Digital Support Services: T Level (Technical qualification) Full-time

Course overview

During this two-year programme, you will learn the core knowledge that underpins the digital support industry and develop specific skills that will allow you to enter employment in roles such as a digital support technician, digital applications technician, digital service technician, infrastructure technician, IT solutions technician or hardware and software solutions roles.

The course is split into two years. The first year is made up of core content and the second year you will study one of two possible pathways: Digital Infrastructure or Digital Support.

T Level courses have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses so the content meets the needs of industry and prepares you for work. They provide the knowledge and experience needed to open the door to highly skilled employment, an apprenticeship or higher-level study, including university.

T Levels are courses for 16-to 18-year-olds that are studied at the same level as A Levels. They are for young people who prefer a more technical education when they come to College, rather than following a purely academic pathway, or a work-based apprenticeship.

T Levels combine classroom theory, practical learning and a minimum of 45 days industry placement with an employer to make sure you have real experience of the workplace.

Course content

The core content you will study in year one is assessed through two external exams and an employer set project.

Paper 1 is an externally set and marked exam and will cover:

• Business context including business environment, digital value to business, technical change management and risks in a business context.
• Culture including moral and ethical issues.
• Data including data and information in organisations, data formats, data systems and data management.
• Digital analysis including computational thinking and use of algorithms. Digital environments including physical environments, networks, virtual environments, cloud environments and resilience of environments.
• Diversity and inclusion including digital inclusion and impact of non-inclusive digital practices.
• Learning including emerging trends and technologies.
• Legislation including relevant legislation, guidelines and code of conduct.
• Planning including project planning, life cycle management and quality management.
• Security including security risks and threat mitigation.
• Testing including root cause analysis and testing methods.
• Tools including presentation tools, project management methodologies, evaluation tools and collaborative communication tools.

Paper 2 is also an externally set and marked exam and will cover:

• Careers within the digital support services sector.
• Communication in digital support services including communication formats and interactions between digital support services and clients/colleagues.
• Fault analysis and problem resolution including fault analysis tools, frameworks for problem management, root cause analysis and incident management.