We’ve responded to the House of Commons’ Education Committee’s Further Education and Skills inquiry.
Our Response
Establishing formalised partnerships between FE and HE providers, employers, and policymakers to provide insights and co-design progression pathways, ensuring mutual understanding of course content and entry criteria. Universities would be a powerful national promotional tool for T Level qualifications. By simply marketing their recognition of these qualifications on their webpages, would instil confidence in parents/guardians, students, providers and employers and support the national drive to make T Levels the gold standard of technical education.
Continued efforts to promote T Levels, highlighting successful student and employer outcomes to shift public perceptions and reinforce the value of technical education. By addressing these areas, the provision of T Levels and the supply of industry placements will proliferate and provide a viable, high-quality alternative to academic pathways while meeting the evolving skills needs of the UK economy.
Clearer Progression Pathways: Collaboration between government, Skills England, The UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy, universities, and industry bodies to promote the importance of T Level recognition and encourage a review of entry requirements for higher education programmes and employment opportunities.
Increased Employer Engagement: Incentives for businesses to participate in industry placements, ensuring students gain meaningful, high-quality work experiences.
Continue with the planned rollout of T Levels and ensure evaluation is informed by student feedback and industry needs, to refine assessment practices and better prepare students for future study or work.
Providing funding for T Level providers to employ a dedicated industry placement coordinator will help ensure they can meet the demands of industry placements for T Level students. This would remove the burden on students to find their own placements and ensure that building strong, collaborative relationships between education and industry is not treated as an additional task without sufficient time and resources. Additionally, having a dedicated individual sourcing placements will help providers expand their T Level offering, creating more technical education opportunities for students.
Establishing Regional Technical Education Groups would create a structured platform for these discussions, allowing FE and HE institutions to share insights, address concerns, and collaboratively develop progression routes. By fostering better communication and alignment, these groups would play a vital role in removing barriers, supporting young people, and ensuring technical education provides a clear and credible route into higher education, employment and beyond. The government must actively support and encourage such initiatives to ensure that technical education is fully integrated into the broader education system, providing equal opportunities for all learners. Expanding initiatives such as the North East Technical Education Group nationwide would help ensure that post-16 curricula remain relevant, forward-thinking, and aligned with future workforce demands—rather than simply maintaining traditional approaches.
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Author: Farheen Akhtar, Policy and Engagement Manager and Jo Hartley-Metcalfe, Universities T Level Support Manager