T Levels February 2025 update
Welcome to February's T Level Update. This month, we're covering provider approval, updated assessment schedules and updates from all our subject sectors.
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The approval window will open in February for providers commencing delivery in September 2025. You must gain approval for each Technical Qualification you wish to deliver.
Please watch our provider approval video before starting your application process (04:09 mins)
You can find support documents and approval forms on our training and admin support page, including:
- a guide to provider approval
- Pearson T Level technical qualification delivery approval application form
- Pearson vocational provider approval application for T Level Technical Qualifications
- guidance for the Pearson vocational provider approval application for T Level Technical Qualifications.
If you have any questions about provider approval, please contact us via the Pearson support portal.
On 2 December 2024, the Department for Education announced changes to industry placements.
Read the DfE’s press release
Download the DfE’s updated guidance on industry placements
We have been working with several providers to initiate some improvements to how assessments are scheduled.
From autumn 2025, all Core exams will have one week’s gap between paper 1 and paper 2.
From summer 2026, the Surveying and Design Occupational Specialism in the T Level in Design, Surveying, and Planning for Construction will be changed so the window for task 2, Practical Surveying, is extended, allowing more time to complete the activity.
These changes will be reflected in our key dates schedules from the 2025/26 academic year onwards.
We are hosting a webinar to introduce changes in the new 2025 specification on 25 February.
25 February, 4:00 p.m. | Book your place
A new qualification description is now available on our T Level webpage for 2025. This reflects the removal of the Hazardous Materials Occupational Specialism for learners starting from 2025.
Download the new qualification description
The new Occupational Specialism relating to Construction Project Management will be available for new students from 2026.
The transition guide for centres moving from BTEC Nationals in Construction to the T Level, including mapping of BTEC National units to the core content areas, is now available to download from the course materials page.
Download the transition mapping guide
Pearson has been working with the Gatsby Foundation to provide high quality teaching resources for several topics in the Core: Law, Maths and Modern Methods of Construction. These will be published shortly on Gatsby’s Technical Education Networks site.
Explore Construction resources on the Technical Education Networks site
We have made several minor updates to the specifications for both Craft and Design and Media, Broadcast and Production. The updates have not impacted the content or structure of assessments and are mainly limited to summary information tables where greater clarity was required.
For the full details, please review the summary of changes table at the front of each specification.
Overview of common updates:
- Updated lists of job roles that the T Level could lead to
- Component weightings added to qualification summary
Media, Broadcast, and Production specific specification updates:
- Events and Venues Technician resource list updated
- Spelling error within CPK3.6 corrected
Craft and Design specification updates have targeted the schemes of assessment for the Occupational Specialisms (OS):
- Assessment tasks have been renumbered
- Assessment timings references made consistent
- Performance outcome (PO) tables updated to include absent PO
- Resource lists updated for each OS
On our training and admin support page, you’ll find Getting to know the specification videos for an introduction to key information in the specifications and overview of the course structure.
Watch our Getting to know the specification videos
You can also sign up for live Getting ready to teach training events running in June on our events page, or you can watch the recordings of past sessions:
Sign up for upcoming events
Getting Ready to Teach the T Level in Media Broadcast and Production (1h 7mins)
Getting Ready to Teach T Level in Craft and Design (1h 18 mins)
As part of our refresh of the Digital qualifications, we will be giving the 2025 versions new titles.
| Generation 1 T Level title | Generation 2 T Level title |
|---|---|
| Digital Production, Design and Development | Digital Software Development (with the Occupational Specialism retitled to match the standard as Digital Software Development) |
| Digital Support Services | Digital Support and Security |
| Digital Business Services | Digital Data Analytics (with the Occupational Specialism retitled to match the standard as Data Analytics Technician) |
We hope the new titles give a better indication as to the knowledge and skills developed in the T Level and translate more effectively when speaking to potential students, employers, and HEIs.
We are releasing monthly podcast updates throughout our refresh of the Digital qualifications. We released our second episode in December, focusing on the Occupational Specialisms.
Listen to the Digital T Levels Development podcast on Spotify
We are also sharing a look at the three refreshed T Levels with Computing at School on 25 February at 4 p.m. You can sign up for the event on their website.
Pearson Digital T Levels from September 2025 onwards | Register to join
If you are delivering the T Level in Digital Production, Design and Development, we need to know which coding languages you will be using for the Occupational Specialism assessment.
Let us know which programming language you’re using with your learners
We have worked with Cisco and their Networking Academy on teaching resources for Python and other programming languages used in the Occupational Specialism. It's completely free to sign up and become a Cisco Networking Academy centre.
Access the resources and find out more at the Cisco Networking Academy
Gatsby are continuing the rollout the Digital T Level; they have been created by industry experts like Raspberry Pi and our own examiners to support your delivery. For information, keep an eye on Gatsby's website.
These T Levels will be delivered by Pearson from September 20254. This will not affect your 2024 intake; those students will complete their T level with NCFE.
So far, we have updated the specification, Core exams, ESP, and Occupational Specialisms. The final submission to IfATE is this month. Please send an email to Andrew.Hambelton@pearson.com if you wish to join our panel.
We have resources to support your delivery, including schemes of work for the Core and Occupational Specialism components, exemplar materials for the Employer Set Project, and a Content Overview for Core Paper 2.
We've recently added a podcast series from our examiners that will guide you through the core papers, our schemes of work and other aspects of our qualification.
Curriculum planners for the Core and Occupational Specialism components are now available with a range of other new support materials.
Explore the resources on the course materials page
Our partner, The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), has a dedicated T Levels page to support you.
Our partner, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), has a range of support for the Accounting T Level.
The Technical Qualification specification is now available on our website.
Download the Marketing specification
The delivery guide and schemes of work are now available to download from the course materials page.
Access Marketing course materials
Registrations are now open for our Getting Ready to Teach events later this year on our events and training page.
Getting Ready to Teach T Level in Marketing (CORE)
2 April, 16:00–17:30 | Book your place
16 June, 16:00–17:30 | Book your place
Our training and admin support page gathers everything you need to support your T Level delivery:
- On-demand training such as Getting to Know the Specification, Employer Set Project training, Keeping it Simple materials, and our termly policy update.
- T Level live training where you can search for events and book Q&A networks, Getting Ready to Teach events, Getting Ready to Assess events.
- Our training archive collects recordings of past events if you are unable to attend any of our live training sessions or want to listen again.
- Administration documents and support, including key dates schedules, Provider approval guidance, administration support guides for assessment, videos to support making registrations and entries, understanding resit rules, and much more.
- Teaching support materials are padlocked, meaning they require an Edexcel Online account to access them. If you don't have Edexcel Online access, please speak to your centre exams officer.
If you need specific support with your T Level, our subject advisors are here to help. You can book a 15-minute one-to-one call where you can discuss any issue you are having with regards to planning or delivery of your T Level.
