Phil McPherson, Assistant Principal at City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, explains how T Levels are providing a skills pipeline that is benefitting employers and providing a student pathway directly to work, higher education or further training.
“T Levels were always an exciting prospect for us. We were an early adopter and looked to start delivering them following the national launch in September 2020.
Our senior team genuinely saw them as an opportunity – not to replace what we were already doing but to complement the offer to students in the local area.
So, even though there was some reticence and reluctance nationally about these new qualifications we were confident they would provide a great route for our learners.
The first T Level we introduced was a Digital Production, Design and Development Course, with 10 to 12 students on that course.
Year on year, we’ve introduced more courses and by this academic year we have around 120 students on six different T Levels – digital software, digital support services, health, science, education, finance.
We didn’t go too big too soon and we were careful about picking the courses based on where we had expertise, the right staff and the facilities and resources.
In September, we are launching three new courses – legal services, media broadcast production and business management and administration, so we are looking to increase student numbers to more than 200.
When we talk about T Level we refer to them as an academic apprenticeship, different to the traditional subjects and vocational courses we have provided as a sixth form college.
They were something new – not only a technical qualification being delivered in college but also because of the associated industry placements.
That element is a huge bonus and positive for developing the student over the course of two years.
It isn’t a token bit of work experience but involves the student effectively being employed by an organisation for nine weeks; being treated like an employee and immersed in the work environment, gaining knowledge and skills.
This not only helps them perform well on their course but sets them up for the next stages of their progression.
To make this happen, we’ve fostered great relations with local employers. For example, the UHNM Trust, Woolcool, Leek United, Ironmarket Wealth, Cyberkiln and the local universities.
We now have two industry placement co-ordinators, Ange Hopwood and Adam Little, and a key part of their role is employer engagement but also making sure students are placement ready.
That’s because we want students to have a good experience and employers too.
Effectively, we are saying to employers this is a great opportunity for you to have a very talented young person for nine weeks, benefitting your business and developing the pipeline of talent for future years.
We have seen that happening already – with several students offered employment at the end of their course.
A big positive for us is that four years into T Levels we have endorsements that the courses are working.
Firstly, in terms of the results students have achieved – exceeding the national averages in all core areas – secondly, through employers who are spreading the word and, thirdly, and probably most importantly, the progression students have made after their courses.
We are seeing students going on to enrol on good degree programmes, many being taken on by employers and others who have gone on to apprenticeships. All the post-18 progression routes are in place and we are seeing the benefits.
The final thing I’ll touch on are facilities and resources. We knew that we couldn’t deliver T Levels in standard college classrooms so we have invested heavily with capital funding support.
This includes £7 million in the last four years in two extensions. One is a digital extension with state-of-the-art kit, including its own server for cyber security training. And we also have a centre for medical and health care science, which opened 12 months ago.
On top of that we’ve invested £1 million in specialist equipment – everything from medical equipment to finance stock exchange simulators.
These environments are very much work-based learning and expose students to the kind of scenarios they’ll encounter on placements.
Of course, these facilities benefit all our current 1,700 students and we can see the benefits across the board with our results on a positive trajectory – leading to us being the fourth most improved college nationally last year.”
