T Levels digital service update webinar for all T Levels providers

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Okay, all right, that's brilliant. We'll make a start can I just remind everybody to put to yourselves on mute, yeah quite a lot of background noise still, thank you very much. Okay. I think this is possibly one of the, most well attended webinars we've done there's over 150 people that have dialled in, so thank you all so much for taking the time out to join us this afternoon. Um, we have a slide up on your screens at the moment while the last few people are joining with just a few reminders, um, sort of, uh,, good rules for webinars. So uh, please put yourself on mute if you would like to ask a question during the session please use the chat function or put your hand up um, and just a reminder that we are recording this session so that we can put it on our, um, provider site, for those who haven't been able to make it this afternoon, and there's a website on the bottom there if you're having any problems accessing webinar. Okay, there's still one or two more people joining.

Okay we'll make a start. Um, so my name is Stella Pearson and I lead the T Levels delivery division in the DFE, um, and uh, we're all very pleased that you've been able to join us today, um, it's nice to have so many people uh, keen to hear about the T Level services so this is obviously a really important part of making sure that the delivery of T Levels goes well. Uh, can we move on to the next slide Vicci?

So the first section here is about will be about the T Levels results and certification service and I will pass over to David Scott to take you through this first bit.

Okay good afternoon everybody um just to introduce myself, my name is David Scott and I lead on a team um, who are working on a range of digital services that support um, stakeholders in the delivery of T Levels. So I won't get into great detail, but as a brief, brief background. it was back in 2019 when we took a piece of research with with providers, employers, students and award organizations to develop an understanding of what the user needs were, what the end-to-end journey was for those stakeholders right through from the very outset in terms of understanding and learning about T Levels through to registration participation and ultimately, um, issuing results and certificates upon completion. Um, from, from that piece of research we identified a number of priority service areas where we focused on digital services, so this includes for example, the T Level website which some of you may be familiar with which is focused on, students and employers to build engagement and awareness, um, enable students to find T Levels information and links across to to providers sites, who are offering T Levels where they can find even more information.

Um, but I want to update specifically today on 2 areas of interest that are most relevant for providers I think one relating to results in certification. And the second which relates to some of the support we've put in place to assist with providers in preparing, preparing for, and delivering T Levels. Um, I just said at the outset the, um, if you do have questions please feel free to add those into the chat at the side and we'll, we'll look to answer as many of those as we can, um, at the at the end of this session. But I'm going to move swiftly on and introduce uh, Tirath Bal, who's hopefully with us.

Yeah.

Yes so Tirath our product owner for the managed T Level results service. So I'll, I'll tell you a little bit more about that okay.

