T Level Delivery Division | Professional and Technical Education Group are pleased to let you know that on 12th January they have written to Wave 1 T Level providers to provide a further update on additional industry placement flexibilities that they have introduced, to ensure that so that no 2020 T Level student is held back from completing their course because they have not been able to do an industry placement, due to Covid-19.
We have confirmed the following additional flexibilities, as a result of the recent introduction of working from home, as part of the Plan B measures:
Additional temporary flexibilities for T Level industry placements for 2020 starts
These additional temporary flexibilities are to be used by exception for Wave 1 Digital Production, Design and Development and Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction students only.
These additional temporary flexibilities should only be used in circumstances where in-person or blended placements cannot be sourced and/or where placements have fallen through due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. These flexibilities are in addition to the temporary flexibilities that we set out on 4 November 2021, and will be reviewed once the Government advice to work from home is removed. These additional temporary flexibilities are:
1) 100% remote placements
Digital and Construction students can now do all of their placement hours remotely (a minimum of 315 hours), remotely. Students should undertake the placement hours in a suitable working environment on the provider’s site. All other core principles of the industry placement guidance should be applied to a remote placement in the same way as they do for in-person placements.
- Employer-led activities and projects
Only where all other options have been exhausted, Digital and Construction students can complete employer-led activities and projects to meet the industry placement requirement.
Providers must work with employers to put together an occupationally focussed project, or a series of occupationally focused activities and projects, which will enable students to develop their technical and employability skills, develop links with an employer, and demonstrate progress towards achieving their learning goals. These activities and projects must make up the minimum 315 placement hours, and are separate and in addition to, the employer-set project, which is a key component of the technical qualification that is undertaken in the first year of the programme and formally assessed by the awarding organisation offering the technical qualification.
3) Temporary Special Consideration criteria
Providers already have the discretion to mark a placement as complete and apply special consideration in circumstances where students have demonstrated sufficient progress towards their learning goals, and have worked to an employer, but have not completed the minimum placement hours because they have been affected by exceptional circumstances beyond their control. We have now included Covid-19 within the eligibility criteria for special consideration to apply to Wave 1 students only.