The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has teamed up with education company Pearson to support the launch of T Levels courses.
Initially launched in September 2020, T Levels have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses to meet the needs of the insurance and financial services professions and prepare students for work, further training, or study. It offers students a combination of classroom learning and on-the-job experience during a work placement of at least 315 hours, equal to around 45 days.
The CII is part of the panel that validates content for the two-year Finance T Level courses that follow on from GCSEs and are equivalent to three A levels and include occupational specialist learning covering insurance practice, investments, wealth management, financial compliance, and risk analysis. It has also endorsed the Insurance T Level that Pearson will offer students.
Commenting on the partnership with Pearson, CII chief executive Alan Valance said attracting and retaining top talent is key to the insurance and financial planning profession’s success.
“We are proud to work with Pearson to provide yet another route into a rewarding career, where you can improve the public’s financial resilience and help individuals achieve their life goals,” Valance said.
Manuel Thompson-Oloko, early careers manager of the CII, added: “T Levels offer employers the opportunity to help shape the behaviours, enablers and technical expertise of budding students who have made the choice to study an insurance-specific qualification, and ultimately creating a pipeline of future talent for our profession.
“The T-Levels aim to reach talent before they have formed definitive career paths at university, embed a value and expectation of professional learning from the earliest opportunity, improve socio-economic diversity of our talent attraction by reducing the focus on those who have been able to gain higher education qualifications, and provide the right students for placements within businesses, brokered by the CII.”
Suzanne Hall, head of product at Pearson, said the company was pleased to team up with CII to help the T Level in Finance students.
“For students wishing to undertake the insurance occupational specialism, knowing that CII support the qualifications content will give them the confidence the knowledge, skills, and behaviours they are learning are appropriate for the industry sector and valued by employers,” Hall added.
