Academic year 2022/23

Provisional T Level results

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• Published: 17 August 2023
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• Produced by: Department for Education

A summary of  outcomes achieved by students in receipt of T Level results for the academic year 2022/23, as reported to the Department for Education through the Manage T Level results service (opens in a new tab).

Results in 2022/23 include seven new subject areas, along with the three awarded last year.

Users should exercise caution when drawing conclusions from these numbers as T Levels are in the early stages of roll out. Results for 2022/23 are for 10 pathways, 7 of which were awarded for the first time this year.

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• Academic year 2023/24
• Academic year 2021/22

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• Provisional T Level results

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About these statistics

This publication provides a summary of the outcomes achieved by students in receipt of results for a T Level in the academic year 2022/23. The first T Level courses started in September 2020 in the following subject areas (also known as ‘pathways’):

• Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction
• Digital Production, Design and Development
• Education and Early Years

Seven new T Level courses were introduced in September 2021 in the following pathways: 

• Building Services Engineering for Construction
• Health
• Healthcare Science
• Science
• Onsite Construction
• Digital Support Services
• Digital Business Services

 

T Levels are 2-year courses which are taken after GCSEs and are broadly equivalent in size to 3 A levels. These courses have been developed in collaboration with employers and education providers so that the content meets the needs of industry and prepares students for entry into skilled employment, an apprenticeship or related technical study through further or higher education.

T Levels offer students practical and knowledge-based learning at a school or college and on-the-job experience.

Students who have completed their T Level will receive a nationally recognised certificate which will show their overall grade and a breakdown of what they have achieved. This will include:

• an overall grade for the T Level, shown as pass, merit, distinction or distinction*
• a separate grade for the core component, using A* to E
• a separate grade for each occupational specialism, shown as pass, merit or distinction
• confirmation that they have completed an industry placement

 

The courses are available at selected colleges, schools and other providers across England. Information on all providers offering T Levels is available on the T Levels website (opens in a new tab).

Please note that results for 2022/23 are provisional, as appeals may still be underway which could result in changes to some individual grades, and some partially achieving students are expected to complete their industry placement during summer 2023. Students for whom the core component or occupational specialism result is currently pending are excluded from these results.

Data are correct as of 9th August 2023.

This publication includes updated data for 2021/22, labelled as ‘revised’, and provisional data for 2022/23 will in turn be updated next year.

Students included in these data for 2022/23 mirrors Ofqual data on T Level Technical Qualification (TQ) results (opens in a new tab), which includes data for students expected to complete their T Level programme in 2023 who have completed both the core component and occupational specialism. Results may differ slightly due to differences in processing and rounding and in the timing of data collection. 

Changes to the methodology in 2022/23

Change in methodology for calculating the T level pass rate

The calculation for T Level results has changed to only include students who have attempted both Ofqual accredited components of the T Level (Core component, Occupational specialism) which are the examined elements of the two-year programme. 

The previous methodology included those students who had attempted at least one component (and so included students who had potentially dropped out after 1 year). The change makes the T Level pass rate data more comparable to A levels, where students are only included if they enter all papers for a particular A level qualification.

A more minor change is that students whose gender is unknown are now included in the published figures.

The combined impact of the changes is shown in the table below, which applies the new methodology to provisional data for T Level results in 2021/22 and shows the difference from what was published last year.

The impact is to reduce the number of students included last year from 1,029 to 991. The same set of students are reported for the Overall T Level, and for the elements that make up the T Level. There is a larger change in the number of students with core results than the occupational specialism as the core is generally done in the first year and so was more affected by any students dropping out in the second year. The increase in 3 occupational specialism students is a result of including students whose gender is unknown.

 

Provisional 2021/22	Overall T Level	Core component	Occupational specialism	Industry placement
Number of students (Based on new methodology)	991	991	991	991
Impact of change (difference)	-38	-38	+3	-38

Focusing on those that were assessed in both the  core and occupational specialism has the impact of increasing the proportion of students that pass the T Level as shown in the table below. 

Provisional 2021/22	Grade	Achieved grade (count)	Achieved grade (%)	Impact of change from old to new methodology
		Based on new methodology
Overall T Level	Distinction*	28	2.8	+0.1 ppt
	Distinction	329	33.2	+1.3 ppt
	Merit	412	41.6	+1.8 ppt
	Pass	183	18.5	+0.7 ppt
	Partial achievement	39	3.9	-3.5 ppt
	Unclassified	0	0.0	-0.4 ppt
	Total students	991	n/a	-3.7%
	Achieving Pass or above	952	96.1	+3.8 ppt

More detail on the impact of the methodology change on reporting for the core component, occupational specialism, and industry placement (again applying the new methodology to provisional data for 2021/22) is in the methodology document.

Scheduled revisions to data

Updating provisional data for 2021/22

Provisional data published last year – based on students who started T Levels in September 2021 – is updated in underlying data and labelled as ‘revised’.  Any changes since results day in August 2022 reflect core and occupational specialism marking or moderation reviews, retakes, and if students subsequently complete their industry placement.

The table below shows the change between provisional and revised data for the first cohort of T Level students, who started in September 2020.