Thanks David. Yeah, so as David mentioned I'm the product manager for this new digital service called Manage T Level Results. So the new service has been in development for quite some time now, well over a year. And the purpose of the service is to, aggregate component data for T Levels, so registration data, assessment entries, uh, results data for the components of T Levels. Um, I'll get the components together in order to calculate the overall T Level result, and ultimately issue certificates, and statements of achievements, to students. As I mentioned it's been in development for some time now, and both awarding organizations and providers are required to access and use the service in order to submit those, that component data so that we can calculate results. um, in terms of rewarding organizations, um, as, as I mentioned it's been developed for some time now, as with other uh, government digital services um, it has been designed very much with users in mind, so we've been doing lots and lots of use of research with awarding organizations primarily, in order to factor in that feedback into the design of the service. um, and, and, we're just going to be starting actually, we've just started research with providers now on the service, as we move to the sort of providers phase of the portal which I'll sort of talk through in the next sort of couple of slides. We went live with an initial release of the this web portal managed to learn results to awarding organizations back in April, last year, and awarding organizations have been using the service now for a number of months, uh, more recently to submit student registration data around T Levels. And just a point around there around, uh, sort of developing these services incrementally you know as I mentioned earlier, as with other government digital services, um, it's been developed with users in mind, based on user feedback, it's being developed incrementally and we sort of continue to build and initiate the service, and introduce new functionality based on uh, user feedback and as and when that new functionality is required. Um, and the aim is to launch and then an initial end-to-end service, uh, in August 2021, and beyond that point we'll obviously continue to sort of build on it with service improvements. So if we can move on to the next slide please. Thanks.
So, this is just a, sort of high level flow of how the system will work, start from the top left there. So awarding organizations will be required to submit, uh, technical qualification components into the service. so as I mentioned they've already been, they've already, sorry, awarding organizations are already using the service, and they've submitted student registration data for the first wave of T Levels, um, but in due course they'll be submitting component results for the technical qualification, i.e. the core and the specialism over the course of the sort of 2-year T Level programs. We come down now to providers, now providers are required to submit industry placement data, for the most part, and, that is really in relation to the completion of the industry placement for students. um, there are a few other bullet points there, so one is around managed traditional requirements, we also require providers input information on any many traditional requirements however, um, you'll probably be aware but there are no mandatory additional requirements in the first wave of T Levels, so this is only relevant, um, as we sort of roll out the T Levels in future years. and then the final bullet point there is around English and maths equivalence, so, for the most part, we'll pull, pull, in my English and Maths component results data from another DFV application called learn the learning record service, um, to sort of minimize burden on users, because we've got access to that information but where students completed those qualifications abroad, we require providers to confirm whether, uh, the minimum, requirements for English and Maths have been met for the T Level. And if you come, come on down sort of round, you can see at the bottom there we've got learning record service as I mentioned, that's where we expect to bring in uh, the bulk of the English maths data for the T Level. Um, all that information will come in to the team managed T Level results, uh, service and we will calculate, the overall results based on that component data and ultimately as I mentioned earlier issue both statements, both statements of achievements and certificates based on that data. Okay.
On the next slide please. Thanks. so as I mentioned just to highlight there, um, the 3 main components that providers are required to submit into the system are, industry placement, so confirmation that students have completed their industry placement, um, at the end of the two-year study program, management additional requirements where they apply, and by exception English and Maths for those students that studied outside of England and Wales. So component data from providers is required to be in service, uh, before the 31st of July, in the second year at the T Level, so that's 2022 for the first wave of T Levels, um, but the system, but providers are able to submit that information sort of any time from august, when we when we launch this version of the system through to the end of the T Level program. Just a point on statements of achievement so you'll be aware that, we would like to issue statements of achievement, to those students that may leave the course early, or do not pass all the elements T Level, so it's important that your providers submit data as in when it becomes available, so that you can request those statements of achievement from the portal as and when necessary. Um, so as I mentioned earlier we'll, we'll look to have the, the end-to-end initial service up and running by the end of August, so it's at that point at which uh, you'll be able to request a statement of achievement for a student that may drop off the course early having only achieved some elements of that T Level, um, to sort of set out uh, which elements the student of the, um, T Level student has, has achieved. Um, and then just a couple of points there around, um, sort of printing and issuing of statements achievements and certificates, um, they'll be going to provide us, these statements achievements and certificates, so therefore we'll require you to input and confirm the address to which those statements of achievements and certificates, will need to be sent. Okay. Next slide please.

Right. so as I mentioned earlier, the design of this services is very much informed by feedback from users as is the case with many other government digital services, um, so we certainly want to try to look to minimize burden on users to try and make it as simple as, as possible and you know as I already mentioned, we'll, we'll integrate with other services, services to uh, make the whole process uh, straightforward and as easy as possible. but just in terms of data requirements, I've listed a few, uh, well the key date requirements that we will be looking to collect in the system when it first becomes available, uh, in august this year. so it's um, a completion of a the industry placement, but alongside that whether replacement has been completed with any special considerations, uh, whether any allowable, uh, model has been adopted to deliver the placement, uh, you'll be familiar with those models in the interplacement delivery guidance, whether the student has any special educational needs or disability, um, and as of all you sort of mentioned, the um, if students completed qualifications outside I mean England and Wales, will need to know whether they've got the, the minimum sort of requirement on English and Maths.

