Don’t Forget the T Level, says FMB

As students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland collect their GCSE results, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is urging school leavers not to overlook the T Level.

FMB says the pathway into the construction industry is little understood, with most adults (78%) never having heard of the T Level – a two-year technical qualification for 16 to 19-year-olds, launched in 2020, designed as the technical equivalent of A-levels.

A poll of 2,107 UK adults, carried out by Savanta for the FMB, found that apprenticeships remain the only route into construction with mass recognition (86%).

It also found fewer than three in five (57%) have heard of BTECs, and only 39% know about degree apprenticeships and 38% about traineeships.

Although around half of 16 to 18-year-olds said they have heard of T Levels, just 17% of people aged 65 and over have.

Don’t Forget the T Level

Brian Berry, FMB CEO

Brian Berry, FMB Chief Executive, said: “Today thousands of teenagers will be handed a set of results and asked to choose what comes next. Our research shows that the people they turn to for advice — parents, grandparents, family friends — have never heard of one of the main routes into construction on offer.”

Berry urged, “You cannot pick a path nobody has told you exists. If we are serious about building the homes this country needs, the industry and Government have to explain the ways into construction in an accessible way— and small builders need the support to offer those placements in the first place.”

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