Financial planning and insurance firms are being asked to partner with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Personal Finance Society (PFS) to pilot T Levels, the new 2-year, Level 3, qualifications available to 16 to 19-year-olds in England.
The new T Level qualifications in Insurance and Finance have been designed in collaboration with employers and are equivalent in size to 3 A levels. They have been developed to help young people acquire the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to progress into skilled employment, an apprenticeship, or further study.
More information on T Levels can be found here.
Students must complete an industry placement that lasts a minimum of 315 hours (approximately 45 days) as part of their learning, giving them the opportunity to put their classroom learning into practice in a real workplace environment. In turn, employers get early sight of the potential new talent coming into their industry.
The CII and PFS are seeking expressions of interest from firms across England to offer T Level placements.
The bodies say that T Level work placements benefit employers by attracting motivated young people, bringing imaginative and new ideas, improving recruitment pipelines, addressing local and national skills gaps by helping young people develop necessary skills and developing mentoring and management skills of existing colleagues.
The placements can also help build a more diverse and creative workforce, build partnerships with local training and education providers and save recruitment costs by providing the opportunity to see what the young person can offer, on a no obligation employment basis.
Claire Bishop, Career Partner Manager for the CII Group, says: “The new T Level qualifications are an exciting opportunity for young people to engage with the insurance and financial planning professions at a much earlier stage than is currently the case. These CII and PFS pilot schemes will allow us to work closely with employers and educators, providing the support needed to build a successful pathway for new talent. We would encourage any firm to consider participation in this mutually beneficial opportunity to shape the future of our professions.”