Just over a month ago the Department for Education published their latest ideas that lie behind the proposals for ‘T Level’ qualifications. They made it clear that a great deal is still up for debate as they begin to analyse responses to their consultation on the proposals. However they did lay out some parameters which on their own begin to question if they are ever going to be able to make these qualifications a meaningful reality. The one element which for me seems to make least sense is the boundaries that are so far placed around the work placement element. However just to explain the background:

“T levels will become 1 of 3 major options when a student reaches level 3 (Post GCSE), alongside:

• apprenticeships for students who wish to learn a specific occupation ‘on the job’
• A levels for students who wish to continue academic education

When they complete a T level study programme, students will be able to choose between moving into:

• a skilled occupation
• higher or degree level apprenticeships
• higher level technical study, including higher education”

It is clear that the T level is intended to be a hybrid between the two other options as they will include a work placement as part of the studies. The background to my understanding goes back to the days when I was in education and one of the options was to study A Levels or their equivalents and then go on to study a degree if appropriate and another was to apply for an apprenticeship which in those days could run for up to seven years. However the options within the degrees included thin or thick sandwich courses. In either case the introduction of a sandwich element added at least a year to the degree. A thick sandwich course would add a year long work placement usually at the end of the second year to the degree. The thin sandwich courses seemed to add a term long placement each year, so in both cases the degrees would then last 4 years. 

In the case of the T Levels the DfE document states that “Total time is expected to be around 1,800 hours over 2 years….T level study programmes must contain a meaningful work placement with an employer. These will last a minimum of 45 working days, but can last up to 60 working days”

Perhaps the DfE needs to consider these ideas in a wider perspective if they are to succeed. It seems highly questionable if a 45 or even 60 day placement will enable any employer to offer anything meaningful to the student. It is understandable that if the whole package is to fit into a 2 year academic period that squeezing any extra time out will be difficult, however as the old saying goes, fitting a quart into a pint pot is not possible.

The company I work for struggles to offer students a week long work placement, but would find a 45 or even 60 day placement even more challenging, particularly if spread over a 2 year period. It takes 3-4 months to really get an idea of what a new member of staff is capable of and then to start to find tasks for them to take on, which then takes them time to understand. It will take at least this long for a young student to begin to understand why going back to school and learning more lessons will make sense, and then they will need to come back and try to put what they have learned into practice. Now we might never be a suitable employer for a T Level student, however our experience is not unique. In our experience in the meantime the rest of the team are taking much longer to carry out their work and so the cost to the company is significant so any involvement of a company like ours would demand some level of compensation for the time lost.

The DfE document states “Different ways of carrying out work placements are being piloted to see which work best for specific industries and providers. For example, the placement could be a continuous block of working days or distributed across the study programme. DfE will confirm how work placements should be delivered when the pilots have been completed.”

It is clear that if a student is faced with the simple option of a 2 year A level course, or an apprenticeship, that a 3 year T level may seem less appealing. However the whole purpose of creating T Levels was supposed to be about bring alternative solutions for students. Let us hope that some of the pilots demonstrate a match to small and micro businesses or else in parts of the country such as the South East corner, there will be very few suitable companies for the students to engage with.