0114 234 5197
Online Staff Development Programme
COVID-19
The safety and well being of our members and staff continues to be our highest priority. We are adhering to the UK government and Public Health England advice concerning COVID-19, and continue to deliver support and training to our members online.
Our professional development events programme offers a broad range of Workshops and ASET Insights. – details of content listed below
Staff Development Workshops 9:30 – 1:30pm £125 ASET members £275 non-members.
- Introduction to Work Placement Management (IWPM) Thursday 23/09/21
- Managing Health, Safety and Welfare for Student Placements (HSWP) Wednesday 13/10/21
- Virtual Placements (VP) Wednesday 27/10/21
- Promoting Placements (PP) Wednesday 10/11/21
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Placements (EDIP) Tuesday 16/11/21 NEW
- SMEs, TSOs and other Alternative Provider Placements (STAPP) Thursday 25/11/21 NEW
- Games! The fun way to upskill and engage students (Games!) Wednesday 08/12/21 NEW
ASET Insights 10:00-11:30am £50 ASET members £100 non-members
(scroll down for session details)
- Bridging the academic/administrative divide Wednesday 29/09/21
- Inducting new placement staff Thursday 07/10/21
- Learning styles Monday 01/11/21
- Beyond Placements – skills development Monday 13/12/21
Workshop content:
An Introduction to Work Placement Management (IWPM)
Thursday 23rd September (9.30-1.30) Online
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 challenges 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 simply wanting a refresher course. This session is designed to introduce all the fundamental aspects of working in the placements 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 creating opportunities for discussion and dialogue, workshop facilitators will also support mechanisms for online networking amongst delegates.
Managing the Health Safety and Welfare for Student Placements (HSWP) – formerly RADD
Wednesday 13th October (9.30-1.30) Online
(This workshop was formerly entitled Risk Assessment and Due Diligence, and now builds upon and develops these themes).
Having an involvement in or being responsible for the process of risk assessing placements can feel daunting. The majority of placement practitioners are unlikely to be experts in the field of health and safety law or student welfare.
- Are you confident in your risk assessment processes before placement?
- Do you know what you should be doing in terms of due diligence in approving placements?
- Do you know what insurances are required or advised for placements in the UK? Overseas?
- Do you realise the extent of the university’s legal liability for all of this?
- What paperwork and proformas can support your processes and help ensure legal compliance?
This workshop focusses on establishing manageable, proportionate and appropriate risk assessment and due diligence processes for placement provision. Here, we draw upon the ASET Good Practice Guide for the Management of Health, Safety and Welfare of Student Placements, as well as the QAA Quality Code. It is aimed at university staff who work with student placements/work-based learning, whether new to the position or experienced and wanting a refresher/update, academic or administrative. Our experienced workshop facilitators will share both knowledge, as well as creating opportunities to encourage delegate participation.
Virtual Placements (VP)
Wednesday 27th October (9.30-1.30) Online
Virtual placements have been given an unexpected boost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This mode of placement (project-based, working virtually, sometimes via a 3rd party provider) has been in existence for some time, but has not been widely “tried and tested” across the HE sector.
- What are the key considerations to factor into our thinking when looking at virtual placements as a viable option for our students?
- What works? What doesn’t?
- What are the benefits to this style of placement?
- Could they become a long-term feature for your work-based and placement learning programmes?
- What have we learnt from remote working which can be beneficial when thinking about virtual placements?
Practical ideas will be conveyed and discussed for the setting up of virtual placements, top tips shared, as well as thoughts on how you might handle the fostering of buy-in from various stakeholder groups. Our experienced workshop facilitators will encourage the sharing of insights from your institutions, as well as good practice examples of support for placement students who opt for (or who are required to take) a virtual placement. Delegates can expect a participative workshop with plentiful opportunities to connect with others taking part, and ideas to take away.
Promoting Placements (PP)
Wednesday 10th November (9.30-1.30) Online
Who do you need to promote placements to? Current, perhaps difficult to reach students? Prospective students (and their parents)? Local employers as well as global multinationals? Academic colleagues and other stakeholders? For placement practitioners, our approach to promoting placements and the range of professional services we offer needs to be adapted to our audiences, of which there are many. Better promotion can lead to a raised profile for placements within and beyond your institution, enhanced student engagement and/or more placement opportunities being made available to your students by employers. As our need to optimise digital and technical approaches increases, the workshop facilitation team will also encourage participative discussions around innovative approaches to promoting placements to the various stakeholder groups.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion for Placements (EDIP) NEW
Tuesday 16th November (9.30-1.30) Online
This workshop will look at equality, diversity and inclusion for placements (EDIP). No need for any prior EDI experience, this session will introduce you to the reference points, sources, key duties and themes that are relevant to offering student placements. There will be an introduction to the equality legislation and our responsibilities, also to raising awareness about specialist sources of EDI information for the sector. We will talk about why we need to focus on particular protected characteristics, minoritized communities and those often excluded. This includes taking a look at how employability or placement performance is judged, and why we might need to think again in some cases. We’ll move onto a positive approach to inclusion, including the need to have an intersectional mindset, and how to get your practice right from the start. We’ll create a safe space for discussion, addressing direct issue and making space for plenty of contributions from delegates on the day.
