Civil Service Organisations: T Level Industry Placement Journey - Preparation
Get everything ready for each placement before the student starts
Outcome
The student, provider and staff supporting the student understand how the placement will work and know how to make it succeed
Key steps
Move over a box to see what’s involved and click to go to the step you’re interested in.
| 1 - Student selection | Select a student who is interested in the organisation and fits in well with its culture and values |
| 2 - Placement delivery model | Design the placement to give the student a range and variety of work experience relevant to their T Level and early career |
| 3 - Clearance and security | Get clearance for the placement and carry out security checks with the student |
| 4 - Health and safety | Ensure that the working environment is safe for the student and promotes their physical and mental health and wellbeing |
| 5 - Staff training | Give line managers, supervisors and mentors the skills and knowledge to support the student effectively |
| 6 - Placement packs | Produce guidance, checklists and forms to manage the placement and record key information about the student’s progress |
Student selection
The purpose of selection is to offer the placement to a student who is likely to benefit most from working in your organisation in terms of:
- What and how they learn
- Their early career choice
Selection involves the student, the provider, and appropriate people in your organisation. It can use similar processes used to select apprentices and new recruits generally. The main steps in the process are:
- Produce a role description – outlines what the student’s role and responsibilities will be and shows the kind of person you’re looking for
- Advertise the offer and invite applications – this is normally done by the provider using the information you provide
- Assess applications – this is normally a joint activity by you and the provider using a process and criteria agreed jointly
- Interview shortlisted candidates – normally done by a panel made up of appropriate staff in your organisation and the provider
- Communicate the outcome and give feedback – to the successful candidate and other applicants who were interviewed
Examples
The process used by FCDO Services to select a student involves three linked activities:
- A placement day at the provider to:
- Tell T Level students about FCDO Services
- Explain what the placement is and how it would work
- Describe the job the successful student would be doing
Interviews with applicants giving them the opportunity to:
- Demonstrate their problem-solving skills
- Talk about projects they were proud of
- Show their interest in their T Level subject
Selection and confirmation, which included:
- Deciding which student would fit the placement best
- Check that the student still wanted to take up the placement
- Finding out any support needs or requirements
- Giving feedback to all applicants.
The DfE produces a role profile for each placement using a standard template. It contains:
- General information about the department and directorate, placement location and delivery model
- Role description with a summary of the role, proposed areas of work, key responsibilities, skills and personal specification
- Consent form confirming the line manager’s agreement to host the placement.
Downloads:
- DfE Role Profile – Digital
- DfE Role Profile – Management and Administration
- FCDO Application criteria – Marking sheet
Further resources
Selecting students for industry placements
Placement delivery model
Industry placements usually use three broad models:
Examples
This is when the student comes into the organisation on a regular basis, e.g. one day a week. It works well:
- Where a regular, steady pattern of attendance suits the business
- Where repeated tasks may need doing e.g. weekly
- Where supervision time is limited, so the student can’t easily be supported for more than one or two days a week
- To give the student end-to-end experience of a project lasting several weeks or months
This is when the student comes in for an extended period of time, e.g. four weeks. It works well:
- When roles are needed seasonally or at peak times when demand is high
- For project-based assignments
- To give the student a realistic taste of what it’s like to be a full-time employee working five days a week
A mix of day release and block release
This is when the student comes in for day release during part of their placement and does some in a block. It works well:
- Where the workflow is unpredictable, and attendance needs to be flexible
- Where it makes sense to cover induction as a block. Moving to day release afterwards
- To give the student (and provider) the greatest flexibility to fit in with their study and other obligations.
There is no set pattern – employers can use the one that suits them best. However, it must be agreed with the student and the provider before the placement starts.
T Levels are two-year courses. Industry placements can take place during either or both years. Some employers prefer the student to come in during the second year, when they have learned the knowledge and skills needed for the role. Others prefer to split the placement, with the student rotating between different teams in the first year and using this experience to choose a single team for the second year.
A wide range of delivery approaches can be used to provide the right experience for the student. They include work tasters, small team projects, shared placements, hybrid placements and time spent kin skills hubs and training centres. Alternative delivery approaches exist to address the specific needs of students with special education needs or disabilities (SEND) and those studying T Levels in Young Offenders Institutions.
Before the placement starts, your provider will want to find out what your exact needs are so that they can prepare the student to ‘hit the ground running’ when they join you. This could include the development of:
- Technical skills and knowledge required in the placement
- Employability skills needed for all workplaces
- Professional attitudes and standards of behaviour expected of Civil Service employees
Examples
At first, students in the ONS were placed into two specialist teams. This worked well until a review of placements identified that students would benefit from a greater breadth of knowledge by being placed in desk-side operations, in the TechBar team. A TechBar is a physical location where staff can go to for device repairs, tech advice, servicing etc.
This gave students greater understanding of the technical issues faced by users, plus gave them experience of interacting with internal customers.
The DfE takes a flexible approach to placement design so that each one can be organised to meet the needs of the host team and the provider.
The provider and the team agree:
- Start and end dates for the placement
- Whether students come in for a day a week or in blocks
- Which day(s) the student comes in
- Whether they stay in one team or rotate around different teams
Constraints from the provider side are also taken account of. For example, if a provider has a sizeable group of students on a T Level and has partnerships with many different employers, it may be more practical for them to organise the placements in a certain way or at certain times of the year.
In practice, most of the current placements in the department are a mixed model combining day release for one or two days a week with block placements for longer periods.