Revised 2021/22	Grade	Achieved grade (count)	Achieved grade (%)	Impact of change from provisional to revised data
		Based on revised data
Overall T Level	Distinction*	28	2.8	0.0 ppt
	Distinction	338	34.1	+0.9 ppt
	Merit	416	42.0	+0.4 ppt
	Pass	181	18.3	-0.2 ppt
	Partial achievement	28	2.8	-1.1 ppt
	Unclassified	0	0.0	0.0 ppt
	Total students	991	n/a	0.0%
	Achieving Pass or above	963	97.2	+1.1 ppt

Further detail on the impact of revisions on the core, occupational specialism and industry placement on 2021/22 can be found in the methodology document.

The overall impact of methodology change and scheduled revisions

In summary, the proportion of students achieving pass or above in 2021/22 was originally published as 92.2% using the old methodology and the provisional data. Using the new methodology, the proportion would have been 96.1% based on provisional data, and is now 97.2% based on revised data

Updating provisional data for 2022/23

Provisional data for 2022/23 will be updated to revised in August 2024. Note, there are 175 students from the second cohort of T Level students recorded as having not yet completed their industry placement, of which 125 had passed the core and occupational specialism.

T Level roll out

This is the second year of results for T Levels and also represents the second phase of the roll out in T Level pathways. It includes results from 101 providers, 58 of which taught T Levels from 2021 for the first time.

In the first year there were three pathways available with a further seven added in year two.

The number of students that started in the academic year 2021/22 with a T Level result by August 2023 was 3,448, compared to 991 for 2020/21 starters (revised data for 2021/22). 

The three T Level pathways that have now been available to two cohorts saw large increases in student numbers: Design, surveying and planning for construction saw a 122% increase from 199 in 2021/22 to 441 in 2022/23, Digital production, design and development saw a 108% increase from 330 in 2021/22 to 687 in 2022/23 and Education and Early Years saw a 114%  increase from 462 in 2021/22 to 989 in 2022/23.

Education and Early Years - in its second year of roll out - had the largest number of students with a T Level result in 2022/23 (989). Of the new pathways added in year two, Health had the largest number of T Level results awarded in 2022/23 (675).

The region with the highest number of T Level results in  2022/23 was the North West of England with 687 and the lowest number was the North East with 174. 

Users should exercise caution when drawing conclusions from these numbers as this programme is in the early stages of a roll out and therefore will be highly dependent on the schools/colleges that are involved in these early stages.

Overall T Level results

Overall T Level grades are calculated by the Department from core component grades, occupational specialism grades and industry placement completion status according to rules set out in the T Levels action plan (opens in a new tab). 

Across all subjects combined (3,448 students), the percentage of students achieving a Pass or above in their T Level was 90.5%. 94.9% of females and  85.8% of males achieved a Pass or above. 

Health had the highest percentage of students achieving Pass or above (96.0%) whilst Digital Business Services had the lowest (70.0%). 

The T Level pathway in which the highest percentage of students achieved a Distinction or above was Education and Early Years (34.5%), whilst Digital Business Services had the lowest (2.5%).

The overall pass rate (Pass or above) was higher for females (94.9%) than males (85.8%). More females achieved Distinction or above than males (29.9% compared with 14.1%). Overall, the most common grade for both females and males was Merit. 

Core component results

The core component of a T Level is assessed through one or more written exams and an Employer Set Project, typically taken midway through the course.  It is possible for learners to sit the core component assessment up to three times. 

For the first time, the results on the core components are based on formal assessments. In T Level results for the previous academic year, 2021/22, provisional results for the core component were based on Teacher Assessed Grades, due to cancellation of exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The data presented here includes the highest grade achieved if a student made more than one attempt at the assessment. 

Across all  T Levels awarded in 2022/23 (3,448 students), the percentage of students achieving an E or above in the core component assessment was 98.7%. The most common grade for the core component, across all pathways, was C. This was achieved by 33.0% of students.

The core component in which the highest percentage of students achieved grade E or above was in Education and Early Years (100%), whilst Digital Business Services had the lowest proportion (80.0%).

The percentage achieving an E or above in the core component assessment was higher for females (99.5%) than males (97.8%). 

Occupational specialism results

The occupational specialism component of a T Level is assessed through a practical project or assignments, typically taken in the second year of the T Level. 

Across all T Levels awarded in 2022/23 (3,448 students), the percentage of students achieving a Pass or above in their occupational specialism was 94.9%. 

The occupational specialism with the highest pass rate was Health (99.6%), whilst Onsite Construction had the lowest (80.0%).   

The most common grade for the Occupational Specialism, across all pathways, was Merit. 50.5% of students achieved this grade.

The percentage of students achieving a Pass or above in their occupational specialism was higher for females (97.9%) than males (91.6%).

Industry placement completion

The on-the-job training part of a T Level is achieved through an industry placement of at least 315 hours – approximately 45 days.  

Special consideration is available where a student has experienced adverse circumstances and has not been able to complete the minimum placement hours but has demonstrated sufficient progress towards their learning goals and worked directly to an external employer. 

Across all subject areas combined (3,448 students), the percentage of students who completed an industry placement was 94.9% - for males this was 93.0% and for females 96.7%. 

There were small differences in the proportions completing the industry placement between T Level pathways. The highest proportion of students completing (including those completing with special consideration)  was in Onsite Construction (98.7%) and the lowest was in Building Services Engineering (89.9%). 

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Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

• Provisional T Level results

Ad hoc official statistics

Ad hoc official statistics are one off publications that have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• meet identified user needs
• produced according to sound methods
• well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Provisional T Level results statistics and data:

16 to 18 Accountability Data and Development team

Email: Attainment.STATISTICS@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Pat Thomas

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