Staff Development Workshops

Covid-19
The safety and well being of our members and staff continues to be our highest priority, and whilst we are monitoring the latest advice from the UK government and Public Health England concerning Coronavirus (Covid-19), we have decided to act now in order to be in a position to continue to deliver support and training to our members.

We are currently making plans to deliver the  staff development workshops listed below, virtually, starting with the IWPM session on 26th March. Delegates will be contacted directly with further details in advance of each event. Booking remains open for all sessions, and we will update with any changes accordingly. If you have not yet requested to join our ASET LinkedIn page for Placement and Employability Professionals, we urge you to do so now. Members will be posting and sharing ideas in this closed group over the coming days and weeks which may just be the lifeline you need.

Forthcoming Workshops

Dates for 19-20 academic year have now been added – see below for details and to book online. Find out more about each workshop with video introductions from our Learning and Development Advisor, Nicola.

2020  Workshop Programme Book Online 2020

Spring 2020
Employer Engagement (EE)
Tuesday 25^th February (10am – 4pm)       Cloth Hall Court, Leeds Beckett University, LEEDS
Employers, providers, placement hosts – call them what you like, we need them.  They’re vital to our placement offerings and yet can pose a number of challenges for Higher Education providers and placement professionals. How can we reach out, successfully, to those organisations we aspire for our students to work at?  What can we do to engage employers with our work based learning programmes and aims?  What is feasible when building and strengthening relationships?  What do employers expect from us (and, can we deliver?)  This staff development workshop will focus on sharing ideas and tips for bringing about more supportive relationships with placement employers.  In a participatory style, our trainers will facilitate discussions on good practice and thriving initiatives.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Monday 17^th February

Supporting International Students with Placements (SISP)
Wednesday 4th March (10am – 4pm)       ISH Venues, London
International student participation in placements is high on the agenda at many UK Higher Education Institutions. For some international students, studying in the UK is a highly desirable means to support their future employability prospects. International students’ participation in placement remains low in some areas, with students citing obstacles – both perceived and real – to successfully securing a placement. International students’ support requirements can differ from UK domiciled students, and can be greater. This workshop, facilitated by experienced placement professionals, will examine strategies to help prepare international students in securing placements, as well as ways to support them whilst on placement. It will also look at the advice and guidance that can be provided for employers to persuade them of the value of offering placements to international students. The day will be interactive, including networking opportunities with other delegates and workshop facilitators. You will be encouraged to share experiences and examples of good practice from your institution.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Monday 24^th February

An Introduction to Work Placement Management (IWPM)
Thursday 26^th March (10am – 4pm)       City, University of London
This introductory session on the broad topic of work placement management will provide guidance for the support of work placements by practitioners.  Participants will be furnished with a basis from which they can develop their own plans and manage the day-to-day problems likely to be faced in their jobs. This is aimed at work placement managers, officers, administrators and academic placement tutors, particularly those with little experience, who are new to their role, about to be appointed, or those wanting a refresher course. This session is designed to introduce all the fundamental aspects of working in the field. The workshop is intended to be flexible and responsive to participants’ needs and interests and therefore emphasis may vary between topics.  As well as opportunities for discussion and dialogue, the workshop will also enable time to network with other delegates too.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Tuesday 17^th March

Widening Participation and Placements (WPP)
Thursday 23^rd April (10am-4pm)      Cloth Hall Court, Leeds Beckett University, LEEDS
Discussions surrounding widening participation and the social mobility of our students are perennially on the agenda, nationally, in the HE sector. For those of us on the ground, what can we do, practically, to increase the take up of placements by students from a range of disadvantaged backgrounds? How can we reach out to and better engage students with employability and to support the development of their social capital? Furthermore, what solutions can we share to engage employers in order to further these broad aims?In an interactive day of participation and dialogue, our course leaders will facilitate discussions on ways to support the employability of disadvantaged students and ways to overcome challenges and barriers to participation in placements. Delegates will have the opportunity to network and to build their own tool-kit of ideas and suggestions to take back to their institutions.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Tuesday 14^th April

Enhancing Engagement in Student Sessions (EESS)
Tuesday 5th May (10am-4pm)        ISH Venues, London
Do your student preparation sessions need a fresh injection of ideas or energy?  Are you keen to increase student engagement within your placement workshops?  Would you benefit from hearing about innovative ideas to liven up your delivery and generate more interaction in sessions?  ASET’s experienced workshop facilitators will help you enhance and increase student engagement in your workshops, seminars and preparation sessions, sharing a range of top tips, practices, and tools.  From high-tech to no-tech, working with small groups or large groups, in restricted or flexible spaces the day will equip you with ideas for all these scenarios.  The workshop will be, naturally, participative in style and we will encourage you to share your ideas with others too.  You can expect to take away a rich array of ideas to use in your day to day practices at work.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Monday 27th April

From Placements to Employability (FPTE)
Wednesday 13th May (10am-4pm)        ISH Venues, London
Perhaps you have expertise in supporting placement students but are now being asked to become involved in curriculum design and development more broadly associated with employability? Or you have experience in your subject based curriculum but are new to placements and employability? Do you know what you might do differently if you were assessing a first year undergraduate placement compared to a Masters level placement? Single interventions, like the sandwich placement, are no longer sufficient in terms of determining employment success on graduation – we must consider the whole student experience. We will contrast employability in the curriculum with employability through the curriculum i.e. how broader teaching, learning and assessment strategies throughout a programme can impact on employability. The intended outcome of the session is to enable you to use your experience and expertise from placement activities to work with your colleagues in your own institutions to appropriately embed placement and other employability related activities in the curriculum.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Monday 4th May

