CII teams up with professional body to build new route into insurance for school leavers

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has teamed up with UK awarding organisation Pearson to support the launch of T Levels, which will create a new route into an insurance or personal finance career.

The qualification – Insurance T Level – has been endorsed by the CII and will be offered to college students by Pearson.

Pearson is a professional body and is part of the panel that validates content for the two-year Finance T Level courses.

T Levels are new courses that came into fruition in September 2020 – these will follow GCSEs and, once achieved, will be equivalent to three A Levels combined.

Finance T Levels, in particular, were first launched in September 2022 – consisting of education on insurance practice, investments, wealth management, financial compliance and risk analysis. It also includes a nine-week placement within the profession.

CII early careers manager Manuel Thompson-Oloko said: “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.”

Shaping the future

Thompson-Oloko further noted that the qualification will enable current employers to “ultimately create 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,” he added.

Suzanne Hall, head of product at Pearson, meanwhile, said that the organisation is “pleased” the CII has supported the launch.

She continued: “For students wishing to undertake the Insurance Occupational Specialism, knowing that [the] CII supports the qualification’s content will give them the confidence the knowledge, skills and behaviours they are learning are appropriate for the industry sector and valued by employers.”