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Qualification-type funding approval criteria: T Level foundation qualifications

Department For Education

November 9
11:00 2023

This section explains the funding approval criteria for T Level foundation qualifications.

1. Qualification must be for an appropriate route

We will only consider approving T Level foundation qualifications in the following routes:

  • agriculture, environmental and animal care
  • business and administration
  • catering and hospitality
  • creative and design
  • construction and the built environment
  • digital
  • education and early years
  • engineering and manufacturing
  • hair and beauty
  • health and science
  • legal, finance and accounting
  • sales, marketing and procurement

We will not approve more than one T Level foundation qualification for the same route from the same awarding organisation, because they would need to cover the same content to meet the requirements for funding approval.

Criterion 3 covers the content requirements for T Level foundation qualifications.

2. Qualification must have an appropriate sector subject area

The qualification must have an appropriate sector subject area (SSA) classification, based on its content. The SSA must be within your scope of recognition.

We expect the SSAs for T Level foundation qualifications to align with the SSA classifications for T Level technical qualifications in that route, because their content will align with T Levels in the same route.

T Level technical qualifications that are already available can be found on Ofquals register of regulated qualifications.

We expect the below SSAs to be used for T Level foundation qualifications, based on their content and the T Level technical qualification SSAs, where available.

Route Relevant sector subject areas
Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care 3.1 Agriculture, 3.3 Animal care and veterinary science
Business and Administration 15.2 Administration
Catering and Hospitality 7.4 Hospitality and catering
Creative and Design 9.2 Crafts, creative arts and design, 9.3 Media and communication
Construction and the Built Environment 5.2 Building and construction
Digital 6.1 ICT practitioners
Education and Early Years 13.2 Direct learning support
Engineering and Manufacturing 4.1 Engineering
Hair and Beauty 7.3 Service enterprises
Health and Science 1.2 Nursing and subjects and vocations allied to medicine, 2.1 Science
Legal, Finance and Accounting 15.1 Accounting and finance, 15.5 Law and legal services
Sales, Marketing and Procurement 15.4 Marketing and sales

Where we have indicated two relevant SSAs for a route, your scope of recognition must include both SSAs. However, you will need to choose the most reasonable SSA to classify your qualification, based on the proportionate match between its content and the SSAs.

You should check your scope of recognition before submitting qualifications for funding approval and, if necessary, apply to Ofqual to expand your scope of recognition before submitting a qualification for funding approval.

3. Qualification content must appropriately cover the national content for the route

We will only consider approving T Level foundation qualifications where their content is based on the national technical outcomes for the T Level foundation year. The content of the qualification will be assessed against the criteria below.

The qualification must be based on the national technical outcomes for one route only.

The qualification must include all the outcomes, knowledge and skills specified in the national technical outcomes for the route, including all the options specified for that route, where applicable. These options must be available to students taking the qualification:

  • in the agriculture, environmental and animal care and the health and science routes, students can choose to take outcome A or outcome B
  • in the construction and the built environment and the creative and design routes, students can choose to cover different content to meet a particular outcome

The qualification may cover the specified knowledge and skills in more detail than is set out in the national technical outcomes:

  • the detailed content must be relevant to demonstrating the associated outcome
  • you may use the illustrative examples of breadth and depth provided in the national technical outcomes, but this is not expected or required

The qualification may include additional knowledge or skills beyond those specified in the national technical outcomes, only if:

  • the overall extent of additional content is minimal, given the size guidelines in criterion 6
  • it is relevant to demonstrating one or more outcomes
  • there is a clear rationale for including the content in the qualification
  • its inclusion does not change the focus of the associated outcomes
  • no additional outcomes are incorporated into the qualification, beyond those that are set out in the national technical outcomes

The overall amount of knowledge content in the qualification must ensure there is sufficient time in the guided learning hours for skills development, which takes time.

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