Support for Industry Placements

Provider and employer views on new placement models and approaches

In October 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned the Institute for Employment (IES) to conduct further research on Capacity and Delivery Fund (CDF) to explore providers’ and employers’ views on updates to the T Level industry placement models policy.

New models were announced in a policy update in May 2019, which took the form of a framework of new approaches. Some related to specific T Level routes (Digital, Construction and Engineering & Manufacturing) and others to all placements (concerning learners’ part-time work, counting placements in hours rather than days, and the use of two employers to meet required placement hours).

Providers participating in this research broadly welcomed the updated policy. Many expressed a view that the new models and approaches were helpful to their efforts to source and match placements at the increased scale they were working at, and to reach the required number of hours (315+) for placements.

Providers generally thought that while substantial challenges remained, the new models and approaches had, in line with policy, made a difference either to their ability to source placements or to placement accessibility for their learners.