A measles outbreak at a nursery, a hospital budget crisis and a seriously ill new mother were amongst some of the testing scenarios encountered by T Level students at Middlesbrough College at a special event to mark National T Levels Week.
More than 200 students put their skills to the test in a series of exercises designed to demonstrate cross-disciplinary work and replicate events they may come across during the course of their careers.
First and second year T Level students on courses including childcare, healthcare, business studies and construction took part in the event which was devised by Middlesbrough College Curriculum Team Leader Alfie Scott.
Alfie explained: “Earlier this year, the College opened our new health and care academy, which is eight suites filled with high quality, state of the art equipment for our students to develop their skills on.
“For National T Levels Week, we thought it would be a good idea to set aside a day where T Level students from different disciplines put what they have been learning into practice with a series of scenarios designed to involve all of them.
“For example, we gave them a situation where a measles outbreak had put a strain on resources at a hospital.
“The business students had to come up with cost-saving measures and recommend reallocations to cover the additional expenses, the childcare students had to ensure the hospital nursery remained staffed while keeping children safe and the healthcare students had to suggest strategies to improve patient flow such as opening temporary wards.
“To do this effectively, they all had to work together under time pressure so it was a good test of their ability to not only use skills they have acquired but also to look at situations from other points of view and create effective solutions.”
Students who took part in the exercise said it was a new experience which had helped put their studies into context.
T Level Childcare student Olivia Saunders, 17, said: “I’ve not done something like this before but it was really effective.
“We do a lot of practical work on our course but it is not normally as integrated as this and doesn’t involve all the different disciplines and areas that you would get in a hospital.”
Seventeen-year-old Millie Lymer, who is in the second year of her T Level course in Health & Social Care, said: “It was really good because you see things from a whole series of different points of view so you have the health aspect, the childcare aspect, the financial aspect, etc.
“Studying health and social care you don’t tend to realise the role that business and finance has to play in what you do, such as the cost of equipment and the importance of working within a budget, and the exercise really brought that home.”
Fellow T Level Health & Social Care student Annie Ryan, also 17, added: “On our normal course, we work with the same people but with this, we were working with people from other areas so we were able to pool our knowledge and share learnings.
“It helped us to appreciate all the different aspects which make up the healthcare workplace and I’d definitely like to do something like this again.”
Alfie Scott said: “It was a brilliant day and so good to see how well the students worked together and how they were able to see how all the different roles are interlinked.
“It was a great collaboration across the college and something we definitely plan to do again.
“Next year we’re looking to make it even bigger so we can involve students on other T Level courses such as digital and IT.”
T-levels were introduced in 2020 as an alternative to A-levels, apprenticeships and other courses for 16 to 19-year-olds.
Equivalent to 3 A-levels, T Levels focus on vocational skills and can help students into skilled employment, higher education or apprenticeships.
Students on the two-year courses spend 80% of their time learning skills in the classroom with the remaining 20% spent in an industry placement where they get to put those skills into action.
To find out more about T Levels at Middlesbrough College, click here.
