In conversation with Blackpool and The Fylde College

In conversation with Blackpool and The Fylde  College 

In this interview, Roy Alojeil, Programme Leader for Electrical Installation and Rosalind Tsang Programme Leaders for T Levels in Design, Surveying and Planning at Blackpool and  The Fylde College spoke to Louise Jones, Area Relationship Development Lead  about their experience with T Levels at the college.

What impact has the T Level funding had on the organisation?

Rosalind: “The obvious is that we’ve got better facilities and it’s allowed us to be able to go on trips and different site visits. It’s also given us an opportunity to network with employers, because with Blackpool being by the sea, we’ve lost half of our employees as opposed to other cities where they’ve got businesses that they can pull from 360 degrees.  

We’ve had Blackpool Coastal Housing and Tyson’s endorse our programme, we brought them in to talk about how our programme is structured, look at our resources, look at the content area and also get advice from them as to what weaknesses or strengths that they see within their teams, and what we can embed in our course so that students that go into industry have a better understanding of it.”

Thinking about the introduction of T Levels to the organisation, what has  been the impact on the learners?

Rosalind: “We had one young man last year who did his work placement with Graham’s Construction, which is a company based out of town who built the new Backlot Cinema in Blackpool. They took on two work experience students and employed one by the end, and he’s now attending university.  They took both our first and second year T Level students and gave us four site visits where we saw the building right from ground level. This was so beneficial for staff as well, to see the different stages of construction on our doorstep.

During the pandemic, we still had placement students here and there, but it was done in a different way. Robertson’s did an incredible job for us, they gave us 16 guest speakers remotely to talk to students and staff. They even gave us Tower City Project, where the students had to design an extension to a 1920s building. Our students had to present back to the screen, but they had access to quantity surveyors, architects, and a  design team from Robertson’s.

When we were able to return on site, they took on some work placement students and we built the Holiday Inn in Blackpool, which is next to the train station.”

Roy: “From an electrical perspective, our progression is more into apprenticeship. The placement has played a huge role in closing that gap between employers and the learners when they finish their qualification. That placement gave students a taste about the industry, which is brilliant, because they were able to realise that construction was or wasn’t for them. They also built up good employability skills such as being on time, learning on-site, and then they started getting more and more work.

Whoever is taking a T Level placement, they are making sure that they fit into the culture of the company, they fit with the job, with the company and with the team.

The placement is closing that gap that I think previous qualifications weren’t able to do. For example, if they were doing a Level Two or Three apprenticeship, they only had maybe 20 hours of employer involvements, and it wasn’t a work placement, it was an employer involvement or a work experience. As with T Levels, they go away for 45 days, the employer is used to them and they’re doing their work whilst learners can build on their skills. 

The first cohort that we had, we had five T Level students that progressed into apprenticeships. On the second cohort, we had nine. And then last year, we had around 12 out of  18 that progressed into apprenticeships from the placements.”

Are you finding that there’s more interest now in the T Levels?

Rosalind: “Yes, I think learners and parents feel more positive about them, they feel more well-informed. Students feel more ready for employment as well, in part due to them choosing this course. To me, that’s the difference between high school and college, students get to specialise in something that they’ve chosen themselves.

Students go into the industry more confident. For example, I had a girl last year who worked with Tyson and she’s now ended up with a higher apprenticeship with Eric Wright, which is a really positive outcome.

Also female-wise, I’ve never had more than what I’ve got right now in my class. My first year group, there were 12 boys. In my second year group, 13 boys and only 2 girls who both left by the end of the year. This year, we’ve got 11 in total so it’s grown. The first year T Level class is pretty much 50-50 split which I’ve never had before, there’s always been a female minority. I’m seeing a lot more girls coming in now and they predominantly want  to be project managers or architects.”

Roy: “Even from our perspective, construction is a male-dominated industry, as we all know. But I’ve seen a rise in the females that are getting on the course. Last year, we had one girl who is on her placement now with a company that specified that they needed a female because they’re working in a hospital on the females’ ward. This year we have two female students who are looking at placements. They’re really developing their skills, and they are really fighting in a male-dominated industry, and they’re really striving, and they’re doing it, and they’re progressing.”

Have you found that gender split is on the T Levels? Or is it only happening in that cohort?

Rosalind: “Our marketing school teams are clearly doing their job with making high school students aware of what options they actually have next. I wonder if it’s the way that the courses are run that actually girls will look at that now and think that they can do that, as opposed to other qualifications where there might have been barriers.”

