General
It is ASET’s intention that this resource will be continually expanded and updated. As well as developments coming out of ASET’s new Good Practice for Placements series of publication, we also welcome any other contributions from other sources, on any topic relevant to placement management. These will be peer reviewed by the ASET Executive Committee and added as appropriate.
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ASET and QAA Codes of Practice
The ASET Code of Practice
The ASET Code of Practice - A Good Practice Guide for Placement and Other Work-Based Learning Opportunities in Higher Education, was published in March 2009.
This Code can be found here.
Free hard copies can also be ordered from our publications page.
Section 9 of the QAA Code of Practice
Section 9 of the QAA Code of Practice - Work-Based and Placement Learning, was published in October 2007.
This Code can be found here.
www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/codeOfPractice/section9/PlacementLearning.pdf
The Two Codes of Practice (History, Purposes and Audiences)
The ASET Code, written by Dr John Wilson, was first launched in February 2001, badged jointly with NCWE (though subsequently ownership of the Code reverted to solely ASET, which is why it is now generally called simply 'the ASET Code'). It was designed as a user-friendly guide for students, employers and HE institutions, covering the three phases before, during and after placement, in situations where the work experience is an integral part of a course or programme of study.
At the same time as the ASET code was being developed, QAA were working on their own Code, number 9 in the series, and this was published in July 2001. Dr Wilson was part of an advisory group working with QAA on that code, and Julian Ellis from QAA was kept informed of developments on the ASET code, so they are complementary.
Both Codes are now on their second edition (QAA published in 2007, ASET in 2009) and ASET was again involved with the QAA working party for the 2007 revision, led this time by Wendy Stubbs. The Codes remain entirely complementary.
The two Codes do have different purposes and different audiences; the ASET code is for practitioners such as placement tutors and officers, students contemplating placement or already experiencing it, and placement employers, actual or potential.
The QAA Code is aimed at policymakers in HE institutions involved in drawing up procedures and practices which would lead to a robust and stable system.
So which code you need depends on what you want it for; if you are a placement practitioner the ASET code is probably the better one to use, but if you are looking at university-wide policy, and particularly if a QAA visit is expected, then clearly the QAA code would be the one to consult. Ideally they go together.
Wendy Stubbs and John Wilson - the respective developers of the QAA and ASET Codes of Practice.
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Placement Management
This is intended primarily for placement tutors and officers – academic and admin. It is partly derived from and should be read in conjunction with the ASET Code of Practice.
Overview
Course teams should be clear about the role of placement in a course or programme, and particularly how the learning outcomes for placement map onto those for the course as a whole.
Staff activities supporting placement are an amalgam of academic and admin responsibilities, and exactly how these are handled will depend partly on numbers – for small numbers one person may undertake all of the activities, while with larger numbers or a multiplicity of courses there may be, for example, a Placement Tutor for each course and a central admin office. Who-does-what is less important than ensuring that it is done.
The main phases of placement are 'before', 'during', and 'after'. Good preparation before placement will help to minimise difficulties during the placement – prevention is easier and better than cure.
Another way of looking at the process is that the students need to 'Arrive'– the process of getting a placement, and then 'Thrive'– continue to learn and to get the most out of it, during and afterwards.
Before Placement
Since a placement can be regarded as a first career step, some of the preparation is similar to what would be covered in a conventional career-preparation course:
- Self awareness [what am I offering?]
- Market awareness [what do they want?]
- Recruitment mechanisms
- Advert analysis
- Application letters
- CVs [and ideally these will be approved in some way before they’re sent out to employers]
- Application forms
- Online applications
- Psychological assessments
- Interviews
- Assessment centres
These are probably best covered in an academic module, with assessments that reinforce their importance to the student.
The admin activities which parallel the above include:
- Registering potential placement students; identifying interests and geographical preferences/limitations
- Keeping hard and/or soft copies of CVs
- Sending out student details to interested employers
- Keeping an ongoing database of employers and applications
- Liaise between employers and students as appropriate e.g. in setting up interviews
The desired outcome of all the above activities is that the students will 'Arrive' – obtain a placement and turn up for duty. But this alone is not enough – ideally the student will also 'Thrive', and get the best out of placement. To prepare for this the student will need help during the pre-placement period, along the following lines:
- Being aware that learning is not the same as being taught
- Realising that the placement employer is not there primarily to provide learning opportunities for the student
- Knowing how to go on learning, and being aware of that learning, in a non-learning environment
- Recognising that keeping a log or diary is useful but isn’t enough – writing down what was done is not the same as identifying and articulating the learning
- Realising that the learning is not just subject-specific but may be to do with communication, working relationships, or career
During Placement
In the UK at least, the student has a dual role as employee and student, and the HEI receives a tuition fee and has a duty of care [see also ASET Health and Safety seminars].
