The industry placement delivery process

The quality and effectiveness of the provider-employer relationship is at the heart of successful industry placements. 

This resource identifies at a headline level where providers and employers need to work together.  

Contents:

• Preparing for industry placements 

• The industry placement delivery process

Who is it for? 

T Level leads and all staff involved in all aspects of T Levels, including curriculum design, teaching, student support and employer engagement. 

How to use this resource 

Use this resource to: 

• brief and introduce new staff to the industry placement process  
• guide your planning for and delivery of industry placements  
• check you’re delivering each part of the process, although you will need to make sure you are compliant with guidance through internal quality assurance. 

You will want to assess how to manage each element with each employer. Some employers will want a very structured, in depth involvement; at the other end of the spectrum some will want a very light touch and will be happy to be driven by your advice. Some will want considerable support, others will be largely self-sufficient. 

Providers of different types (colleges, schools, UTCs, 6th form colleges, private providers) will have different approaches to working with employers and their staff will have different levels of experience in working with employers and of industry placements, so you will need to assess how the suggested processes fit with your organisation. 

1. Preparing for industry placements 

Taking a strategic approach will be important to positioning industry placements both within your organisation and with employers. 

Some of the steps providers are taking before they start delivering industry placements include: 

1. Having a clear vision of where T Levels and industry placements fit with their  current offer 
2. Communicating this vision to all staff, potential students, employers, networks and other stakeholders to generate interest 
3. Updating marketing, website, promotion and other information  
4. Identifying how employers can support the learning journey 
5. Developing employer engagement functions to include T levels either integrating industry placements with existing employer engagement activities or setting up as stand alone 
6. Working with staff to:

• • build buy-in and involvement 
  • define staffing, skills and resource needs 
  • define a blueprint for T Level learning delivery and student readiness learning with ideas for the best fit for the industry placement hours 
  • set up systems to track and monitor industry placements 
  • set up industry placement processes including for example recruitment, selection, risk assessments, health and safety checks and any required paperwork, allocate staff to each employer 
  • establish T Levels and industry placements within the existing quality assurance cycle 

 7. Working with employers to: 

• • create employer boards, forum and networking groups to provide opportunities to update and share information and intelligence 
  • develop a pool of employers with potential to offer industry placements 
  • understand the needs of their sectors, their organisations and their workforce priorities 

• • understand how T levels industry placements can support these priorities  
  • identify support, training or resources that workplace supervisors or mentors need to support placement students  
  • agree placements model that fit their business, considering work flow peaks and troughs, projects available, and how this fits your curriculum  
  • how they want to advertise, recruit and select their student/s 
  • how industry flexibilities may benefit the employer and student 

8. Working with potential students to: 

• • raise awareness of the T Level content and industry placements  
  • engage parents both as support for the student and as a potential employers able to support industry placements 

There are other resources and the T Level Planner that you can use in developing your strategic approach.   

2. The industry placement delivery process

The diagrams below are based on the processes set out in detail T Level industry placements: delivery guidance (July 2020) and the T Level industry placements employer guide (May 2021). 

Use them as checklists to confirm you have everything in place. 

During placements

The industry placement itself will be largely in the hands of the employer. Your role as provider will be to support the student and the employer to get the most from the experience by providing assistance and clear guidance throughout. 

Consider each of the steps below as a checklist to make sure you’re offering support at the right time. 

At the end of placements

As well as the formal steps needed to confirm that the placement has met the requirements of the T Level and that all the necessary evidence has been collected and verified, feedback for the student will be critical part of their learning journey.

Providing detailed feedback on their progress and achievements during the will contribute to their continuing learning and their CV.   

The end of each placement also offers opportunities to cement and maintain relationships with employers to encourage their future involvement in industry placements. You may also be able to use feedback and evidence for testimonies, case studies and PR both for you and for the employers.