Roy: “I think feedback from other learners has helped too. Last year, we sent the learners on placement, they were first year T Level students, but were led on-site by a second year student where they were able to answer questions and share their experiences.”

Rosalind: “You just reminded me about a student that I had last year who wanted to be an architect and he was accepted into Preston University. In the end, his portfolio meant that he could apply for a job that came up in the summer with green cooling systems. He applied, and he got to the top five [candidates], and then they employed him. At 19 years old, he’s on £34,000 a year. He rang me up and told me about the company he was working for and how it was now doing business in Saudi Arabia. He told his CEO about his T Level experience and they’ve since interviewed two of my finishing students last year, which is amazing. It’s amazing to see an old student be so positive about his experience on a T Level to then praise about them to his employer and ask them to get involved.”

Roy: “Even that gives us some kind of marketing for the T Levels because not all employers know about T Levels to this point yet. So, when they’ve got someone that is on a T Level course and they see that they have got the skills and they see what they’ve been doing and how they’re progressing and how they’re developing their skills. It’s a great opportunity for big companies to realise that yes, they can get their workforce from the T Level.”

What kind of progression opportunities have you seen with the T Levels?

Roy: “We now have a student that is really keen on going to university. He’s not choosing any path in electrical, but since the T Level is equivalent to 3 A Levels, he can just go to university. So even though students may come to construction , they may realise that that route is not for them but they can still go to university.”

Rosalind: “The door is open now, where before it was shut. There are definitely more doors open with the T Levels. I think it’s a brilliant course.”

Could you tell me a little but about your team and your staff? Where have they come from in terms of their industry experience and also their preparations for T Levels?

Rosalind: “So, I have a small team of three, including myself. One has 25 years experience in higher education and is an interior designer. Another has years and years of experience, he’s been a project manager as well as having a surveying background. I’m an artist as well, I’m an ex-painter and decorator and used to work on site.

We’re a creative team but we’ve had surveying training. When we get to go on these site visits, we gain a lot from those. We also do five days in industry as well to keep ourselves updated. So we sent one [of our team members] to Waring & Sons, where they make portal frame structures. It’s been brilliant!”

Roy: “From our perspective, we’ve got a team of seven including myself. Our team is diverse but our differences complement each other. We’ve got ex-electricians who worked up to being general managers and now they teach. This then feeds into the T Level. We’ve got electricians, we’ve got shareholders, we’ve got people that were project managers in factories. We’ve got people that have already been in education as well who have taught science subjects, maths, electrical; all of it.

But when the T Level came out, other than making sure that all our qualifications are up to date, we did some personal CPD. We sent all the team to all the sustainable technologies that we have so we understand more about how sustainability works. We’ve done CPD where we send the team to different places and then they came back and we were able to reflect that into our curriculum.”

How important is it for staff to go and spend time industry?

Rosalind: “It’s huge, modern methods of constructions, modelling, you have to have the understanding. It’s all very well studying it and researching it, but when you actually see it in use, it’s incredible to see the technologies in action. It puts it all into perspective and then we can come back here and explain it to the students a lot better.”

Roy: “From our perspective, when we do these five days in industry, we come back with new techniques and tools and new technologies. We get the CPD for us, but we have the CPD plans for the learners through trade days and visits. This is the main objective because the world is moving so fast with technologies, so we just need to be on top of it to make sure that what we are getting is the updated, most recent technologies for them [the students], because they are going on-site and they need to be up to date.”

What CPD did you do around pedagogy?

Rosalind: “We accessed the pedagogy with ETF. When I first started, I had no one to talk to about how to design this programme, so for me, it was  the opportunity to get together with other colleges and see how they were designing and then share how I was designing.”

Anything else?

Roy: “I think the T Level is a huge shift in mentality and education that basically gets the learners to a point where they are employable, they have the knowledge needed and they are ready for life, whether they want to continue with trades, whether they want to go to university or they just want to get a job. The T Level basically gives them the knowledge and skills that is needed to kick off their life and I think it’s working.”

Rosalind: “For us, we are just always going to think about how to enhance the programme and make it better and grow it. It opens a lot more doors.”

If you’re interested in CPD training for you and your staff, please find your Area Relationship Development Lead by contacting the Regional Manager in your area on our website Our Regional Teams - The Education and Training Foundation where you can receive a bespoke service for your setting.