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8 April 2026

Tag: T-levels

ESFA misses own deadline to update providers on T-levels

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has missed its own deadline to let providers know if they will be among the first to deliver T-levels. Providers who wanted to deliver the prestigious planned new qualifications in 2020/21 were invited to submit an expression of interest to the agency in January. According to that invitation, all […]

What are the biggest problems with T-levels?

With the 2020 start date for the first T-levels fast approaching, Ewart Keep lays out just a few of what he sees as their biggest problems It is apparent that T-levels are now yet another in a long line of government projects that have been deemed too important to fail, despite the long and failure-strewn […]

Lessons from the T-levels work experience pilot

The 45-day placement requirement in the new T-levels is a laudable goal, but colleges need differentiated support, writes Andy Stittle Work placements are a valuable undertaking: they set theory in context and develop sector-specific employability skills. Like most colleges, Truro and Penwith welcomed the T-levels work placements pilot, which gave us the opportunity to identify […]

Tips for colleges to work with small businesses

Employer buy-in is only going to get more important as T-levels arrive, and Mike Cherry has some advice for colleges that want to engage more small businesses to help out on skills Investing in our young people and supporting them to move into work is a topic that I care very much about, both in […]

Only Ofqual should be allowed to regulate apprenticeship standards

Trailblazers can choose the body that regulates their apprenticeship standard. Only one of these is actually qualified to do so, argues Rob May Every major skills policy at some point promises to “put employers in the driving seat”. For a department labouring under policy amnesia this has been the rhetoric of reform for at least […]

Why is there no T-Level pathway for sport?

Elite sports is one of the hardest industries to break into, yet there are no plans for any technical routes, laments Jo Maher The independent panel on technical education’s report in 2016 identified “15 clear routes to skilled employment” where there is a “substantial requirement for technical knowledge and practical skills”. Sport was not one […]

What the government needs to do to promote T-levels

All the polling suggests that not enough people know about the new T-levels, and those who do value them less than A-levels. This must change, writes Julie Hyde CACHE recently commissioned a poll of parents and of young people aged 11 to 16, to get a sense of how ready the country is for T-levels […]

T-level occupational maps must be flexible

Unless there’s the space for young people to transfer the skills they learn onto another route, we risk locking them into careers they no longer want to follow, writes Julie Hyde With just under a week to go until the Institute for Apprenticeships closes its consultation on the occupational maps for the new T-levels, there […]

Could Hinds’ experience make T-levels work?

Damian Hinds has been appointed as the new education secretary and, with a background including responsibility for youth employment at the Department for Work and Pensions, he could be exactly what T-levels need. The government has said that all T-level students will have to take part in “high-quality” work placements, which should last between 45 […]