Okay, so I think that pretty much summarizes what I wanted to say, as I said earlier the, the end to end service will be available from August 2021 at which point you'll have the ability to request those statements of achievements, but beyond August, we'll continue to build on and improve the initial version of the system that you may see, when you first log in. Okay. Shall I hand back to you, David? Yeah okay. Thank you. Oh sorry. sorry David, I was just going to say Tirath, there's quite a few questions come in about where they find the service? How they access it. Yeah, so yeah, so do you want to come and come on those uh, questions now, should we just jump in? On that, on that one now and then we'll come back to the other questions at the end of the, the uh, presentations. Yeah absolutely. so as a services in uh, private beta at the moment um, so what we've done with awarding organizations is we've, we've shared essentially the link to the site, so uh, with all the users that will be using it, um, imagine what we'll do the same with providers initially, share the link with providers, but we'll also look to promote the service, on other government digital services, so we'll host a link on supported living T Levels, which Sandra's going to be talking about now, but also there'll be a dedicated start page, um, on um, on gov dot uk, which we'll be promoting as well, we'll be able to sort of share the link to that as well. Yeah so, so, in the chat yet, that's right at the moment the service, isn't, isn't um, there for rights to access. But uh, we'll provide further information due course as it's developed and is made available. So um, you're not missing anything if you can't find it right now but yeah it will be, uh, launching over the coming months. Um, thank you for I can see it's quite a few questions popping up. We'll come back to those in a second. I just want to move on to, to um, a span a few minutes talking about the support delivering T Level service. So I think we're going to start with that with a short a short video which summarizes and I'll hand over to Sandra who'll just say a few, few words more about that.

Over the past few months, we've been working on a new service, support with delivering T Levels. This replaces SharePoint as the digital support solution for T Level providers. At its core this is a help centre.

We've moved all the important support materials from SharePoint, onto a new website. We've reorganized these materials, into intuitive categories. We've made each document easy and at a glance, and easy to find through search. We now have a way for providers to sign up for, and automatically receive news updates without us having to manage a mailing list. And we can do useful things, like embed videos into a page, so providers can catch up on training, or workshops that they might have missed.
The new service will soon also have a discussion forum. This is a place for providers to network online about delivering T levels. Providers can sort discussions by most activity, or recent activity. They can search for discussions that might help them. They can join in with discussions, started by other providers, or they can start their own. And as these conversations get going, they can see which replies are from the community, and which are official responses from us.
Anyone can view the discussions, but only people working for approved T Level providers will be able to post. So what's the long-term vision for this service? Ensure we see support with delivering T Levels becoming the first port of call for any and all T Level provider questions.

Um, I don't know whether anybody else was experiencing similar things that was a bit stuttery for me. I wasn't sure if it was going to stop or whether it's just me. So apologies if you had trouble viewing that video. What I'll do is I'll post a link in the chat here so you can, uh, watch it at your leisure uh, later on or after the call. So apologies for that. um, really what I just wanted to do was some of you hopefully are familiar with the support with delivering T Level service, um, hopefully you find it a great site to find the information that you need, and obviously we're just starting to develop and expand it. And the forum that it mentioned in the video that was coming soon is actually here, it's actually live, some of you will have been involved in conversations, uh, on that.
Um, so what I'd really just like to ask you to do, is, is to share your best practice, ask questions, if you can. You know, be inquisitive, be helpful, talk to each other. There's been a lot of demand from, you know we've, we've produced this forum in response to, uh, feedback from yourselves, about wanting a network area, for you to talk to one another, and this is exactly it. So, ask questions, answer your, your peers, and please get involved, and, and encourage conversations and chats to, to help support you and answer your, your questions. Um, please do sign up for alerts, that, they're um, we've had again, a bit of a, a stop start with regards to alerts, but subscribing for alerts is the way to get notified when there's an update on, on new content. And if you're not sure on how to do that, again, we can, we can let you know, so, so get in touch. And please give us feedback. we're constantly looking for you to talk to us about what content are we missing, what would you like to see more of, what would you like to see less of. What's working well for you, and what's not working for you. This is very much your area, for you to, get in touch with us, and to give us the information, to get the information that you need, in order to deliver T Levels. So um, I'll share that the link to the site now on here and also to the video but please do get in touch either with me directly, or through the service.