Engaging with SMEs, TSOs and alternative placement providers (STAPP) NEW
Thursday 25th November (9.30-1.30) Online
Not all students aspire to a placement with a global brand, household name or large organisation. For students studying some degrees, placements with an SME (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) and other “non-traditional” providers such as sole traders offer real hands-on experience in industries that are notoriously hard to gain employment in after graduation. Such organisations may not have established placement programmes in place or opportunities readily available, presenting challenges for us as practitioners. This participative staff development workshop aims to explore and consider techniques for engaging with these organisations, ideas to attract students who may be sceptical about smaller organisations, how to support providers new to WBPL and the associated risks when working with smaller organisations. There will be plentiful opportunities to interact with other delegates during the workshop, and to hear and share good practice examples from participants’ institutions.
Games! The fun way to upskill and engage students (Games!)
Wednesday 8th December (9.30-1.30) Online
The use of games (e.g. simulations and escape rooms, and serious play models such as improvisation and role play) in employers’ recruitment and selection methods can add an appealing and fun feel to aspects of the hiring process. These techniques can also feel new, unexpected and potentially daunting for some students when faced with them for the very first time. There is also great potential for games and serious play models to be utilised by placement, work-based learning and employability practitioners in preparation and support work with students too. In this highly interactive workshop (be prepared to participate in games and serious play activities), our workshop facilitators will discuss the role that games can play for hiring employers as well as practitioners, outlining some of the different types of games/serious play used and available. #ASETTopTips will be shared with participants, with creative ideas to take away in toolkits. This workshop is aimed at those with some or significant experience in placements and work-based learning, and who wish to develop their understanding of games and serious play.
ASET Insights are 90-minute interactive sessions looking at broader, complementary professional development themes, led by our experienced Trustees. Designed to provide short, impactful updates to your professional toolkit, ASET Insight themes are selected to enhance your confidence in practical skills that contribute to work success.
These 90-minute sessions are available for booking now. £50 ASET members and £100 non-members.
ASET Insight content:
Session E – Bridging the academic/administrative divide
This ASET Insight session is aimed towards those within an administrative or academic role, who would like to gain a better understanding of the pressures of the other role. The session aims to explore the perspectives of both roles, what works well and not so well, and will present ideas to bridge the divide between the priorities around placement support for each approach.
Session G – Inducting new placement staff
This ASET Insight session addresses the themes and content that are particularly useful to include when inducting staff into a role with a focus on placements and work based learning. Providing institutional context, explaining how and where to access specialist resources, identifying key relationships, and providing opportunity to catch up with the culture on the ground – at pace – will all be discussed and a suggested, editable checklist provided to complement your existing processes.
Session H – Learning styles and their impact on the workplace
How do you learn? Have you ever explored your learning style? Do you know the best time of day to achieve outcomes? What happens in the workplace when you encounter different learning styles? This Insight session will provide a whistle-stop tour of learning styles and how they contribute to challenges in the workplace; we will explore, what to look/listen out for and why.
Session I – Beyond Placements – skills development
In this event, Trustees will share useful examples on how to support students to map their skills – both their personal skills and the professional skills developed whilst on placement. Through assisting students to identify and articulate their experiences and desired future, attendees will learn techniques to help facilitate coaching / mentoring conversations, and help students to make the best use of their time on placement.
General Information
- Workshops run from 9.30am-1.30pm, ASET Insights from 10 – 11.30am
- The delegate rates for workshops are £125 for each attendee from ASET member institutions, and £275 for those from non-member institutions. All rates are inclusive of VAT. Fees include all materials.
- The delegate rates for ASET Insights are £50 for each attendee from ASET member institutions, and £100 for those from non-member institutions. All rates are inclusive of VAT. Fees include all materials.
- Once your booking has been received, you will receive email confirmation of your reservation and will be required to complete and return 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
- 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. We are delighted to be able to offer Online Bespoke training for this academic year. Please contact the ASET Office to discuss your requirements either from the list of workshops below, or tailored to your needs. Sessions will be bookable according to availability on weekdays from 9.30 am – 1.30pm.
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 online bespoke sessions are fixed at a daily rate of £100 per delegate (with a minimum fee of £1000 per day).
Non-member institutions
Fees for online bespoke sessions are set at a daily rate of £200 per delegate (with a minimum fee of £2000 per day).
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 [email protected] .