The placement team is starting to monitor any differences in the experience of students doing the same T Level with different placement models. Insights from this study will help to determine preferred models in future.
Further resources
Industry placement delivery approaches
Clearance and security
Security is a key consideration in many Civil Service organisations. Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks require the student to supply relevant identification documents. Some placements may require higher level checks including CTC and SC. These checks are normally done with the departmental security team.
The clearance process should start as soon as the student has been selected so as not to delay the placement start date.
Security and confidentiality when a student is on site during the placement must be planned for in advance. This may include:
- Asking the student to sign a confidentiality agreement
- Buddying the student with another team member who can monitor their access
- Planning elements of work that are not of the highest categories of sensitivity
- Creating discrete projects that reflect real work opportunities without compromising confidentiality
Access to IT may require you to create a pseudo account, similar to securing IT access for a Fast Streamer or Agency staff.
Examples
For its first small group of T Level students, ONS experienced some issues with the security clearance (SC) process. Originally, Cabinet Office were to undertake this task, but ONS was required to progress at the last minute. This caused more stress than it should have done, both for students and the team organising the placements.
The key messages are:
- It is easier to take control of your own SC requirements
- Start the checks early, in good time before the placement
- Make sure all documentation is complete – the provider can help with this
- Involve security teams if necessary
As with other students or temporary staff, T Level students on industry placements are not allowed to take IT equipment out of the office. Special arrangements were made to give them access to kit by collecting it from the security team and then returning it each night.
The DfE has around 12 providers for its industry placement programme. Working with the providers to carry out pre-employment and clearance checks in a consistent way across all the different offices where placements are located is an important task for the DfE placement team.
One lesson the team learned from its pilot placements is that things can get slowed down if students don't have the ID and other security documentation they need. Working closely with providers means that the process can start early, and the relevant documentation can be collected well before the placements are due to start.
Downloads
- Civil Service HR confidentiality statement
- Government Recruitment Service Pre-Employment Checking - Document Requirements
- DfE Guidance on pre-employment check
- DfE Guidance on manual right to work checks
- DfE Security standard verification record
Further resources
National security vetting: clearance levels
HMG Personnel Security Controls (HTML)
Health and safety
Civil Service organisations have a general duty of care for students under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also requires a line manager to assess risks to young people under 18 years of age before they start their placement.
As well as a safe working environment, you must give the student adequate induction and suitable training. Your organisation’s Health and Safety advisers may support this process.
Everyone who comes into contact with the student has a role to play providing a safe environment. They must be made aware of the potential need for additional help, particularly if the student has special educational needs or a disability.
A risk assessment must be carried out If the student travels from the placement site and provider and parent or carer must give their permission. The student must be accompanied if travelling on public transport and must not travel in a car with only one member of staff.
Providers have a duty of care for students as well. Make sure line managers have the contact details of a named member of the provider’s staff in case the T Level student does not attend or there is an emergency. The provider will also advise you whether a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check or enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services check is needed on members of staff supervising students.
Safeguarding
Safeguarding is an absolute priority for everyone involved with placements students at the DfE:
- Line manager training sessions include discussions about safeguarding, what to be concerned about and how to go about reporting concerns
- Contacts within each provider for any safeguarding issues are given on the Industry Placement intranet
- The industry placement team flag it up at every line manager drop-in, emphasising that if anyone has safeguarding concerns, big or small, they should let the team know
As a result, people in contact with T Level students are conscious about having under-18s in the workplace and the implications. And they are constantly encouraged to use their common sense as well, by asking themselves, ‘Does my student seem happy? Are they showing up on time?’
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘No’, the student’s line manager would make the necessary interventions with support from the industry placement team.
Downloads
- DfE Travel and subsistence policy
Further resources
Legal compliance for industry placements
Staff training
A coaching style of management should help the student cope with the pressures and responsibilities of a busy working environment. A supportive line manager will improve their productivity and confidence, and help them to develop knowledge and skills more quickly than a more directive management style.
Example
Line managers in the Department for Education learn about hosting students through:
- The DfE industry placement SharePoint site – contains key information and advice to help plan and deliver T Level industry placements
- A one-and-a-half-hour webinar on the role of the line manager and mentor in hosting industry placements in the DfE
- Monthly drop-in sessions via Microsoft Teams for line managers to ask specific questions about hosting T Level industry placements within the department
- Line manager network – a Teams channel for all line managers delivering industry placements, where they can access peer-to-peer support, ask questions and share best practice
The SharePoint site also has a link to training through the CS Learning ABLE programme for staff that are new to line management.
Placement packs
All the information students need for their placement should be collected into a placement pack. and
Each placement pack should contain:
- Details of the placement including date, location, contact details
- The student’s role/job description
- The student’s learning goals (sometimes called placement objectives)
- A log book for the student to record progress towards their goals
Information can be added to the pack at different times in the placement, e.g. a daily timesheet for a student on day release or a weekly/monthly programme for a student on block release.
You should also keep a record of key placement documents including:
- Security and clearance forms
- Health and safety checks
- Industry placement agreement
Line manager pack
DWP Digital has produced a pack for line managers containing key information and a step-by-step guide to:
- What T Levels and industry placements are
- The line manager’s role in industry placements
- What they need to consider before the placement starts
- How to onboard the student
- How to plan the student’s work, monitor their progress and give feedback
- The career opportunities open to students when they finish their T Level
Download:
- DWP line manager guide to T Levels
Further resources
Are we ready to offer industry placements? Checklist and action plan
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