Buckinghamshire College Group are involved in a pilot programme relating to new industry placements. These industry placements are a new part of Level 3 Technical Education courses, designed to give students a valuable opportunity to put their learning into practice, develop excellent technical skills and become more employable. Your young adult will spend 45-60 days working for an employer in a role directly relevant to their course. Over the next 2-3 years these new qualifications will be phased in across the UK and this pilot will help us prepare for their future.
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What you need to know:
- The placement is 45 days minimum in the workplace.
- This is a direct response to new reforms to technical education and work readiness.
- The placement will be a good fit with the student’s course, meaning they will be able to develop their technical skills required to work in that industry.
- Those eligible for support for expenses such as travel and subsistence will continue to receive it. If your young adult does not currently receive this support but travel costs, etc may be prohibitive please let the college know and we may be able to assist.
- The placement for your young adult will take place during the academic year, on a day/days that they are not timetabled to be in College. What are the benefits of doing a placement?
- Students will improve their ability to gain a job.
- Likely to result in further opportunities like paid employment and apprenticeships
- Students will develop their knowledge and skills relevant to their course, future careerand develop the wider employability skills.
- Students gain greater understanding of what it is like to work in their chosen industry.
- Students will receive coaching and mentoring from a line manager. Arrangements to support students with Special Education Needs (SEN) or Learning Disabilities or Difficulties (LDD) Industry placements are for all students and the industry placement coordinator will take account of how best to accommodate any student who might need additional support working with the learning support team.
1. My young adult hasn’t had a good experience with work experience in the past - why would industry placements be any different?
Traditional work experience involves a student working for just 1 or 2 weeks and are often placed within a role or business that is NOT relevant to their studies and interests. The new industry placements will be for 45-60 days with students placed within businesses that are relevant to their courses, meaning they will be able to develop and hone the skills they really need.
2. Will my young adult be making the tea and photocopying?
We work with each employer to establish a suitable job description is in place which is shared with the student. The emphasis of the placement is to develop skills in the workplace to help them progress and contribute to the employer and gain a valuable experience.
3. But won’t this take them away from their studies?
No - the industry placement will be planned to fit well with their studies so they will be prepared for the placement and it will add real value to their course.
4. How can I be sure they will receive a good placement?
We will match your young adult with an employer that is directly relevant to their course. Using the job description as a starting point we will ensure that the employer has relevant work and provides a good standard of line management so the student can receive the coaching and support needed to learn and work well. The student will have the opportunity to provide us with a list of their preferred employers they would most like to be placed with. This will be done in good time before the industry placement.
5. What about their part-time job?
A part-time job may qualify provided it meets essential criteria of an industry placement, including:
- directly related to the student’s course of study;
- minimum of 45 days;
- meets quality assurance standards in terms of health, safety, safeguarding, insurance etc;
- involves appropriately challenging work and occupationally-specific learning objectives which are agreed between the education provider, student and employer; and
- the employer is external and not a family business.
We will provide plenty of notice regarding when the industry placement will take place to allow the student to change shifts if needed.
6. What does my young adult need to do?
- They must attend the placement.
- They will be accountable to a line manager at the business who will expect them to meet standards in areas such as professionalism, time- keeping, communication and teamwork.
- They must adhere to all health and safety rules and dress code at the business.
- They need to complete an online diary during the placement, reflecting on their learning and development.
7. What checks will be done to make sure this is safe?
We will run due diligence on all employers for health & safety, insurance and safeguarding purposes.
Need more info?
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01296 780 255
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