Bringing technical education to life for young people

Mar 7, 2024

To celebrate National Careers Week 2024, EngineeringUK are championing T Levels with the launch of our latest careers resource on Neon.   

The new leaflet answers many of the key questions young people have about the new post-16 learning pathway, such as 'What are T Levels?' and 'Where can I do a T Level?'. 

The ‘What are T Levels?’ explorer leaflet offers a clear way to answer the key questions young people have about T Levels, whilst providing useful links for them to continue their careers learning research by signposting useful digital careers information resources.  As well as learners, we anticipate that this new resource will be read and used by educators, parents/carers and careers outreach teams to gain a better understanding of the qualification. 

Bringing the T Level leaflet to life in careers outreach

It’s been just a little over a year since the introduction of the Provider Access Legislation (PAL), and the launch of this T Level explorer leaflet during National Careers Week 2024 marks a great moment in time for employers and organisations to focus efforts on informing young people about the range of technical education pathways into engineering and technology.   
 
It is crucial that young people are made aware of T Levels and other technical education pathways, especially young people from groups that are underrepresented in the engineering and technology sector. The latest report released by the Careers and Enterprise Company, ‘Careers Education 2022/23: Now and next’ highlights the impact of girls being part of a progressive careers programme, leading to improved career readiness and increased interest in engineering. 

Careers encounters with people in a range of roles and workplace environments as part of a progressive careers programme at school can support young people in their interpretation of what they might view as their future learning pathway and what that can lead to. It really helps them to contextualise and make better informed choices about their futures and reduces the likelihood of choice occurring based upon their gender or a career in oversubscribed sectors.   

Having knowledge about both technical and academic qualification pathways could enable young people to understand the range of routes available to them at 16 and help them navigate access into potential future careers by undertaking a learning path that they feel suits their style of learning and their interests. 

The new T Level explorer leaflet positions and answers questions that young people are keen to hear about, such as ‘How can a T Level help me make a difference to the world in my future career?’ and ‘How can T Levels prepare me for a career in engineering and technology?’ Careers leaders, careers advisers and teachers can use this explorer leaflet to underpin career conversations with their students, as well as supporting parents’ and carers’ understanding of the different post-16 pathways available. Our ‘All routes into engineering’ guide, signposted to from the new T Level leaflet, further sets out all the possible routes into engineering and technology.

We are encouraging employers to collaborate with local T Level providers to help bring industry context to the qualification, supporting young people to appreciate the value of skills and experience in a workplace setting and cementing the importance of technical education as a potential pathway to an exciting and rewarding careers in engineering and technology. 

 

Download the 'What are T Levels?' explorer leaflet

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