Find qualification levels confusing? Read our downloadable guide.
Download our factsheet about staying in Education or Training until 18.
Making choices about your future is not easy.
This section helps guide you through the choices at key stages and helps you plan. Remember that plans can change and that’s Ok.
Watch this video – Its Ok not to have a plan.
Formal education and training can provide the qualifications and knowledge you need to undertake a role. However, learning takes many forms and helps develop personal skills you need.
This section will help guide you through making choices on the education and training on offer at different transition stages.
All young people in the UK must complete full-time education until the age of 16 but this doesn't mean it's the end of the road for learning.
The exact date you can leave school is dependent on where you live in the UK, and your birth date. In England, people may leave school on the last Friday in June as long as they will be 16 by the end of that year’s summer holidays.
However, everyone must stay in some form of education or training until they are 18. Post-16 options are full-time education (e.g. at a school, college or registered training provider), an apprenticeship, traineeship or part-time education or training combined with employment or self employment for 20 hours or more a week.
The world of work is constantly changing and therefore learning should be considered lifelong and ongoing. Learning can be undertaken for either personal or professional reasons.
T-Level qualification
T-Levels are brand new, two-year courses designed with employers. As the next step after GCSEs, they combine classroom theory, practical learning and a three-month industry placement to give young people the technical skills, knowledge and experience needed to get a job in a skilled profession.
Find out more about T-Levels offered locally:
Read about qualification levels
Find qualification levels confusing? Read our downloadable guide.
Education or Training until 18
Download our factsheet about staying in Education or Training until 18.
