Placements in the Curriculum

 

Students often say that placements are enormously valuable in helping them contextualise their learning and in improving both their employability and their employment prospects.

Students who do a placement year are much more likely to find employment quickly in a graduate occupation. Play the video to see MMU students talking about placements.

Organising schemes of placement learning does present a range of challenges, including the need to support students whilst meeting the requirements of employers. The interests of the University must be protected through the adoption of the Institutional Code of Practice for Placement and Work-Based Learning and associated guidance and procedures. The sections below provide further information to help you meet these challenges.

Developing placement provision

What do I need to know about developing placement provision for my students?

'Placements Matter'

A wide ranging placement-related project undertaken as part of the university’s strategic employability review examined all aspects of placement provision. The outcomes of this initiative were outlined in the Placements Matter report.

MMU Code of Practice

Programmes wishing to develop placement provision within their curricula need to ensure they are compliant with the various rules and regulations associated with placements.

You need to start with the Institutional code of practice for placement and work based learning - this sets out the minimum requirements for students, placement providers and MMU staff engaging with placement or work based activities. The MMU instututional code of practice derives from the QAA code of practice on work-based and placement learning.

To help you to ensure you have met all the requirements of the Institutional Code of Practice an audit tool has been developed providing a checklist for placement provision).

The ICP Placement Group

has been established to support the promotion and implementation of the Institutional Code of Practice for Placement and Work Based Learning. The group has representatives from each faculty and from relevant central service departments. View the Placement Group remit. The chair of this group is Julian White (Student Services), who also runs a mailing list for people interested in this subject.

Protecting students on placement

In order to protect our students, staff and MMU it is essential that the following are fully addressed:

Health and Safety

It is essential that appropriate checks are made with placement providers. Further information on how to do this is available in this document: MMU Health and Safety Practical Guidance on the Placement of Students

Legal

You should ensure that the roles and responsibilities of the University and the placement provider are clearly defined. There is a standard template for agreement between the University and the placement provider. This agreement needs to be in place for each placement. Please contact the Legal Department legal@mmu.ac.uk to get this in place.

Insurance

You should also ensure that appropriate insurance is in place. Please contact the Insurance Officer to discuss insurance related issues and clarify your requirements.

Supporting Disabled Students

All students are entitled to access placement learning and consideration should be given to the needs of disabled students. One faculty which has developed resources for staff around these requirements is the Faculty of Health Psychology and Social Care:

MMU existing models of placement organisation, and contacts
Faculty/SchoolPlacement website/documentsContacts
Business & LawPlacements, Projects and Recruitment siteLindsay Halliday
EducationPlacements siteDidsbury: Beverley Ingham (Secondary Partnership and ITT Placements), Alison McCarthy (Primary ITT) Pauline Clint (Childhood Studies), Rachel Radcliffe (Youth and Community Work) Crewe: Elizabeth Mansell (Primary Partnership), Judith Broughton (Secondary ITT, Childhood Studies), Rhoda Peters (Primary ITT)
Health, Psychology & Social CarePractice Placement Learning siteClaire Mather (nursing), Louise Taylor (Physiotherapy, Acupuncture). Robert Knox (SLT), Rita Dowdall (Return to Practice, FdA Health and Social Care), Rachel Radcliffe (Social Work), Rachel Ware (Social Care)
Science & EngineeringPlacements siteKatie Duthie (Engineering); Marie McGarvey (Computing and Maths)
HollingsPlacement Handbook
Induction checklist		Laura Almond (CDT); Sally Price (FTM)
What about placements for graduates?

Nationally the Graduate Talent Pool is being expanded significantly to offer up to 20,000 graduate internships across all sectors in the UK.

How can the MMU Careers and Employability Service help?

Each Faculty has a Careers Adviser who will work with academic departments to offer a menu of activities to support the embedding of employability within programmes, including placement learning.

Additional placement resources for staff
The Equality Challenge Unit have designed a placements toolkit to enable staff in higher education institutions to better support all students in accessing and completing work placements in the arts and cultural sector, to enhance student employability and diversity within the sector.
The National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, employers and the economy.
STEP develop placement programmes for undergraduates and recent graduates.
ASET is the professional body for placement staff. ASET has been the catalyst for the development of guidelines in many areas and also the promotion and dissemination of best practice. ASET offers support, advice, guidance and representation.
The National Association of Student Employment Services is the professional body for practitioners from all styles of student employment service.

Prospects Work Experience section - national opportunities such as summer internships and vacation traineeships, plus editorial on researching the market and making applications.
PlaceNet is a forum for HE Placement Professionals. PlaceNet members benefit from the ‘mailbase’ which facilitates discussion on all placement related matters, including suitability of placement opportunities, and the sharing of good practice (and unfilled vacancies!). PlaceNet also works with employers to improve placement practices and provide immediate contact with placement professionals.