Leeds City College

The BBC has been talking to our students about the appeal of T Levels.

For many students this year, T Levels, rather than A levels, will represent the next stage of their educational journey.

The recently introduced, two year qualifications provide an alternative to A levels, apprenticeships and other courses for 16-19 year olds.

Developed in collaboration with businesses, they are tailored to meet the needs of industry and consist of a mixture of classroom studies and ‘on-the-job’ experience.

Practical benefits

It is this vocational focus that appeals to Melissa McLeod, who is looking forward to starting her T Level in Health at Leeds City College this year.

Melissa was one of three students who came into the college’s Printworks campus on GCSE results day to talk to a BBC News film crew about their decision to go the T Level route.

She told them: “I was signed up to four A levels at a couple of different colleges then I heard about T Levels and decided that the practical side appealed to me more than sitting in a classroom all day.

“I’m hoping that I can either work as a mental health supporter or a midwife.”

Valuable work experience

For fellow students and interviewees, Dylan Coen and Neve Hunter, it was also the practical emphasis of T Levels – and their use of work placements – that really appealed.

Neve will be taking up a Health Science and Social Care T Level with a view to going on to work as a nurse, either in the NHS or the British Army.

She said: “I’d been studying A levels for the past year but I decided to make a change.

“I did quite a lot of research and came across T Levels. The thing that really intrigues me about them is the industry placements that you get – during the pandemic it’s been quite difficult to get placements, it’s all been online.

“I can get more practical experience with T Levels.”

Dylan, meanwhile, will be doing a T Level in Digital Production, Design and Development and is looking forward to going beyond the online-only constraints that the Covid-19 crisis ushered in.

He said: “With the work experience T Levels offer it’s one-on-one, you’re there doing it.”

To find out more about studying T Levels at Leeds City College visit leedscitycollege.ac.uk/t-levels.