The HEI should provide an 'arm’s-length' support, at least by telephone/in writing, and ideally by visits from a trained visiting tutor who is familiar with the learning outcomes of placement and the assessment requirements.
At some point in the placement year it is desirable for placement students to return to the HEI for a briefing/debriefing session including details of final-year modules and options.
After Placement
It is useful to provide some de-briefing for students further to consolidate their learning and to share it with staff and peers. This is also a useful opportunity to capitalise on the students’ enthusiasm and direct it towards the cohort of students two years down the line – who will be going on placement next year.
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Health and Safety
The new ASET Health and Safety for Student Placement Guidance is now available in hardcopy from the ASET office. This publication is free of charge (plus P&P at cost) to ASET member institutions and £15 (plus P&P at cost) to non-member institutions. Please contact the ASET office by email (aset@asetonline.org) to order copies.
Sector guidance can on Health and Safety for Student Placements can be downloaded here.
MS Word versions of the Tools can be found here.
The following other documents, which were utilised in producing the above, may also be useful:
UCEA - Health and Safety Guidance for the Placement of Higher Education Students
ARMED - Active Risk Management in Education, 4: Student Placements and Overseas Study
Carrie de Silva - Health and Safety Notes for Placement Managers
UKCISA - Student Activity Abroad: Risk Assessment
Eversheds LLP -
Answers to Health and Safety Questions (2005 ASET Conference)
Eversheds LLP - Answers to Health and Safety Questions (2006 ASET Conference)
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International Placements
All institutions will have their own internal guidelines on finding, undertaking and, in the case of staff, managing overseas placements. For students, this page on the University of Bath's website is a good introduction that is can be viewed without intranet access.
Insurance
See: Insurance for Student Placements
Here is also an English language version of the Convention de Stage (a Placement Agreement for French employers, which can also be modified and used as a template for other international employers).
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Disabilities
Please refer to 'Providing Work Placements for Disabled Students: A Good Practice Guide for Further and Higher Education Institutions'.
You can read through this document here.
www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/placements
Also, the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities are SKILL: http://www.skill.org.uk/
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Assessment
The ASET and DMU research project 'Are E-Portfolios An Asset To Learning and Placement?' surveys and makes recommendations on innovative methods of placement assessment:
Executive Summary
Full Report
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I.T. Systems
Managing Placements with IT and Online
An ASET publication, ‘Managing Placements with IT and Online: Good Practice for Placements Guide - Volume 1’ is available to purchase.
This project was undertaken in response to the perceived lack of national guidance on developing or acquiring comprehensive placement management systems.
This publication is intended to help those managing placements to create or improve in-house systems using internal resources. It is effectively a ‘wish list’ of things that an ‘ideal’ system would include. ASET undertook a survey of UK HEIs and existing commercial software and brought together the developers of the leading systems to collaborate on and produce this publication.
More details can be found and copies ordered here.
OPUS Software - Free 'Off the Shelf' software
We also understand that different institutions will take different routes to solve this problem and while many will only use in-house systems, others will prefer to adopt ready made ‘off the shelf’ software. Therefore, ASET is endorsing a system called OPUS. This was developed by the University of Ulster and is in our collective opinion, the most advanced and comprehensive software that currently exists, fulfilling the majority of our requirements of the ‘ideal’ system that the publication maps out. What is even better about this software is that it is being open sourced, so it is completely free and easy for institutions to adopt and adapt. Already more than 10 HEIs are in discussions to do this wholesale and, as well as ASET, OPUS is fully endorsed by a myriad of employers, including IT multinationals Intel and HP.
This software has been developed by university staff, rather than a private commercial company, which is why it is being made available free. The open sourcing means that institutions will take ownership of it to integrate into their own VLEs and student records systems and develop it themselves. You therefore wont get tied into a system that could become discontinued, start charging institutions to use it or make the developers indispensable.
For more information on OPUS please go to: http://opus.ulster.ac.uk/, and for technical information and the open sourced code, please see: http://foss.ulster.ac.uk/projects/opus/
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Marketing to Stakeholders
More information will follow.
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Professional Practices
The Practice Based Learning project is run to enhance the quality of student experiences whilst on practice. For more information please go to: http://www.practicebasedlearning.org/home.htm.
You can also read their Making Practice Based Learning Work report.
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For Employers
Employers can get the best out of the recruitment process if they are clear about their motives for recruiting placement students, and have realistic expectations of training needs and what students can then deliver. In others words, by treating placement students in a similar way to other employees, paying expenses and making job offers promptly.
Employers should note that the placement employment may in some cases be the first time that the student has lived away from home, and give support where appropriate in the finding or provision of suitable accommodation.
Treating the student as a full-time employee should continue once the student is in post – e.g. training, induction, appraisals, and even disciplinary procedures where appropriate. In this last case, it could be useful to involve the university in the process.
The employer should be aware of the contribution of the placement learning to the student’s career development, and cooperate in the visits made by university staff.
