Help shape an exciting new classroom-based technical qualification for young people who want to train for careers across media, broadcast and production through our public consultationStudents will be trained to work on live events and theatre productions, film, radio, television, and content creation for online content

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) is seeking views on draft outline content for an exciting new T Level for media, broadcast and production.

This T Level will train young people to work across all kinds of media including music, television and radio, live events, film, marketing, and online media.

The original 19 May closing date for our public consultation has been extended by another two weeks until midnight on Tuesday 2 June.

T Levels will be the technical equivalent to A Levels, combining classroom theory, practical learning and an industry placement. The new T Levels will involve 80 per cent classroom-based learning, and 20 per cent on-the-job learning through substantial industry placements, and are equivalent to 3 A Levels.

The Institute’s deputy director for technical education implementation, Carmel Grant, urged as many people to take part as possible:

She said: “This is the chance for people from across the world of media, broadcast and production to have their say on what should be taught in the new T Levels for their sector.
“We need to know whether this T Level would provide the training that these fantastic sectors really need, so want to hear from employers and people with experience of training. Your thoughts and ideas can help improve the quality of learning for future generations.”

The T Level will include a broad ‘core component’ which gives the learner an overview of key aspects of the sectors and an ‘occupational specialism’ which provides specialist training for a particular occupation. Students will also learn relevant maths, English and digital skills, for example measurement techniques, estimation or producing reports for customers. The qualifications will provide exciting content for learners which will be relevant to the world of work and will include projects and assignments based on real-life scenarios.

T Level panels of industry experts set out the knowledge and skills required for each T Level, which are being consulted on, based on the same occupational standards as apprenticeships. This ensures that individuals taking T Levels can develop the technical knowledge and skills required by employers in that industry.  

The first three T Levels (in Education and Childcare, Construction and Digital) will be available for delivery to students from September 2020.

We are now consulting on the outline content for further T Levels, which will be rolled out from 2023 onwards. The media broadcast and production T Level will be among them.

Phil Attfield, FX and Animation Partnership Director at the NextGen Skills Academy and part of the panel of T Level experts that developed the draft outline content, said:

“For many students the media, broadcast and production T Level will be their first step as technical artisans and creators across live, recorded and streamed media. Employers and industry professionals have an opportunity now to define the skills they want to employ and help shape future careers.”