We'd also really like to encourage you to get involved directly in user research with us, so that's about making sure that we design the service that you need, so that we make sure that we are absolutely creating something that's useful uh, to you. So again, if you'd like to volunteer to do that, it won't take up too much of your time, we know your time is precious, but we absolutely need to make sure that we design things that are useful to you. So the links on there as well uh, to support with delivering T Levels. The email to get in touch, I think David has put the link up, uh, to the site there, uh, in the chat as well. So happy to answer, any questions about the, uh, the site either that or, or post them, post them on the forum. Thanks David I'm handing back to you I think.

Okay, thanks Sandra. Um, so I think we'll just run through and try and pick up, um, as many questions as we can here. So I'm just trying to scan back, if we can start with, results and certification perhaps. So there were there was some, I did clarifying the questions on the role of awarding organizations, uh, versus providers in particular in relation to student registration, so uh, just to confirm yesterday's the case student registration, student assessment entries, is part of the process which is, uh, sits within awarding organizations, and as Tirath said we are already, already seeing those registrations, um, appear that the focus for providers is, specifically around industry placements, um, and English and maths which is, um, which is achieved outside of the UK, that we don't pull information on automatically through our existing DFE systems. Anything further to add to that? No, I think you pretty much covered it there. Okay. Um, I'm just trying to, sorry track the questions.

Um,

Yeah. I did notice 1 or 2 linked to the ILR, and certification service... sorry my T Level results service, um, so there's 1 question around whether we can use the ILR to get the information we need. Um, unfortunately not. It doesn't quite give us the right information, in terms of the replacements that we need, but also I think there's a timing issue really, the end of the two-year study program.
We need to be able to calculate all the results, in a timely manner, and then issue those certificates in line with results day, and certification day. We wouldn't get accurate reliable data from ILR until well the final return, which I think is in November, which will be too late, and it's not quite the right data anyway. So that, I think that answers that question.
Um, then there was another one related to, whether a certificate is required to, complete the ZED program aim in the ILR? So, that we're not integrating with the ILR service in any way, for this system. It's independent of that. We're integrating with the learning record service. So, in terms of whether you need a certificate for ILR processes, I would say no. Those processes are independent of this, and you should continue to follow, um, what you have been and the funding rules and the ILR guidance, um, for ILR processes. This is, this is separate of that this is purely about around getting, um, confirmation that students have completed their industry placement, so that we can calculate the overall result and issue the certificate. Um, I'm not sure if I missed any there David.

Yeah there's a question from um, uh, Julia Rayners I think around the addresses post certificates, and how we ensure that those are, are maintained. I think that's where we, we're really seeking um, input from providers to make sure that the the information we hold on, on locations for, um, the posting of certificate is, is up to date and that they're going to the right place.

Yeah. Absolutely. Just to build on that where you know we started the research with providers now, we'll continue to do that over the next month or so. But providers, we, I expect providers will be able to go in and input that address and maintain it in a fairly user friendly journey, um, but more information on that due course.

Okay um, just to get a question from Catherine on timings of confirmation of industry placements and when when that they're also notified through the system of completion, can you can say a little bit more about the date schedule and around that? Around when uh, sorry placements... when providers um, should um, confirm with us in the system around completion of industry replacements?

Yeah, so I'd say well certainly, they can do so at any time, at least the version for providers and up to the second year of the T Levels of July 2022. um, I'd encourage you to put that information in the system as soon as possible, so that um, should you need to you can request the statement of achievement if the student drops off early, so that will make that process easier sorry. um, but also sort of for monitoring purposes it would be good to see those, uh, confirmation of those replacements coming in because I know there's a huge interest in in terms of qualifications and T Levels at the moment.

Okay thank you. Um, is there anything I've, seen new questions popping up? Question about a dummy, um, a dummy service that people could practice on David.

Okay. Um, yeah. Okay... what yeah... So, so for this manage T level results service, um, well essentially what we do as part of the research is almost like a dummy service when we go out and research with providers, we use prototypes, which users interact with, and then we take feedback from that to implement our design, and ultimately the final product that you see in front of you and you use, um, so I guess that is our way of using a dummy service.

I think I can see, uh... I'm just answering a question there about, uh, sharing best practice on industry placements from Danielle.

