Roles and responsibilities – supporting learners on their placement

Planning and preparing to offer industry placements may seem daunting.  It is useful to consider whether other people, in different roles may be able to support the process.  This article helps you to consider which colleagues you may be able to engage and allocate responsibilities to different departments/people in your organisation.  

The roles are divided into senior managers / sponsors, learning and development, human resources and line manager / mentor. In some organisations, these titles may differ and some of these functions may be carried out by the same person or team.  

Under each role type the suggestions for responsibilities are split into the four key stages in the industry placement journey. 

Senior managers/sponsors

Planning and preparation

• Decide who leads on T Levels and industry placements for your organisation
• Link the initiative to wider business goals
• Identify any relevant high-level internal processes that might be affected

Final preparations

• Demonstrate your commitment to industry placements, inspiring and motivating your team to contribute
• Communicate the purpose of, and business reasons for, industry placements

During placements

• Contribute to students’ induction to emphasise the organisations commitment to developing talent using this opportunity

Review and evaluation

• Review the benefits and value to your organisation
• Decide whether to offer more placements in the same or other areas of the business
• Share successes and celebrate achievement

Learning and development function

Planning and preparation

• Identify the key people who will be involved with placements
• Nominate a suitable person to line manage the student, and someone to mentor them (who could be the same person)
• Build their knowledge and confidence, and provide support where needed

Final preparations

• Work with the provider, and the line manager, to develop a suitable schedule of projects
  and activities for the student
• Liaise with a second employer, if it’s a shared placement
• Identify any extra training that students could benefit from
• Organise the students’ induction

During placements

• Arrange regular check-ins or reviews with line managers or mentors, to pick up successes and
  challenges
• Check the relationship between students and their line managers, to see that all is well
• Communicate widely about the placement and benefits to the business

Review and evaluation

• Review the benefits and value to your organisation
• Feed into senior leaders’ discussions about whether to offer more placements in the same or other areas of the business
• Share successes and celebrate achievement

Human Resources function

Planning and preparation

• Work with senior leaders and sponsors to build industry placements into their workforce development strategy
• Brief the T Level provider on the types of students you want for placements, so they know the
  characteristics and skills you’re looking for
• Write a role description and person specification
• Decide if any payments will be made to students and if so, plan how these will be administered
• Review and agree legal and policy requirements
• Discuss with your provider how you might support students with special educational needs or disabilities
• Decide if you are going to hold a CV screening and/or an interview process and organise these with the provider
• Consider measures available to support students' mental health while on placement 

Final preparations

• Demonstrate your commitment to industry placements, inspiring and motivating your staff to contribute
• Communicate the purpose of, and business reasons for, industry placements
• Agree and sign the industry placement agreement with the T Level provider and student
• Check that induction covers everything needed from an HR perspective

During placements

• Produce joining instructions and expectations for the student before they start their placement

Review and evaluation

• Review the benefits and value to your organisation
• Feed into senior leaders’ discussions about whether to offer more placements in the same or other areas of the business
• Share successes and celebrate achievement

Line manager/mentor

Planning and preparation

• Check with the T Level provider about what the placement aims to achieve and how it links to the students’ curriculum
• Consider your own expertise and confidence in supervising and mentoring and ask for a refresher if it would help

Final preparations

• Agree and sign the industry placement agreement with the provider and the student, including the student’s working hours, development objectives and learning goals, and other arrangements
• Help design placement projects so that students’ tasks are in a logical order for their course and for your organisation
• Prepare induction activities to welcome students and help familiarise them with the organisation

During placements

• Contribute to students’ induction
• Check that each student understands their induction and is happy with it
• Monitor students closely at first and check they are settling in
• Support and guide students about how to communicate effectively with work colleagues
• Use planned and unplanned opportunities for students to practise their skills and step out of their comfort zone
• Support students to develop the technical and employability skills needed to do the job well – this could include training on specific processes, systems or procedures
• Let them experience a variety of projects and activities, avoiding repetition
• Monitor students’ progress
• Give regular feedback so that students know when they are and aren’t meeting expectations, what they’re doing well and how they can improve
• Contribute to progress reviews at the mid-point of the placement
• Tell the provider about any successes or concerns, so they can give students extra support

Review and evaluation

• Contribute to end-of-placement review, giving feedback on each student’s commitment, achievements and behaviours, and summarising the technical and employability skills the student has gained
• Write an appraisal for the student at the end of their placement

If you're interested in offering an industry placement, get in touch with T Level schools and colleges near you.