Manuel Thompson-Oloko examines the new T Levels and finds out how they can help attract talent to the profession
Technical Levels, known as T Levels, are new courses that follow GCSEs and are equivalent to three A Levels. These two-year courses – which launched September 2020 – have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses, so that the content meets the needs of the insurance and financial services professions and prepares students for work, further training or study.
T Levels offer students a mixture of classroom learning and on-the-job experience during an industry placement of at least 315 hours, which equates to approximately 45 days.
The Finance T Levels are set for launch in September 2022. These will consist of core theory concept and skills in a specific area of financial services, as well as a placement within the profession across nine weeks that includes occupational specialism learning, covering knowledge of investments, wealth management, financial compliance, insurance practice and risk analysis.
New choice
T Levels will become one of the main choices for students after GCSEs alongside:
- Apprenticeships for students who wish to learn a specific occupation on the job.
- A Levels for students who wish to continue academic education.
T Levels are based on the same standards as apprenticeships, designed by employers and approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The total timeframe for a T Level will be about 1,800 hours across the two years, which includes the work placement.
This is a significant increase on most current technical education courses.
This differs from an apprenticeship, which is typically 80% on the job and 20% in the classroom, and is more suited to those who know what occupation they want to pursue, and want to earn a wage and learn at the same time.
The new courses will have a positive impact on learning and the process of attracting talent into the profession.
T Levels offer employers the opportunity to help shape the behaviours, enablers and technical expertise of budding students who have made the choice to study an insurance-specific qualification, ultimately creating a pipeline of future talent for our profession.
Why should we get involved?
T Levels will be delivered through various colleges nationally via Pearson – the largest awarding organisation in the UK – and created from the apprenticeship outline content, though they initially will not include Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) qualifications.
However, the launch of these new courses gives the financial services profession a potentially game-changing opportunity to bring new talent into our sector. The T-Levels aim to:
- Reach young talents before they have formed definitive career paths at university.
- Embed a value and expectation of professional learning from the earliest opportunity.
- Improve socioeconomic diversity of our talent attraction by reducing the focus on those who have been able to gain higher education qualifications.
- Provide the right students for placements within businesses, brokered by the CII.
The CII has positioned the sector ahead of the pack by becoming part of the employer validation panel to validate content, offering CII validation of insurance route assessment, as well as endorsement of T Levels in Finance to colleges and universities through Pearson.
Suzanne Hall, head of product at Pearson, says: “Pearson is really pleased that the CII has decided to join us in supporting T Level in Finance students. For students wishing to undertake the Insurance and Wealth Management Occupational Specialism, knowing that the CII supports the qualifications content will give them confidence that the knowledge, skills and behaviours they are learning are appropriate for the industry sector and valued by employers.”
For more information, visit: www.qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/t-levels.html
Manuel Thompson-Oloko is early careers manager at the CII
Image credit | iStock