Yes absolutely Danielle. Anything that helps you to deliver T Levels including you know industry placements via CDF, please ask the questions on the forum. Seek, seek views and opinions and good practice from your colleagues. So, absolutely. Um, I think another question is just to clarify the point on, on addresses, um, and a question whether or not we need learner approval for details. Uh, I think certainly the intention and what we will find from research is that certificates will not be sent directly to students, they will they will be sent to, um, a, a provider, provided address, um, rather than individuals, so which will overcome those concerns around, around data.

Yeah that, that's right. Yeah, early research we've conducted in December providers suggest that there'll be a sort of central place within providers, uh, so particularly an exam's office, to which uh, where sort of processing of results and certificates are handled, and that's where I imagine we'll be sending those certificates, and not not directly to students but providers.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I'm trying what I've missed, I'm just conscious we are we're running out of time. I'm, I'm sort of happy to continue on, but I I appreciate others may have other other appointments after this, so perhaps it's better would it be helpful if we provide, um, responses to any outstanding questions as a follow-up to this meeting when we we circulate a link to the recording?

David, can I just ask one more, follow up?

Yeah of course yeah. People definitely seem to be quite interested in having something that they could see in advance to become familiar with, um, Tirath, I don't know if there's anything more we can say on that?

Uh, yeah I mean the other thing I would say is that, we are, um, developing and building this, uh, service in advance of need really, um, so it could be that we could um, release an earlier version, um, ahead, way in advance of August, and then we could, we could test that and open it up to users, before we, um, build on it further, and release it in August, um, so we are sort of well advancing in our roadmap in order to, to do that, so that's something we can, we can take away if that would, if that would be helpful.

Yeah, let's take that away and look into more detail and we can provide some further, further feedback on that.

Are there any significant areas that anyone thinks, that we haven't covered in the questions? I think, I think, we've covered most of them and as David said we'll send round all the various links and things afterwards. But are there any big areas that people think that we've missed? About when we'll get the invitation to sign up? David and Tirath?

Um, yeah so I guess it's linked to that point around potential early testing, so as I said the aim is to have something ready by August, but, then we could release something earlier than that, um, and then, you know, possibly even as early as the end of April, um, at which point we can, we will communicate further and said you can invite people to, to come in and use the system, and relevant users to test it further. And there's a suggestion there about another webinar once the system goes live that sounds like a really good idea, I'm sure we can do that.

Yeah, yeah. and I think there's one, one of the questions that pops up so quickly Tirath, and I think it's in relation to bulk upload versus, versus, uh, manual upload, so don't just say a little, okay, yeah how we're approaching that, in terms of the ongoing development? Yeah, absolutely. so for the initial version um, we expect to, provide a manual upload, upload version of the system, so where users, uh, we expect users to go in and sort of manually confirm whether students have completed the placement, and then request a statement of achievement if required, in recognition of the fact that, you know intelligence suggests that ,students actually complete the industry placement in the first year, will be sort of few and far between, um, so there won't be a great demand for it initially, but as I mentioned, uh, beyond August, we'll be continuing to, build on the service, and improve it, and I imagine we'll, I certainly think we'll be building a bulk upload functionality, um, towards the end of this calendar year.

There's a question about ETF training sessions. I don't think there will be an ETF module, um, on this. I think we will uh, provide any assistance that you need with the service and if you know, if there's demand for longer webinars, or numerous webinars, then I think that's fine, we're happy to do that. There's one last question on the end there, about the information required for the industry placement. Yeah, yeah I'll take that one. So in terms of evidence, I, we would expect providers to manage and keep hold of that evidence. so it's more seen as a kind of declaration when you interact with the service to confirm, um, some an appropriate person within your organization will need to confirm that and declare that you have all the evidence to suggest that a student has completed that placement. So they won't need to submit evidence, they will just need to keep hold of the evidence themselves, but they will just need to confirm on the site that they have that evidence and they're satisfied the placement has been completed properly? Yeah, that's right.

