T Levels October 2023 Update

We will be running a free online Exams Officer/administration training event for T levels on 12 October from 4:00–5:00pm.

This event is for anyone involved in the administration of the Technical Qualification, from undertaking provider approval and making registrations and entries through to assessment scheduling.

Register for Exams Officer Training for T Levels on our T Levels live training page.

You can now make learner registrations for cohorts commencing this academic year.

The standard registration window will close on 1 November, and late registration fees will apply from 2 November. See our support portal videos for guidance on making registrations and managing learner details:

T Levels: Making a RegistrationT Levels: Manage Learner Details

Entries for both the autumn 2023 Core component assessments and the summer 2024 Occupational Specialism assessments are still open, though we are now in the late entry window as of 6 October. See the relevant key dates schedules on our training and admin support page for full entry deadlines. You must make an entry for every student wishing to enter the assessment.

If you are submitting entries for resits, please ensure you are familiar with the resit rules.

See our dedicated support articles for further guidance on entries:

T Levels: Making An Entry

T Levels: Manage Entries

We also have a short support video on T Level assessment, results and resits.

We have Provider Validation Panels (PVPs) for all Pearson T Level contracts, made up of Providers, teachers and industry experts. PVP members play an important role in making sure the specification and assessments are manageable and fit for purpose. We will soon be undertaking an annual content review of our T Levels; if you would like to be part of a PVP and contribute to the review, please contact andrew.hambelton@pearson.com.

We also have Employer Validation Panels (EVPs) for each T Level. If any of the employers you work with in the delivery of T Levels would like to be a panel member, please pass on Andrew’s contact details. You can also direct them to the information on our employers page.

The key dates schedules for academic years 2023 – 2025 are available to download from our training and admin page.

From September 2023, learners’ first attempts at the Core assessment and the Employer Set Project will no longer need to be in the same assessment series, as is already the case for learners who re-sit assessments.

Learn more in our decoupling FAQs.

The T Level Transition Programme is now called the T Level Foundation Year. If you're delivering the T Level Foundation Year (TLFY), please visit our dedicated webpage where you'll find a range of information to support the delivery of the TLFY, including:

• Support for English and Maths
• Mapping into BTEC to support the delivery of technical skills

We have also published guides to support the delivery of:

• Work Preparation and Employability Skills via our Level 2 Award in WorkSkills
• Pastoral Support and Personal Development via our Level 2 Award in Personal Growth and Wellbeing

We are looking to reward learners who undertake either of these TLFY components via successful completion of these two qualifications with digital badges. Digital badges are shareable online credentials which can be used to indicate achieved skills and accomplishments, recognised by educators and employers. We'll start a digital badge pilot this academic year, so if you'd like to be involved, please register your interest using one of these forms:

BTEC Personal Growth and Wellbeing Level 2 TLFY expression of interest

BTEC WorkSkills Level 2 TLFY expression of interest

We have a range of materials aimed at supporting your recruitment of T Levels. Our dedicated webpage for students, which is also handy for parents, is ideal to use during your recruitment activities.

In addition, Pearson support Linking London and regularly speak about T Levels at their events. Watch the recording of their student and parent event from June to see what Pearson and two universities had to say about T Levels.

The T Level Transition Programme has had a name change and is now call the T Level Foundation Year. For those of you delivering the T Level Foundation Year please visit our dedicated webpage. Here you will find a range of information to support the delivery of several of the elements of the TLFY, including:

• Support for English and maths, plus our Functional Skills maths and T-Levels blog.
• Mapping into BTEC to support the delivery of technical skills.

Also, we have published guides specifically designed to support the delivery of:

• Work Preparation and Employability Skills via our Level 2 Award in WorkSkills.
• Pastoral Support and Personal Development via our Level 2 Award in Personal Growth and Wellbeing.

For students who undertake either of these TLFY components via successful completion of the above qualifications we are seeking to award their achievement with a digital badge.

We will commence a digital badge pilot this academic year, if you would like to get involved, please register your interest using the appropriate form.

• BTEC Personal Growth and Wellbeing Level 2 TLFY EOI if you are interested in the Personal Growth and Wellbeing Level 2 award,

or 

• BTEC WorkSkills Level 2 TLFY EOI if you are interested in the WorkSkills Level 2 Award.

We have a range of materials aimed at supporting your recruitment of T Levels. Our dedicated webpage for students, which is also handy for parents, is ideal to use during your recruitment activities.

In addition, Pearson support Linking London and regularly speak about T Levels at their events. Watch the recording of their student and parent event from June to see what Pearson and two universities had to say about T Levels.

Our Q&A network event has taken place for this term and further events will be scheduled for next term. We are running Getting Ready to Teach and Assess events for new centres on 7 and 15 November; book your place on our live training page.

You can join the Construction and T level: Construction groups on our support portal to share posts, ask questions and get the latest updates. We have also recently launched a T Level Construction Facebook group for teachers delivering this T Level and invite you to join to share practice, ask questions and network.
IfATE have consulted on a new occupational specialism, potentially to replace the Hazardous Materials pathway. Read the draft proposal on their website.

Use of the T Level to Progress to Architecture

Although the T Level can be used to progress to Architecture, students intending to use the T Level to progress will typically also require the submission of a portfolio of designs showing their skill and creativity alongside qualification achievement. Some institutions expect learners to demonstrate not just technical design skills but also artistic technique, which may not be possible to demonstrate during study of the T Level. Students should therefore be encouraged and supported to build such portfolios outside of the study of the T Level curriculum, having researched the requirements of their potential institution/s.

Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Into Work Grant scheme

CITB is offering grants to employers who take on T Level students as industry placements for Construction. There are criteria the employer must meet, which are outlined on the CITB Into Work Grant webpage. Please share this with employers that you’re in contact with and encourage them to apply.

Pearson has stepped in to deliver these two contracts previously awarded to NCFE. Both T Levels will be available for first teach September 2024. Immediate activity to support you includes:

• A draft Qualification Description for each T Level has been published to give you more information about the qualification and support your recruitment in the autumn term. You can find these in the ‘useful documents’ sections of the respective TQ webpages.
• We delivered a webinar on 29 September walking Providers through the specification and assessments; a recording will be made available on our website.
• Draft copies of the expanded content for Craft and Design, and Media, Broadcast and Production are available. If you would like access, please join our Provider Validation Panel (see below).
• Join our Provider Validation Panel. This gives you an opportunity to engage in the development process, comment on specifications and sample assessments, and see early drafts.
  

Our Q&A network events restart this term; book your place on our live training page. If you have questions or would like us to cover anything specific, then please ask in the Facebook Group or contact the Subject Advisor. The next network event is on 2 November at 4:00-5:30pm and you can sign up on our live training page. We are looking at creating a panel of teachers to advise and update on the Digital T Level for future events. If you are interested in joining our panel and sharing your experiences, then please email david.pautsch@pearson.com to let us know.

We are launching our curriculum planner for Digital this month, which will be available on the website. We hope you find this useful when you plan your T Level.
Gatsby have been working on teaching resources for the Digital T Level to support teaching and learning. These have been created by industry experts like Raspberry Pi and our own examiners to support you in class. They will be rolled out starting this term, so keep an eye on these updates and on Gatsby’s website.

We have worked with Cisco for the core teaching, and their Netacad teaching resources for Python and other programming languages, used in the Occupational Specialism, are available on the Cisco Networking Academy website. It’s completely free to sign up and become a Cisco Netacad centre.

Legal Services

Our Q&A network events restart this term, and the next event for Legal Services is on 9 November, 4:00–5.30pm; book your place on our live training page. There is also a Getting Ready to Teach training events available for you to book on to on 11 October, 5:00–6.30pm.

We are releasing teaching and learning materials over the coming months, with the first release, Fundamentals of Law, available now on the course materials page, along with a scheme of work for the Core component.

Finance and Accounting

Our Q&A network events restart this term. The first session will join Accounting and Finance and concentrate on the Core. Following this there will be separate Q&A network events focusing on the Occupational Specialisms; book your place on our live training page.

Curriculum planners for the Core component and Occupational Specialism component are now available to download from the course materials page.
The free training provided by the CII for the T Level in Finance (Occupational Specialisms Insurance Practitioner and Investment Banking and Asset and Wealth Management Analyst) have been postponed with new dates to be announced following Provider consultation this term.

Finally, don’t forget about our professional body support for the Accounting occupational specialism.

Pearson has been awarded the T Level in Marketing; this will be available for first teach September 2025.

We have already started the development of the content, and this will continue throughout the autumn. As with all our T Levels, your thoughts, comments, and guidance are a fundamental part of our development process. Therefore, we are seeking members for our Provider Validation Panel. This will give you the opportunity to feed into the content and assessment, making sure it is appropriate and accessible for your students and manageable for you to deliver as a Provider.

Please complete this short form if you would like to join our Provider Validation Panel and be part of the development process.

On our training and admin support page, you’ll find everything you need in terms of training and events to support your T Level delivery, and videos and documents to assist in administrating the qualifications.

Our on-demand training includes:

• Getting to know the specification briefings, giving you a generic introduction and overview of the Core Component, and an overview of the Occupational Specialist Component.
• Employer Set Project training that covers how the skills draw upon the knowledge of the Core, how to organise, prepare students and teach the ESP.
• Keeping it simple materials going back to basics to introduce the T Level, Core component and Occupational Specialism.
• Termly policy update: each update will be posted at the beginning of term and cover recent DfE policy changes that will impact your delivery.

A direct link to our T Level live training page, where you can search for events and book including:

• Live Q&A Networks with the Product Manager and Subject Advisor giving you the opportunity to ask questions, discuss your experience delivering the T Level and share good practice with other Providers.
• Live Getting Ready to Teach training where you’ll cover planning your programme, reviewing elements of the content and practical ways it can be delivered, and signposting to the ongoing support available.
• Live Getting Ready to Assess training where you’ll learn how the assessment will work. Our aim is for you to have a good understanding of the approach we have taken in the assessments. We will look at the ‘command verb’ and discuss what is meant and the type of response required, and how the response changes depending upon the mark attributed to the question. We will also refer to the mark scheme for you to understand where marks will and will not be attributed.

Our training archive contains recordings of previous live training sessions if you are unable to attend any or want to listen again.

Our administration section includes:

• Videos to support making registrations and entries, understanding resit rules, the key dates schedule and the Provider approval process
• Support documents including all the Provider approval forms, quality assurance and monitoring, fees and key dates.
  

Don't forget, if you need to contact us about T Levels you can do so by the Pearson Support Portal. The portal is an online tool you can use to raise your query and track its progress. We will inform you once a member of the team has a reply for you.

Go to the Pearson Support Portal.