In this section:
- Find information on how to recruit employers to provide industry placement for students
- How to evaluate the placement and provide ongoing support to the student.
Benefits of a T Level industry placement
- Build your reputation
- Build networks with local employers
- Obtain insights into current industry practice
Placement planning and timeline
The 12-stage list below has been put together to give you an overview of the steps involved in planning and facilitating high quality industry placements for your learners and employers.
You might find it helpful to structure your work with employers.
- Create an employer engagement strategy to recruit eligible employers. See 'How to plan a placement' tab.
- Plan internal processes such as data collection, policies, and adjustments for SEND students.
- Plan timing and duration of industry placements to fit with curriculum plans and employers. Consider what placement models will work best.
- Assess learner readiness and plan learner preparation activities.
- Schedule 1:1 meetings with learners to discuss interests, skills and any potential barriers (part time jobs, caring responsibilities).
- Carry out employer checks including health and safety, employer liability insurance and risk assessments.
- Agree clear role descriptions with employers.
- Match learners to employers.
- Sign industry placement agreements and agree start dates.
- Monitor learner's placements. Schedule regular check-ins with learner and employer to address any problems and assess progress.
- Complete mid-point and final review of industry placements.
- Encourage learners to share their learnings and experience of their placements on their return.
Sourcing an Industry Placement
Industry placements will rely on cooperation between an educational provider and an employer. You will need to work with the employer to fine tune the details of the placement, plot out the student experience and evaluate the success of the placement.
Some employers may approach you to offer themselves as a partner, however, you may also need to build up a network of relevant local relationships in businesses to begin sourcing a partner.
The Employer Engagement Guidance and Toolkit provides a comprehensive guide for education providers on how to engage and source employers for industry placements. The Department for Education has also produced 1-2-1 support and continued professional development resources for teachers looking to engage employers.
Placement Models
Not all placements look alike or function the same, it is important that the chosen method suits the needs of the employer and the student. As a T level provider, you will work with the employer to find a model which works for both parties and meets the minimum requirement of 315 hours, with an average of 350 hours.
There are 3 typical models for industry placements: day release, block and mixed.
Day release: Allocating 1 or more full days a week to the placement. Best for situations with steady work patterns and regular workloads.
Block: Assigning the hours into large chunks to be completed all at once. This works well for seasonal workloads or for project-based employers.
Mixed: Both of theses systems can be combined for example 1 day a week for 10 weeks and then a larger block the following year. This model can provide greater experience of a businesses workflows in a phased way and can work well for businesses with less predictable workflows.
As of January 2025 there have been a number of updates to the approaches to industrial placements. These include updates around the proportion of a placement that can be remote, route level placements and small group work
Visit the gov.uk site for more information on placement models
Legal Compliance for Industry Placements
The Health and Safety Executive provides guidance for work experience organisers. This is relevant for work placements providers when working with employers to ensure that they have the relevant health and safety policies and procedures in place to cover a placement.
It is vital that the employer has all the right health, safety and welfare safeguards and responsibilities in place as they will for other employees.
Schools and colleges have no responsibility under health and safety law for work experience students. The employer is responsible for workplace health and safety.
However, the education provider should carry out risk assessments to ensure that the student's needs are being met.
Responsibilities during an industry placement
The responsibilities of the college teams include:
- Mentor training for the employer staff
- Preparing learners before the placement
- Communication point for the learner and employer during the placement
- Visiting learners while on placement to monitor placement quality and track their progress
- Reflection of placement learning in college study provision
- Administration of placement records
The end of placement review document below will help you and the T Level provider (college, school or other type of training provider) to reflect on how the placement has gone.
Download placement review document
Evaluation
The progress indicators are a tool that can be used by employers to help inform your review of student progress.