T Levels – Ethan-John Yates, InTandem Systems
T Levels are an alternative to A levels, apprenticeships and other 16 to 19 courses. Equivalent in size to 3 A levels, a T Level focuses on vocational skills and can help students into skilled employment, higher study or apprenticeships.
Each T Level includes an in-depth industry placement that lasts at least 45 days. Students get valuable experience in the workplace while employers get early sight of the new talent in their industry.
T Level students spend 80% of the course in their learning environment, gaining the skills that employers need. The other 20% is a meaningful industry placement, where they put these skills into action.
Hands-on experience
Ethan-John Yates is pursuing a T Level course in Building Services Engineering: Electrotechnical, at Fareham College, and spending one day a week at InTandem Systems, a specialist in energy and performance controls. Ethan had looked at a few local colleges but they weren’t offering A Levels in subjects he was interested in. It was his aunt, a teacher, who told Ethan about T Levels. He researched the courses at Fareham College, applied and got an interview and started the next day. Explaining his decision in more depth, Ethan says: “I was always interested in being a lot more ‘hands-on’. A Levels looked like too much theory and I was keen to do something more practical. I wanted a course where you had to not necessarily be intellectual, but be actively engaged and using your brain, and also get your hands dirty as well, instead of just sitting at a desk.”
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“Instead of being on the sidelines watching we’re treated like a member of staff”
Ethan was slightly apprehensive as the course he is on is still new and he was also aware that it would pose a different test to his previous education. He says: “At first the learning curve was quite sharp, but after a month or two I settled in.” Emphasising the importance of his placement as part of the transition from a learning to a working environment, Ethan says: “It helps us understand how a company actually functions, because we’re in the middle of it. Instead of being on the sidelines watching we’re treated like a member of staff so we can get a feel of what it’s going to be like in the future.”
A real sense of achievement
The exciting projects Ethan has already been involved in have made the placement part of his T Level a rewarding experience. He explains: “It doesn’t really feel like work, it’s actually really cool to see something before and after what you have done to create something.” He continues: “It’s kind of like art, but for people who aren’t necessarily good at drawing! Your blank canvas is an empty box and by the end of the project it’s full of components - and when you’ve done all of it you get a real sense of achievement.”
Pull quote: “I learn more when I have to go back and correct a mistake and I then know not to make that mistake again”
One of Ethan’s highlights so far has been working on a project at Barton Peveril College, where many of his friends are studying. He says: “It was really interesting for them to know that a bit of kit that I have worked on has gone into their college.” Ethan also takes great pride in the fact that although the work he does is rarely appreciated from an aesthetic point of view, the buildings he works on would not be complete without his contribution. He adds: “A builder can say ‘I laid the bricks on that building’, but we can say we created the box that controls the heating, the pumps, the boilers…everything, and we are the reason the building functions properly.”
Learning on the job
T Levels offer ways for students to learn on the job, even when not everything goes to plan, as Ethan has discovered: “It’s always a tense moment when you’ve spent two weeks building a box, leading up to this moment, you’ve connected everything up and then nothing happens! But the most interesting thing then is going back to find out where you’ve gone wrong.” He adds: “I feel like I learn more when I have to go back and correct a mistake and I then know not to make that mistake again.”
Ethan is one of three T Level students currently on placement at Intandem Systems and, from an employer’s perspective, having them on board has been hugely beneficial. Hashika Pieris, who supervises the company’s T Level students, says: “When we’re very busy there are a lot of last-minute tasks that we need to do, so when the students are in it is really handy as we can give them work quite easily and it helps us get the jobs done. On other days when it’s quieter they can help out anyone individually – which is important just to make the company tick and it adds to their overall learning as well.”
Summing up his experience for school leavers considering their post-GCSE options Ethan says: “T Levels are a great stepping stone if you want to find a trade without having to go through higher education or spending three years on a degree, and you gain a broad and in-depth knowledge of the trade you’re working in.”
