Disruption during the pandemic has forced colleges to postpone industry placements required by 16- and 17-year-olds to complete their T Level. Early years educator qualifications, including the T Level specialism, require 750 hours or more on industry placement, far higher than the 315 hours minimum for other T Levels.
A spokesperson for NCFE, who certificate the early years educator T Level, said they “understand the current restrictions bring with them increased challenges for providers in delivering the industry placement
element”.
In response, a ‘flexibility’ has been introduced by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (iFATE) to reduce this to 415 hours for the current cohort, which the DfE will be applied to all level 3 early years educator qualifications.
Learning outcomes of the courses must still be met and the flexibility will be reviewed for the next academic year. The T Level industry placements are
mandatory and need to be completed in full in order for the student to pass the qualification. The DfE said it was “closely monitoring” the impact of COVID-19 on T Level industry placements.