The Department for Education has published its long-awaited response to the T level implementation consultation including, the first 52 colleges and providers to teach the new qualifications.

The government has also addressed concerns about the speed of the implementation of the T level rollout, by announcing that the start date of some programmes will be delayed.

The move comes just days after the education secretary rejected calls from the DfE’s permanent secretary for a one-year delay to the implementation of the new T-level qualifications for fear that the rollout was being rushed.

The DfE said: “We recognise these concerns. Our priority is to deliver high-quality programmes and therefore we have decided to extend the full roll-out of T levels beyond 2022.

“In some cases, this may mean we slow plans to get a T level into delivery – for example, the building services engineering T level – and in others we accelerate delivery – such as the design, surveying and planning T level. We will confirm the final sequencing of the roll-out of T levels once the outline content is finalised.”

Review of level 3 qualifications

The 430 responses to the government consultation called for the purpose of T levels to be made clearer, a strong marketing campaign for the new qualification and for flexibility with work placements.

The fate of applied general qualifications, like BTECs, is still unknown, with the government saying they will be subject to its review of level 3 qualifications. “In designing the review we will want to ensure that continued funding is only available for the group of qualifications that serve a genuine and useful purpose, are of a high quality and enable students to progress to meaningful outcomes,” it said in the response, published today. 

The work placement element of the new T levels will be known as T level industry placements, and additional bursary funding will be provided in the 2018/19 academic year to help students travel to industry placements, the government said. 

It added it would allow providers to work with employers to determine if this is best delivered through day release, a single three-month placement, or a number of blocks at different times during the programme, potentially with different employers.

'We now face a major communication challenge'

Praising the T level programme, prime minister Theresa May said: “Everyone should be able to have access to an education that suits them, but we know that for those that don’t choose to go to university, the routes into further technical and vocational training can be hard to navigate.”

Lord David Sainsbury, chairman of the independent panel on technical education, whose 2016 report paved the way for the current reforms said: “We now face a major communication challenge, and all of us, who understand how valuable and important these reforms will be to the lives of young people, must now reach out to young people, their parents and carers, and employers, to let them know these changes are coming, and the exciting opportunities they will bring.”

‘Still many questions’

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “Colleges will welcome the greater clarity that the government’s response to the T level consultation brings. We are also pleased to see that English and maths will be funded in addition to the T level and it is good that DfE is exploring ways that students can combine T levels with further academic study such as A-level and core maths.

“Colleges will receive targeted support for work placements which will hopefully address concerns about the challenge of providing meaningful work placements for large numbers of students by targeting support in this area. We also welcome the focus on meeting the needs of all students, including students with special educational needs. It is important that these students can access T levels and are not disadvantaged because they fail to gain a full level 2 in English and or maths.

“There are still, of course, many questions such as how the grading system will work in practice and the impact on other qualifications. Further details are needed of how the transition offer for students might work. However, it is positive that the overall funding for T levels seems to acknowledge that young people need a well-designed and robust programme of study post-16 and that this will positively impact on their future life chances, so we are hopeful that this principle will eventually have a positive impact on the breadth of study programme available for all 16-18 students.”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said: “We strongly support T Levels – it is clear that high-quality work placements are fundamental to the success of the T levels and apprenticeship training providers are ready to use their capacity and established relationships with employers to give young people a great opportunity to start developing the skills they need in the workplace”

The first colleges that will teach the new T levels in 2020

East Midlands: Derby College

East of England: Bedfordshire and Luton Education Business Partnership, Norwich City College of Further and Higher Education, Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form.

London: Big Creative Training, Cranford Community College, HCUC, La Retraite RC Girls School, London Design and Engineering UTC, Ursuline High School.

North East: Durham Sixth Form Centre, Gateshead College, New College Durham, St Thomas More Catholic School.

North West: Blackpool and the Fylde College, Cardinal Newman College, Nelson and Colne College, Oldham Sixth Form College, Runshaw College.

South East: Chichester College Group, Fareham College, Farnborough College of Technology, Havant and South Downs College, Peter Symonds, Salesian School, Sussex Coast College Hastings, the College of Richard Collyer, the Leigh UTC.

South West: Bridgwater and Taunton College, Cirencester College, Exeter College, Strode College, Truro and Penwith College, Weston College.

West Midlands: Access Creative College (Access to Music), Bordesley Green Girls’ School and Sixth Form, City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, Dudley College of Technology, Lordswood Girls’ School and Sixth Form Centre, Painsley Catholic College, Sandwell Academy, University College Birmingham, Walsall College, Walsall Studio School.

Yorkshire and the Humber: Archbishop Holgates School, Barnsley College, Bishop Burton College, Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, Scarborough Sixth Form College, Shipley College of Further Education, York College.