Yeah. And the, the point about I think we've, we have done some investigation as a tip tier. I said I think I think timing's the big issue there, but Luis we will certainly, uh, take that away and export to make sure that there's, there's uh, nothing we can do as we say, that the focus is on making sure we're minimizing burden on providers and clearly want to avoid duplication of effort where wherever that's possible. So we will certainly take that away and do some further investigation. David is the ILR question something, that may be easier to resolve in future, once T levels become a more, mainstream offer?

I, I not entirely sure, I think I'm not too sure that'll necessarily resolve the the timing issue, but it's not, it's not an area I'm massively close to, but we'll take it away and if that is something we can, we can resolve more easily then we'll certainly seek to do so. Yeah.

There's a question there about, 'can the provider offer placement for pupils in their school'? No, the industry placement has to be done away from the provider site. It needs to be entirely independent from, the provider. There's lots of information on them, on the T Level pages on GOV.UK about, the parameters around industry placements.

There's a question about, ‘How long we need to keep the evidence for about the placement'? I don't know if you've got to that yet, um, or David.

No, I well, I think um, yeah I guess that's kind of linked with um, how providers would, uh, manage um, information for, for other qualifications we would expect a similar sort of thing for T Levels, and then align that with the funding rules, for post 16 qualifications. Um, there's also some information on, in the interplacement delivery guidance which, uh, may kind of um, you know relate to the kind of time scales and and the funding policy requirements there. It's a question about virtual placements. Um, there was a question earlier on about virtual placements. At the moment, no virtual placements don't count the placement needs to be in a sort of face-to-face environment with an employer. Obviously we understand that the current situation makes that impossible and very few students would have gone on their placement last term, so this is something that we are keeping, um, a close eye on.

Yeah. okay yeah, and thanks, I can I can see a couple of people have very helpfully offered to, to um, provides our input in terms of, the system and integration. I think we may well be taking up on that, so we think we'll make a note and uh, be in touch in terms of some of the research when we might be able to sort of, um, take it from there. So thank you very much.

Okay.

Yeah, so we're getting lots of questions about industry placement. So I think um, we're there is lots and lots of information about placements on GOV.UK, um. As someone said yes you've got 35 hours, that you can use, um, virtually as part of taster hours, that they that you can be doing that now if you're able to. Um, and yeah we've had a lot of conversations with providers about um, digital placements and whether they're more appropriate to be done virtually. And at the moment, um, again we understand that lots of digital employers do work remotely, and um, we do want to make sure that industry placements reflect current practice. But I think the placement is, uh, is about lots of things, it's about uh, learning those sort of, um, general workplace skills and um, and we still think it's important for the student to do those hours in a face-to-face environment. But it is something that we've talked to people a lot about, and so again I'm happy to, happy to speak to anyone who would like to discuss that in more detail.

Um, just a question on there around evidence submitted to the rewarding body, uh, whether that users will be required to submit that to both the awarding body and, and the portal. Um, so just to be clear in terms of the journey and the flow. awarding organizations are responsible for the, the TQ and awarding the qualification element of the T Level. So anything, in relation to the, registration or the result of the TQ goes, to the awarding organization, and the awarding organization submits registration data and, and results data around the TQ through our portal. Um, in terms of industry placements that's where we require providers to interact directly, with our portal, and submit as I said that really a declaration to confirm that um, those interest placements have been completed. I hope that helps.

Are there any final questions? I think, I'm just scrolling up, I think we've managed to get to most of them. Please do get in touch, if you have any more questions we haven't covered today. David or Tirath, is there anything else you want to add?

Uh, not from me.

I think to say we'll double check and make sure there's nothing we've missed in, um, in the conversation. so it's difficult to track but yeah we'll, we'll certainly follow up, and um, and then clarify, uh, where needed and so we'll make the this, this session available to, um, watch back through their supporting T Level sites, um, I think as well and, uh, just if you want to review or, or colleagues want to, to review this to. Y

eah and we'll, we'll make sure that we circulate all the links. Someone's asked again for the link for getting in touch. There's an email address on this screen, but we'll make sure we send, um, around all the links as well.

All right. so thank you all very much for joining, it's really helpful and we will send you some dates out shortly for some more webinars for when the site is launched.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you.