Posted on September 12th, 2025
Shelan Rashid, Head of Health and Social Care at Monoux Sixth Form College, shares her experience of teaching T Levels and how she engaged with different elements of the T Level Professional Development (TLPD) offer, which is delivered by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and funded by the Department for Education.
I am Head of Health and Social Care, where my role includes ensuring consistency in our vocational and T Level courses. When I was first told that we were going to deliver T Levels, I was honestly scared. But the training I’ve received from ETF has helped me, particularly the T Level Leadership Mentoring Programme, which helped me as a leader adapt to changes for delivering T Levels. Our first group that we have taught have been amazing and every teacher that has worked with them have praised the group on their enthusiasm.
I first started my journey with the Future Learn Platform, which I used in the run up to the new academic year. The online modules were helpful and could be completed in my own time. I also had support from Sara Reeves and Mandeep Sahotay (Area Relationship and Development Lead, ETF), who always offered additional advice whenever I needed. For example, Mandeep encouraged me to join the T Level Leadership Mentoring Programme as well as attending an ETF T Level networking event which allowed me to connect to other T Level teachers. Sara connected me with other providers who helped me by answering questions about delivery. I was also able to go to different colleges that offer T Levels, where I was able to take back some learnings, such as some schools had an employer lead to help find placements which led us [Monoux Sixth Form College] to do the same.
Through the different professional development courses, I also learnt more about assessments and I have been able to pass this learning onto staff for example, how to mark assessments. The Industry Insights workshops helped us build more up to date knowledge, such as the impact that endometriosis has in the workplace and how it is often overlooked, this was then added to class content. The training I received for my lead role has also helped me develop the confidence to lead my team through change and the anxieties they felt.
ETF’s TLPD offer has helped our organisation be more confident in delivering T Levels. My advice for teachers who are about to begin delivering T Levels, is to realise that it is a trial and error process. You will face challenges but you will also grow, and you will get better with time.