Risk Assessment and Due Diligence (RADD)
Tuesday 9th June  (10am-4pm)        Cloth Hall Court, Leeds Beckett University, LEEDS
In 2010 ASET published a Good Practice Guide with advice on how to implement the new, risk based approach to Health and Safety, resulting from the release of new policy guidance from UCEA in 2009.   The revised and updated edition of the ASET Good Practice Guide for Health and Safety for Student Placements was released in September 2016.This publication is part of a series of ASET Good Practice Guides including the ASET Good Practice Guide for Work Based and Placement Learning in Higher Education (September 2013), which was designed to support practitioners in meeting the expectations of the QAA Quality Code.Discussions across the sector have raised concerns about managing the risk assessment and due diligence processes associated with placement provision in Higher Education.Are you confident in your risk assessment processes before placement?Do you know what you should be doing in terms of due diligence?Do you realise the extent of the university’s legal liability for all of this?This workshop will explain the philosophy behind the both sets of guidance, particularly focusing on establishing manageable, proportionate and appropriate risk assessment and due diligence processes for placement provision. It is aimed at university staff who work with student placements / work experience, whether new to the position or experienced, whether academic or administrative, wanting a refresher and update.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Friday 29th May 

Resilience and Placements(RAP)
Tuesday 30th June  (10am-4pm)        Cloth Hall Court, Leeds Beckett University, LEEDS
In this practical and participatory workshop, the salient topic of resilience will be explored by our facilitators in the context of placements and work-based learning and a world where the future of work is changing. How does resilience (or a lack of it) manifest itself?  What can placement practitioners do to support the building of student resilience whilst they navigate the choppy waters of recruitment and selection?  What techniques can be put to use to strengthen resilience whilst students embark upon the start of their professional working lives on placement?  How can we reflect upon our own capacity for resilience and how can we utilise this to inform our work in HE?  Drawing upon a range of perspectives including mental health and growth mind-set theories, ideas will be shared and discussed to enable delegates to create a tool kit of suggestions and approaches to take back to their teams and institutions.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Friday 19th June 

Supporting Students with Disabilities on Placement (SSDP)
Wednesday 8th July (10am – 4pm)       ISH Venues, London
The aim of this interactive workshop is to provide advice and guidance on the support of disabled students to those working in work experience, work based learning and placement roles, as well as encouraging dialogue and discussion amongst delegates.  The following topics will be covered:An overview of the Equality Act; how does it help disabled placement students and how can you help employers interpret and understand what the Act means?Guidance on assisting students with disclosure in the recruitment process. Should they disclose or not? If so, how and when should they disclose?Case study examples to highlight placement success storiesFurther resources and support available to students and employers, and others involved in the placement.
Last day for booking on this workshop is Monday 29^th June   

General Information

• • Unless otherwise stated, one-day sessions run from 10am till 4pm

• • The delegate rates for one day workshops are £195 for each attendee from ASET member institutions, and £395 for those from non-member institutions. All rates are inclusive of VAT. Fees include all day access, materials, lunch and refreshments

• • Once your booking has been received, you will receive email confirmation of your reservation and for some courses you will also receive a pre-course assessment form

• • Payment is due before the event, there are no refunds for  cancellation, although substitutions will be accepted. Please see Terms and Conditions stated on booking form

• If you have a disability that means that you would get more from our events if we make some adjustments, please let us know how we can help

Bespoke Workshops  

• Have you recently restructured, centralised or decentralised your Placements Team?
• Do you have a specific training need you would like to address?
• Are you just too far away from ASET training venues ?

A bespoke training session can address all these issues and more. Our trainers will travel to any ASET member institution to deliver bespoke training, which may be delivery of a full workshop from our programme of workshops below, or a tailored combination of topics – summarised for delivery within a day.           

We can run sessions on one topic or can mix and match different parts to cover multiple areas.

Some of the core topics we can offer include:

• An Introduction to Work Placement Management
• ASET and QAA Codes of Practice for Work-Based and Placement Learning
• Marketing for Placements
• Equal Opportunities for Work Placements
• Health and Safety for Work Placements
• IT Systems to Manage Placements
• Working with International Students
• International Placements
• Assessment and Accreditation of Placement Learning
• Disability, the DDA and Work Placements
• Foundation Degrees and Work-Based Learning
• Innovation in Placement Assessment
• Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts (New Placement Technologies)
• Reflective and Experiential Learning

Please feel free to suggest any other relevant areas for staff development training you would like.

Costs
ASET member institutions
Fees for bespoke sessions are fixed at a daily rate of £125 per delegate (with a minimum fee of £1500 per day) wherever you are in the UK.

Non-member institutions
Fees for bespoke sessions are set at a daily rate of £250 per delegate (with a minimum fee of £3000 per day) wherever you are in the UK.

If you would like to talk about ideas for a bespoke workshop to suit a specific requirement at your institution, contact Debbie at the ASET Office aset@asetonline.org .