On Sunday 19th May, DfE published an Industry Placements Policy Statement outlining their policy and plans for industry placements from September 2019, which can be accessed here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industry-placements-policy-framework
The Industry Placement Policy Statement identifies a series of additional models and approaches which ensure placements are high quality, meaningful and deliverable across different industries, as well as being accessible for all students:
- · Allowing students generally to work with up to 2 employers
- · Using on-site facilities for SEND and young offenders for part of the placement
- · Allowing a small proportion of occupationally relevant work tasters to count towards placement
- · Allowing part time work to count as long as it is occupationally relevant and at the right level
- · Placements recorded in hours rather than days - to reflect different working practices
- · Some route-specific models to reflect different industries
The Policy statement also announced a £7m Employer Support Fund pilot to trial the provision of financial support to employers and an Employer Support Package designed to build their confidence in effectively planning and implementing high quality placements, and the provision of good practice to enable accessibility of placements for all.