Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon is fronting a campaign to boost take-up of T Levels.
A charity funded by T Levels ‘architect’ David Sainsbury recruited Dixon and Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Sara Davies to promote the qualifications which have failed to achieve enrolment targets.
T Levels – billed as the technical equivalent to A Levels – were launched by the Tory government four years ago on the advice of a review led by supermarket heir and philanthropist Sainsbury in 2016.
Yet the low numbers of young people starting the courses and high drop-out rates have prompted a government review of their content.
In a bid to boost parental confidence in the qualification, Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation launched the celebrity-fronted ‘T-Team’ campaign, featuring videos and a ‘T Levels info for parents’ website.
‘Game changing’
Media, broadcast and production T Level ‘champion’ Dixon, who was a member of girl-group Mis-Teeq in the early noughties, called the qualifications “game changing” and praised their 45-day work experience requirement for helping young people into “tough to crack” industries.
In a video published last week she visits a class of T Level students to witness their learning first-hand.
Meanwhile, businesswoman Davies backs the craft and design T Level and hails the new qualification for giving students “in-depth industry knowledge and practical skills”.
Other celebrities who have been members of the ‘T-Team’ include The Apprentice winner Tim Campbell, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse and TV presenter Dr Zoe Williams.
None wished to comment when FE Week asked when or how their enthusiasm for T Levels began.
Parents are key influencers
A spokesperson for Gatsby told FE Week it had focused its £2.3 million three-year campaign on parents because they are a “key influencer of career and decision-making for young people”.
“At the time of their launch, parental awareness and understanding of T Levels was low,” they said.
“We identified that this would have an impact on parents’ abilities to support their own child’s consideration of T Levels and so Gatsby has undertaken a range of advertising and PR activities to support the first few waves of T Levels.”
While refusing to reveal how much Dixon and Davies would be paid, the spokesperson said the T-Team were compensated “fairly” for their time, adding some had delivered additional work for free.
They added: “We only work with individuals who truly align with what T Levels have to offer, can speak with authority about the subject matter and are enthusiastic in their backing of the qualification.”
Billionaire heir
Lord Sainsbury has publicly lobbied for Labour to continue the former Tory government’s controversial vocational education reforms that involve culling T Level alternatives such as BTECs.
His lobbying included a high-profile intervention supported by former prime minister Gordon Brown shortly after the general election.
According to Gatsby’s website, Sainsbury founded the charity in 1967 and has since donated “more than £1.7 billion” to charitable causes.
During his career the billionaire heir chaired supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, served as minister of science and innovation, and has written books about opportunity and progressive capitalism.
Gatsby funds a range of work in education, the arts and public policy through grants from its endowment fund, which was worth £535 million as of April last year.
One of the charity’s stated aims is “to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and training” in the UK, by informing national policy and developing innovative programmes.
According to its annual accounts for 2023-24 the charity is “supporting several projects” to help colleges source high-quality placements required by T Levels.
In total the charity spent £2.2 million through a subsidiary company Gatsby Technical Education Projects and £3.3 million on “raising awareness of the reformed technical education system”.
It has also funded research into the further education workforce, curriculum materials and studies of reasons for low apprenticeship completion rates.
The Department of Education said: “The Gatsby Foundation is an independent organisation that has not received government funding to support T Levels.
“We collaborate closely with the foundation, as well as other stakeholders, to draw from their expertise on delivering high-quality technical education.”
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