Teachers and staff across the country will benefit from a
new £8 million professional development offer, being
developed by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF),
to help them prepare for the roll-out of new T Levels.
Teaching professionals will be offered the opportunity to
participate in the new T Level Professional Development
Programme to help them to develop their skills and
knowledge so they are ready to deliver T Levels - the
technical equivalent to A Levels - from 2020.
The first T Levels courses in education & childcare,
construction and digital will be taught in over 50 further
education and post-16 providers from September 2020. A
further 22 courses will be rolled out from 2021 onwards
covering sectors such as finance & accounting,
engineering & manufacturing, and creative & design.
Bespoke training will focus on making sure teachers
understand the pioneering new qualifications and will be an
opportunity to update their subject and industry knowledge
so it is relevant to the needs of business. The funding
will also help teachers and leaders to prepare for this
significant change.
Apprenticeships and Skills Minister said:
T Levels will widen the choices for young people,
offering them more than one route to a rewarding career.
T Level will equip young people with the knowledge and
skills for further study in education or in the
workplace.
It’s a big and important change, and we know we have to
be prepared if we want our technical education system to
be first class.
This new programme will help teachers to build on their
skills and gain the additional knowledge they need to
make new T Levels a success as soon as the starting
pistol is fired.
David Russell, Chief Executive of the Education and
Training Foundation, said:
The introduction of the first T Levels in 2020 signals a
significant and positive change to technical education in
this country. Ensuring providers are properly equipped to
deliver the new qualifications will be vital to their
success, so it is important they are ready from day one.
We are pleased to have been given the responsibility of
meeting the T Level-related professional development
needs of teachers, trainers and leaders, which include
those from the whole of the education sector. We bring to
this role our experience, expertise and partnership ethic
in supporting the workforce to deliver the technical
education our learners, employers and country need and
deserve.
The T Level Professional Development Programme is being
developed with the ETF, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation
and the wider FE sector to understand the skills needed to
teach and deliver T Levels.
Jenifer Burden, Director of Programmes at the Gatsby
Charitable Foundation said:
Gatsby is working with several local areas to support the
implementation of T Levels. We’re delighted to be working
with ETF to build on this work and to shape the
professional development offered to T-level teachers,
including building subject-specialist pedagogy.
The ETF will work with individual providers to determine
what specific training needs they have before creating
tailor made packages that will build on the excellent
skills and practice that already exists within the sector.
Training is expected to be available from Spring 2019.
