DfE-funded support
Thirteen of the 46 survey respondents said they had accessed DfE-funded support on T Levels and industry placements from the LGA. Nine of those councils were also represented at the focus groups.
The regularity with which the 13 councils had accessed the LGA support varied:
- three had done so on a monthly basis (or thereabouts)
- six had done so every two to three months
- four reported having had one conversation or meeting with the LGA.
The regularity of each council’s engagement does not signify its level of satisfaction with the support, i.e. the research found no evidence to suggest that less frequent engagement indicates low(er) levels of satisfaction. Rather, the extent to which councils have engaged has been determined by:
- local T Level provision (number of providers, number of students, breadth of subjects)
- the commitment or otherwise of services to participate in industry placements
- the need that the council has for support on industry placements. Some only require an initial meeting/conversation in order to be largely self-sufficient from that point on.
As shown in Table 4.1, the 13 councils had most commonly accessed advice and guidance on industry placements from the LGA, followed by conversations/resources to improve their understanding of T Levels.
Table 4.1: T Level and industry placement support accessed via the LGA
Type of support |
No. of councils |
Advice and guidance on industry placements |
9 |
Conversations/resources to improve your understanding of T Levels |
8 |
Advice and guidance on how to engage services in conversations about T Levels and industry placements |
6 |
Conversations between the LGA and services about T Levels and industry placements |
5 |
Signposting to other resources or sources of information about T Levels and/or industry placements |
4 |
Brokering conversations with local skills providers that deliver T Levels |
4 |
Source: York Consulting survey (multi-response question)
Views towards the LGA support were consistently positive, with council representatives typically agreeing that it had:
- improved their knowledge of T Levels and industry placements
- raised the profile of T Levels and industry placements within their council
- helped them make better plans or decisions about industry placements
- accelerated the progress they have been able to make on industry placements
- strengthened their relationship with a local skills provider(s).
“The LGA has been extremely helpful. They’ve helped us to make informed decisions and to address some issues with local providers.”
“Without the support from the LGA, we wouldn’t have been able to host students this year.”
When asked if or how the LGA support could have been better, none of the 13 councils made any tangible suggestions. Some acknowledged that the LGA could not be expected to resolve all local issues (especially a lack of local T Level provision), but were also keen to stress the efforts the LGA had made to assist with these issues wherever they could.
“The support from the LGA has been instrumental to our progress.”
Why have some councils not accessed DfE-funded LGA support?
Thirty-three of the survey respondents said they hadn’t accessed DfE-funded support from the LGA on T Levels and industry placements. Twenty-eight of those explained why – their responses are summarised in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: T Level and industry placement support accessed via the LGA
Type of support |
No. of councils |
We have had contact with other staff from the LGA |
8 |
We were/are already making sufficient progress with T Levels and industry placements |
8 |
We don't currently intend to have T Level industry placements at the council |
5 |
I didn't know the support was available |
3 |
Other colleagues in the council have engaged with the LGA rather than myself |
1 |
I have not had enough time |
1 |
No specific reason |
1 |
We’re expecting to access the support soon |
1 |
Source: York Consulting survey (multi-response question)
The top row of the table – ‘we have had contact with other staff from the LGA’ – is important in the context of this research. It refers to the LGA support that is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (see ‘Gatsby-funded support’ below). This support is similar in nature to that which is available via the DfE funding, and the LGA has therefore been careful not to duplicate its engagement activities with councils across the two funding streams. At any given point in time, a council will have one nominated point of contact at the LGA for T Level support, rather than two.
It is also of note that eight councils said they are making sufficient progress with T Levels and industry placements without LGA support. For these councils their reason for not engaging is a positive one. Five of these eight councils had hosted industry placements at the time of the survey and two had committed to doing so.
Gatsby-funded support
The online survey briefly covered the Gatsby-funded support, although intentionally did not do so in any detail as the research was primarily concerned with DfE-funded activity.
Seventeen of the 46 respondents said they had accessed the Gatsby-funded support. The feedback they provided on that support was unanimously positive. In particular, they praised:
- the knowledge of the LGA staff member in question
- the work that staff member had done to broker relationships with local skills providers
- the information and resources they had supplied to the councils
- the other avenues of support on T Levels and industry placements to which the councils had been signposted.
“Always available. Really impressed with their contribution…gave us loads of tips, information and guidance.”
“Provided us with lots of information to help us decide whether to take on a T Level student. Was also there to support and guide us when organising the placement.”
Website, case studies and toolkit
Thirty-seven of the 46 survey respondents had used the LGA website to access information on T Levels. All but one of those respondents had found the information at least quite useful (Table 4.3).
Table 4.3: Views towards T Level information on the LGA website
|
No. of councils |
Very useful |
8 |
Quite useful |
28 |
Not useful |
1 |
I have not seen the information |
7 |
I didn’t know the information was available |
2 |
Total |
46 |
Source: York Consulting survey
The pattern of responses was similar on the topic of the LGA’s T Level case studies. As shown in Table 4.4, those that had seen the case studies were quite positive about them, although more than one third of the sample had either not seen them or did not know they were available.
Table 4.4: Views towards T Level case studies created by the LGA
|
No. of councils |
Very useful |
7 |
Quite useful |
22 |
Not useful |
1 |
I have not seen the T Level case studies |
12 |
I didn’t know the case studies were available |
4 |
Total |
46 |
Source: York Consulting survey
The same pattern continues for the LGA’s toolkit (Table 4.5). Note that for each of these topics (website, case studies and toolkit), the same councils typically appeared in the ‘haven’t seen’ or ‘didn’t know it was available’ answers. In other words, if a council had not seen or was not aware of the T Level information on the LGA’s website, then they were also unlikely to have read the case studies or used the toolkit.
Table 4.5: Views towards LGA’s T Level toolkit
|
No. of councils |
Very useful |
6 |
Quite useful |
23 |
I have not use the toolkit |
14 |
I didn’t know the toolkit was available |
3 |
Total |
46 |
Source: York Consultancy survey