FAQ 

1: I want to introduce a placement as part of my programme- where do I start?

The key issue to consider is how placements can best meet the needs of your students and achieve the relevant learning outcomes for your programme. For further information, visit the Why Offer A Placement?  and Organising Student Placements pages. You might also want to consider work that is already going on successfully at the moment. Please visit the What Are Staff Doing Already? page for details.

For advice on good practice in learning, teaching and assessment associated with placements you should be able to draw on the expertise of your Subject Group Leader, Teaching Fellows within your school and the Academic Practice team in Academic Development. If your placement covers a whole module, you will also need to discuss it with relevant Programme Leaders.

2: What is the difference between placements and work-related learning?

Work-related learning has usefully been defined as:

• Learning about oneself – one’s capabilities, confidence, life interests and career orientations;
• Learning and practising skills and personal attributes of value in the world of work;
• Experiencing the world of work (or facsimiles thereof) in order to provide insights and learning into the world of work predominantly associated with the subjects of one’s higher education studies; and
• Experiencing and learning how to learn and manage oneself in a range of situations, including (of course) those to be found at work and central to self-management and development activities.” (Liverpool John Moores University 2006)

Well-structured placements have the potential to offer significantly more work-related learning than can be achieved on campus over a similar timescale. The definition of placement can vary, but the UK’s official graduate careers website, Prospects, describes the following:

Sandwich and industrial placements: a fixed-term period of assessed, paid work that forms part of your degree. It often lasts for a full year.

Work-based project: a specific piece of assessed work for your course, undertaken at an employer's premises.

Work placement: a period of work experience, which can be paid or unpaid, and is part of a course of study. This can be arranged through your university with an employer or by yourself and is for an agreed period of time

Internship: a phrase that is increasingly used by large companies and refers to a placement within their organisation, usually over 6-12 weeks during the summer holiday.

For ideas on how to offer a placement option as part of your programme, please visit the Organising Student Placements page.

3: How should students prepare for placement?

For ideas about how to prepare students for placement, please visit our Organising Student Placements page. Both the Careers and Confident Futures teams can help you with this by providing bespoke classes to suit the needs of your students. You can contact us here.

The National Council for Work Experience also provides a tutors’ resource to help you at minimal cost.

For details, please visit:

http://www.work-experience.org/products_services_tutors_resource_pack.htm

4: A student wants to know if s/he should do a voluntary work “placement”. What should I say?

Students may see voluntary work as an ideal way to develop demonstrable employability skills before graduation. Certainly any form of relevant work experience will enhance their employability; however this does not necessarily mean they should simply take up any available opportunity. Voluntary work will be unlikely to have as much intrinsic value as a well-designed placement that is integral to an academic programme.

Those students who can afford to may gain an advantage through lengthy periods of unpaid work. However, there is legislation in this area and students and graduates should therefore exercise caution to avoid being exploited. The TUC offers guidance on the subject here: http://www.rightsforinterns.org.uk/

Read more on voluntary work experience at: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/exp/wrl/placement/voluntary.pdf/view

Current legislation gives employers the right to discriminate positively when offering training opportunities to under-represented groups, for example ethnic minorities. In practice, this means high-quality opportunities can be available at large organisations to selected groups.

5: A student has an offer of a placement abroad- how do I do a risk assessment?

Your school may already have current policies in place to deal with this eventuality, so you should contact your school administrators. The University has policies in place covering health and safety guidance in relation to placements. Find them on our University Policies page.

For further information, please contact the Health & Safety team at:

http://staff.napier.ac.uk/SERVICES/CORPORATEAFFAIRS/HEALTHANDSAFETY/Pages/HealthSafety.aspx

6: I have students out on placement- what is their study status? What are the funding implications? What should I tell them?

Your school may already have policies in place regarding this, so check first with school administrators. Your module handbook should make clear to students what their precise status is in relation to both the University and their employer, along with any action (for example, in relation to fees) they must take as a result of their status. An example is posted on the What Are Staff Doing Already? page.

7: A placement student has left his placement voluntarily/been sacked. What now?

Your school may have its own procedures to deal with this kind of situation. It is advisable to familiarise yourself with these through discussion with school administrators, your Subject Group Leader or Programme Leader.

When considering a placement option, you will ordinarily need to be mindful of alternative, non-placement pathways which will allow students to achieve similar learning outcomes. Any procedures and processes which you devise will benefit from taking into account alternative provision.

8: How can I ensure that a placement meets the module learning outcomes?

Before considering this, it is worth remembering that not every student will go on placement. It is therefore likely that you will have to design an alternative module in a different way for those students not undertaking a placement; both sets of learning outcomes have to be in line with the aims of the programme and helping to achieve those aims. It might be useful to look at existing module descriptors to ensure the correct amount of credit is given for the effort being expended and the volume of learning being assessed. Guidance is available via the Quality Framework

http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/academicdevelopment/QualityEnhancement/QualityFramework/Pages/QualityFramework.aspx

9: Should I pre-select students for more competitive placements? How?

Most employers will have sufficient confidence in their own recruitment and selection systems to handle all applications put forward. Should an employer request an element of pre-selection they ought to outline their criteria. All parties would be subject to equality legislation, so the criteria would need to be in line with, for example, the Equality Act 2010:

http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_act_2010/equality_act_2010_what_do_i_n.aspx

10: Do placement hosts have the right to information emerging from Disclosure Scotland criminal checks ?

It is always advisable to seek clarification from Disclosure Scotland officials for enquiries of this nature. The relevant information is outlined in paragraphs 42 – 48 of the Explanatory Guide on the Code of Practice under the heading ‘Handling Disclosure Information':

http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/pdf/CODE%20-%20EXPLANATORY%20GUIDE%20-%202007%20EDITION.pdf

11: Can students work unsupervised on placement ?

A key consideration here is how the student will meet the intended learning outcomes associated with the placement. These will help to indicate the degree of supervision expected of the student while on placement. If there is disagreement or discontent from a student, employer or academic about the level or quality of the learning experience on placement, these can normally be dealt with through having robust processes of communication and support outlined at the outset.

12: Can students get help with the expenses they incur on placement?

Your school may have a policy on whether lengthy placements need to be paid in order to form an assessed part of a programme. Any student in hardship should contact Student Funding to ascertain his or her eligibility for support from the Discretionary Fund and other sources:  http://www.napier.ac.uk/napierlife/money/Pages/EdinburghNapierSupport.aspx

Got a question about placements or work-based learning?  Can’t find the answer here? Please email s.mclellan@napier.ac.uk