Article

Embedding T Levels into a grow your own workforce strategy

Read insights and recommendations on how to integrate your T Level placements into workforce strategies.

30 July 2025

The purpose of this event was to explore the insights and recommendations from a roundtable conducted with members of the ICS Industry Placement Network, which is comprised of health and care sector employers. This session looked at current good practice in the area, future developments and barriers to implementation and actionable strategies to ensure that workforce development initiatives are both effective and sustainable.

T Levels, with their blend of classroom learning and on-the-job experience, offer a unique opportunity to cultivate a skilled and adaptable workforce from within our own communities. However, we know that organisations offering T Level industry placements are not all yet integrating them strongly into workforce strategies and realising the potential of industry placements as an important element of growing your own workforce.

On 3 July 2025 colleagues attended a roundtable to reflect on this issue. The session followed four main themes:

1. Collaboration and career guidance

This theme explores the importance of talent pipelines, engaging with further education (FE) providers and highlighting the range of roles available to students whilst on, and after, their industry placements.

2. Organic growth

Reflections on how industry placements organically support growing your own workforce, through the sharing of positive experiences and through students joining the bank.

3. Culture and language

Participants discussed the role that organisational culture and internal language can play in shaping perceptions of T Level industry placements. The way these placements are framed, both internally to staff and externally to stakeholders, can significantly influence their uptake and success.

4. External stakeholder engagement

Industry placements as a workforce development strategy do not sit in isolation in an organisation but have links to anchor work, school engagement, the wider system and national strategies.

Collaboration and career guidance

Organisations are at varying stages of embedding T Levels into their workforce strategies. Reflections from the roundtable ranged from those taking initial steps—drawing on lessons from established career pathways—to those that have formally integrated T Levels into their strategies and are actively collaborating with stakeholders to maximise student development within their organisations.

- Build on existing pathways: learning from established routes like the nursing associate apprenticeship and registered nurse degree apprenticeships can inform the talent pipeline and how students are supported and retained.
- Create clear post-placement opportunities: ring-fencing roles (e.g. guaranteed interviews for healthcare support worker positions) provides viable alternatives to higher education. However, if a student isn’t aware of development opportunities they may not fully understand the opportunity in comparison to continued education. Modelling the full pipeline is crucial, whilst also reassuring the student they can develop their career at a pace that suits them.
- Communicate clearly and consistently: clarity of messaging shared with students is important. For example, how long can they expect to spend as a healthcare support worker before progressing, what is the process for moving into the allied health professions, what if a clinically facing role isn’t right for them. The timeline of opportunities is also important; students may not understand that apprenticeship cohorts start at specific times of the year so there will be a pause in progression. Employers shouldn’t assume any prior knowledge from students.
- Engage FE providers early: collaborating with FE providers will increase their understanding of the career pathways available and to facilitate opportunities for health and care organisations to offer career awareness sessions with students. Ideally these should start prior to industry placement to equip students with an understanding of future opportunities.
- Encourage cross-sector teaching: health and care professionals can contribute to FE teaching, bringing real-world insight. FE tutors could also spend time in clinical settings to deepen their understanding. There may also be opportunities for curriculum co-design.
- Expose students to a range of roles: As this is the first step to growing the future workforce, students are not bound to one area. Students, as well as FE providers, should be offered opportunities to understand a wide range of careers.

Organic growth

Attendees also shared reflections on how T Level students are organically integrated into the grow your own workforce strategies. These insights highlight the benefits of supporting industry placements, even before any formal interventions are in place.

- The industry placement: industry placements naturally support workforce strategies by giving students the chance to explore what works for them, leading to more informed and stable next steps.
- Word of mouth: students share their experience of a good industry placement experience with others, raising awareness of the T Level qualification in local communities and promoting health and care organisations as great places to work.
- The staff bank: joining the staff bank, either during or after placement, is already a form of development. It provides students with financial support, skill-building and interaction with different careers, while helping organisations fill workforce gaps.

Culture and language

Attendees discussed how organisational culture is a crucial part of growing the future workforce, and how if the culture is one of support and development students will embrace the opportunities offered. The language used within organisations to embed T Level industry placements is important and encourages senior leaders to view industry placements as a valuable opportunity to recruit, retain and grow staff.

- Use precise terminology: being precise with the wording that is used around T Level industry placements is essential. The industry placement is not the same as work experience, it is an opportunity for students to fully embed into a team in the organisation.
- Supporting documentation is key: guidance which quickly and easily conveys what a T Level is, what the industry placement is and how this can support workforce development is useful for engaging colleagues across organisations. This is particularly helpful if paired with examples of student journeys. Whilst documentation for colleagues is helpful, written materials for students can also ensure they feel supported.
- Connect with wider culture work: developing a positive culture towards students on industry placement cannot be done in isolation. This work should connect with wider culture pieces, for example supporting a positive culture for undergraduate students.
- Celebrating mentors: ensure those who have mentored the students are celebrated. This could include developing case studies to inspire others to mentor students and encouraging students to share positive mentoring feedback.
- Diversify mentorship: mentors don’t always need to be healthcare support workers, with some colleagues exploring how undergraduate students could themselves be mentors for younger students. This can upskill undergraduate students by developing education and leadership skills, while offering relatable guidance.
- Make the talent pipeline explicit: ensure workforce strategies clearly state that T Level placements are part of long-term recruitment and development plans.

External stakeholder engagement

Using industry placements are part of the solution to growing your own workforce benefits from engagement with others from outside the organisation, as well as how this integrates into other organisational ambitions. Attendees reflected of the role of the anchor organisation, support from and to the wider system, schools engagement and national policy.

- The role of the anchor organisation: industry placements are one way of supporting local economic development as a local anchor. Collaborate with FE providers to identify and support local workforce needs.
- Engage with the system: organisations do not sit in isolation and should be discussing this work with colleagues working at a system level. There are opportunities to look at how T Level industry placements form a system-wide talent pipeline.
- Start early: organisations can engage with schools to take an active role in promoting talent pipelines, including industry placements, to students prior to choosing their post-16 pathway.
- Link to wider policies: attendees discussed how industry placements feed into wider policy pieces including the NHS 10 Year Plan, Get Britain Working, local growth plans and policy ambitions to reduce those not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Next steps

Attendees were asked to reflect on what they will be taking back to their organisations after this session, with responses including the following:

Clear guidance for T Level students on how to progress from a healthcare support worker role to an apprenticeship (such as a nursing apprenticeship).

Providing mentoring training to healthcare support workers and others involved in supporting students on industry placement.

Reflecting on the importance of language when promoting and upscaling industry placements.

Explicit mention of T Level industry placements in organisational workforce plans.

They were also supportive of insights being shared with other employers to inform and support their own workforce strategies.

A follow up discussion will be organised in six months to share reflections from the roundtable and discuss how outcomes have been implemented in organisations. This process will then be repeated in a year to invite a group of employers to share their thoughts on embedding T Levels into a grow your own workforce strategy.

Tell us more

We want to hear how your organisation is embedding T Levels into its workforce strategy.

How are you raising awareness among colleagues about the value of T Levels in building health and care talent pipelines?

Do you have best practice to share, especially around changing organisational culture, refining language, or identifying dual benefits of hosting placements?

Email us your reflections. Your insights will help us shape future discussions and support other employers.