

However, the proposal would require an upheaval of existing degree courses and may not work for all programmes, with medicine a key example.

¡°Courses and assessment will require major configuring as the majority are not designed to be completed in less than three to four years,¡± said Graeme Atherton, vice-principal of adult learning provider Ruskin College.

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The government has also set out plans in the White Paper to provide more information about graduate outcomes to help students choose what to study. However, there are warnings that current measures, which focus on post-graduation employment rates and salaries, are not geared towards more flexible study options.

¡°The present method of measuring graduate outcomes makes little sense for lifelong learners who may already be employed and may well choose to study in stages over a much longer period,¡± said Forbes.

Introducing break points will ¡°require a radical rethink of the OfS regulatory regime, which currently assumes that dropping out before completing a full degree is the sign of a poor student experience¡±, he continued.

Adequate recognition of level 4 and 5 qualifications ¨C equivalent to the first and second years of a bachelor¡¯s degree ¨C will also be critical to the success of break points, others said.

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¡°We must recognise stand-alone level 4 and 5 qualifications in their own right and with their own characteristics?¨C not simply as exit points on larger qualifications,¡± said Phoenix.

The government says in the paper it will make it easier for providers and awarding organisations to offer ¡°standalone high-quality, occupationally focused higher technical (level 4 and 5) courses¡±, but it is unclear whether these measures will extend to more traditional degrees.

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¡°The focus on break points has the danger of containing these qualifications to ones of failure to achieve a level 6 award rather than celebration of achieving a key ambition,¡± said Phoenix.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com