T Level Health and Science: Skills Targets

This guide sets out the employability and technical skills targets for the T Level in Health, Healthcare Science and Science, broken down by occupational specialism. Use it to assign placement targets that align with each learner's specialism.

Occupational Specialism: Supporting Healthcare (Nursing / Midwifery / Mental Health / Care of Children and Young People)

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience to accomplish a task or goal.
• Assessing risks: contributing to a situation or process to prevent potential adverse effects.
• Self-managing: demonstrating professional behaviours, including appropriate conduct in the clinical environment, appropriate dress and punctuality.
• Advanced communication skills: engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Leading: inspiring others, setting direction, taking responsibility, modelling appropriate behaviours.
• Observing: situational awareness, monitoring.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving, storing.

Technical skills targets

• Person-centred care: working in a person-centred way, contributing to safeguarding, implementing duty of care and candour, demonstrating patient advocacy.
• Health and wellbeing promotion: supporting clients to make healthy choices.
• Standards and procedures: following all required standards, policies and procedures, including health and safety requirements and legislation.
• Physiological measurements: applying understanding of commonly measured physiological states, using the correct equipment, and assisting registered nurses/health professionals.
• Infection prevention and control: maintaining a safe working environment using techniques such as waste management, spillage handling, hand washing and PPE.
• Patient comfort and wellbeing: assisting with overall comfort and wellbeing, promoting clinical effectiveness, and providing evidence-based, person-centred care.
• Professional practice: appropriate conduct, dress and punctuality, demonstrating the 6 Cs in relation to Care, Compassion and Communication.

Occupational Specialism: Pharmacy Services

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience.
• Assessing risks: assessing a situation or process for potential adverse effects.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving and storing customer information.
• Self-managing: professional behaviours, including appropriate conduct in the pharmacy environment, appropriate dress and punctuality.

Technical skills targets

• Biometric measurements: performing measurements such as height/weight, blood pressure and blood glucose to aid health promotion.
• Pharmacy IT systems: labelling products, managing stock control, record keeping and prescription logging.
• Customer service: providing person-centred care and advice, promoting healthy lifestyles and handling sales transactions.
• Product display: displaying products to maximise sales and identifying when a customer's condition should be referred to a clinical practitioner.
• Administrative tasks: paperwork for controlled drugs, completing and checking invoices and orders, and completing VAT returns.

Occupational Specialism: Assisting with Healthcare Science

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience.
• Assessing risks: assessing a situation or process for potential adverse effects.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving and storing information.
• Investigating: designing and carrying out tests and interrogating data.
• Self-managing: professional behaviours, including appropriate conduct in the healthcare environment, appropriate dress and punctuality.

Technical skills targets

• Clinical measurements: selecting appropriate equipment (e.g. blood pressure, ECG recording) and understanding the principles of accurate measurement.
• Sample handling: receiving, handling and storing patient samples for processing and disposal, adhering to sector and local guidelines.
• Specimen processing: processing patient specimens using appropriate techniques, following Standard Operating Procedures and infection prevention measures.
• Equipment calibration: calibrating and maintaining equipment to ensure it is fit and safe to use.
• Data recording: using IT systems to record details of samples received and ensuring sample quality for processing.

Occupational Specialism: Technical - Food Sciences

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving and storing food product data.
• Presenting: conveying information to an audience to stimulate discussion and secure consistent understanding.
• Assessing risks: assessing a situation, proposal, product or process for potential adverse effects.

Technical skills targets

• Data collection and analysis: assisting with the collection, interpretation and analysis of food product data to track production trends.
• Pathogen identification: sampling a food environment and identifying pathogens to ensure food safety.
• Sustainability analysis: planning and carrying out sustainability analysis for a new food product, considering raw materials, packaging, waste reuse, energy usage and transportation costs.
• Taste panel evaluation: planning and carrying out taste panels, evaluating results and recommending product improvements.
• Food safety and standards: applying food safety and health and safety legislation, food industry standards and quality management systems.

Occupational Specialism: Technical - Metrology Sciences

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience.
• Assessing risks: assessing a situation, proposal, product or process for potential adverse effects.
• Planning: identifying discrete steps, estimating time and resources, prioritising, coordinating, sequencing activity.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving and storing scientific data and information.

Technical skills targets

• Measurement planning: planning scientific measurements that comply with regulatory requirements.
• Measurement execution: carrying out measurement tasks to ensure accuracy, following regulatory and health and safety requirements.
• Equipment maintenance: identifying and resolving issues with measurement tools and equipment in a scientific metrology environment.
• Calibration and validation: calibrating equipment and validating measurement instruments to ensure accuracy.
• Data handling: collecting, recording and analysing measurement data, ensuring data integrity and accuracy.

Occupational Specialism: Technical - Laboratory Sciences

Employability skills targets

• Communicating: active listening, use of visual, oral and written methods, engaging with individuals, sharing, building rapport, adapting style and tone.
• Working in a team: collaborating with others with different skills, expertise and experience.
• Assessing risks: assessing a situation, proposal, product or process for potential adverse effects.
• Recording: transcribing, noting, capturing, saving and storing scientific data and information.
• Solving problems: applying a logical approach to identifying issues and proposing solutions.

Technical skills targets

• Scientific techniques: measuring physical properties (e.g. polarity, temperature, pressure, conductivity, radioactivity) following Standard Operating Procedures and regulatory requirements.
• Laboratory techniques: identifying, separating and analysing substances, ensuring compliance with health and safety requirements.
• Equipment management: maintaining, cleaning and calibrating laboratory equipment using appropriate techniques.
• Data integrity: handling, recording, interpreting and analysing data to ensure integrity and reliability.
• Regulatory compliance: understanding and complying with regulations appropriate to the sector and working environment.

Source document attached below.