However, the student should not in other ways be treated in any special way, since one of the objectives is to experience “the real world”, i.e. to inhabit an environment not created exclusively for them.
It is good practice for the employer to use the student in recruitment of the following student – this can bring benefits all round, not least because the placement student will probably have a better awareness of the hopes and fears of the next cohort.
Please also see:
NCWE's Work Experience Map - an online database of student placement organisations for easy direction to relevant staff contacts at universities and colleges in your area.
NCWE's Employer Page.
An engCETL and HEA Engineering Subject Centre guide to Industrial Placements for Employers.
Red Hot Talent - a practical guide for SMEs on how to manage work experience students more effectively.
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For Students
The student’s role in preparing for the placement experience starts with enrolment on either a sandwich course or selection of a work-based learning module, and acceptance of the implied commitment.
The student should therefore make full use of all the support offered by the university, including academic and practical support, and meeting both past placement students and employers, while also making an appropriate number of applications – the number will depend on the student’s aim and style: “sharpshooter” or “blunderbuss”.
It is the student’s responsibility to use every possible means to research the company to which they are applying, and this, or the lack of it, will show up at interview.
Students about to commence placements must attend appropriate briefing sessions from the university, critically including those on Health and Safety.
Once on placement, the student must take every opportunity to optimise the learning experience, relating to academic course content, developing personal and interpersonal skills, and learning professional expectations and behaviour. Ideally, and certainly where required by assessment, these must be not only developed but evidenced, for example in some kind of portfolio or journal.
At the same time, a cultural change should be taking place, whereby the student recognises that while universities are organised largely around learners’ needs, employers have their own objectives and do not exist solely for the benefit of students.
In general, students on placement can expect a visit from a university tutor, and should make the best use of that opportunity by preparing and having to hand relevant documents such as draft assignments.
After placement the learning doesn’t stop. For example, they can learn from each other by discussing their varied experiences, and pass on experience and encouragement to future cohorts; the university may facilitate this. Further they may apply their recent learning within academic modules, and use both thoughts and feelings to develop their own career plans
Also see:
NCWE's Student Guide.
Christine Fanthome's Work Placements: A Survival Guide for Students is a useful guide and can be purchased here.
Gwenda Thomas' Students' Money Matters also has some information about the placement year and can be purchased here.
Ron McGowen's How to Find Work in the 21st Century is a good introduction to the modern workplace and can be purchased here.
Vacancies:
Vacancies will primarily be advertised on your institution's intranet or noticeboards.
The following companies collate placement vacancies and allow you to search and compare them. You may need to register on their sites to access the vacancies but none of these listed companies charge students for their services.
Prospects - an interface of the Prospects job search tool specifically for placement vacancies.
The Work Placement Centre - placement recruitment, sourcing and employing from a Step Enterprise company.
Student Employment Services - a dedicated placement recruitment and employing agency.
Fledglings - a jobsite for placements and work experience vacancies.
Shell Step - a national scheme that organises approximately 600 project-based work experience opportunities in SMEs each year.
RateMyPlacement - placement and internship vacancies.
Employment4students - internship and placement vacancies.
Target Jobs - formerly known as Doctor Job - has work-experience/intership as a specific search criteria.
The Big Choice - has work placement as a specific search criteria.
Top Internships - a dedicated placement search and compare site.
ExcelScient - a unique mathematics and physics agency, designed to provide a vital link between academia and employers in these fields.
Remember, for quality purposes all externally found placements will need to be approved by your institution.
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General Publications
For CIHE, please see: www.cihe-uk.com/publications.php
For HEA, please see: www.heacademy.ac.uk/learningandemployability.htm and
www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/Employability/WBL2.htm
For ASET, please go to our Publications page.
For NCWE, please see: www.work-experience.org/ncwe.rd/products_136.jsp
For UVAC, please see: www.uvac.ac.uk/0401.html
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Other Resources
Bridging the Gap - reports from university projects on work experience.
National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education - the Dearing Report, Higher Education in the Learning Society.
Links to Employability and Work Experience - Chapter 6 Section 5, The Government's response to the Dearing Report.
Work Related Learning Report - This DfES report focuses on how to expand students' work experience opportunities and to facilitate closer relationships between key partners.
Alan Johnson's Speech at the 2004 ASET Conference about the Government's policy towards work-based learning.
The Leitch Report -
The Government commissioned Sandy Leitch in 2004 to undertake an independent review of the UK's long term skills needs.
The Review published its interim report "Skills in the UK: The Long Term Challenge" in December 2005.
Executive Summary
Chapters 1-6
Annexes
The final report of the Leitch Review of Skills,Prosperity for all in the Global Economy - World Class Skills, was published on 5 December 2006.
Future Fit - Preparing Graduates for the World of Work - CBI and UUK Report, published on 26 March 2009.
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