The Employer Engagement Offer for T Level Providers
Commissioned by Department for Education, SDN is delivering a part of the Provider Support Programme alongside the Association of Colleges.
Employer engagement lies at the heart of T Level delivery. It involves active collaboration between educational organisations and employers to shape the curriculum, provide industry insights, and offer real-world work experience through industry placements. This collaboration makes sure T Level students graduate not only with theoretical knowledge but also with practical skills that align with the needs of the job market.
Support is aimed at employer engagement staff who are pivotal to achieving this and driving the success of T Levels. These individuals are the bridge builders, connecting educational organisations with employers to ensure a seamless integration of theoretical learning and real-world application.
Support includes:
- Practical tools and resources to support your team
- A professional development programme for staff in, or due to start, an employer engagement role for T Level Industry Placements and/or T Level Foundation programme.
- A LinkedIn Employer Engagement forum
Tools and Resources
A suite of practical tools and resources has been developed to support T Level Providers to plan, design and deliver employer engagement activities to secure industry placements. The Department for Education are hosting all provider support materials from a range of organisations, including SDN. The resources are all available here, on the T Levels Support for Schools and Colleges website.
With so many new and beneficial resources available to you, it can be a bit daunting to find what you’re looking for. SDN has done the hard work for you with this PDF Resource Navigation Tool. This tool collates, categorises and provides direct links to all the available resources so you can find exactly what you need at any stage of your journey.
Professional Development Programme
This Professional Development programme has been designed to assist you to plan, implement and embed employer engagement activities from strategy to delivery. It will test and evaluate the impact of offering provider support to assist with generating and securing industry placements. The programme will be delivered in four parts through live online sessions:
1 – The Big
Picture
2 – Planning & implementation
3 – Engagement With Employers
4 – The Long-Term
Picture
This will be an interactive and collaborative programme of professional development drawing on the experiences of delegates. Delegates therefore should be in, or due to start, an employer engagement role for T Level Industry Placements and/or T Level Foundation programme.
You’ll need:
- To commit to attend all four sessions so, please check diaries carefully.
- Access to a webcam, microphone and a quiet space to participate in the live sessions
- A desktop computer or laptop is preferable over a handheld device
- To share basic data and information regarding your successes and challenges with industry placements (pre, during and post the programme).
- To be ready to expand your peer networking group!
The total programme time will be 11 hours made up of 8 hours live online and 3 hours of self-guided activities. Practical tools and resources will be provided throughout the session to support your success.
Due to limited spaces on these programmes each provider can nominate up to 2 delegates to participate in one of our CPD programmes during 2024. If all relevant CPD programmes are fully booked, please add yourself to a waiting list and we will let you know if a space becomes available.
Please see below which events are available for you to book.
These sessions will be run by Employer Engagement specialists, Anna Sutton and Karen Kelly. If dates are currently full, please follow the booking link and add yourself to the waiting list
LinkedIn Employer Engagement forum
SDN have launched a supportive LinkedIn community for staff looking to secure students high-quality T Level industry placements. The forum is designed to support staff to plan, implement and embed employer engagement activities from strategy to delivery and using feedback to influence the curriculum. Please do follow and share your success stories!
Join the Forum to:
- Network with other providers
- Get support from sector experts
- Get Top Tips & Resources
Meet our team of employer engagement specialists
Anna Sutton
Development and Implementation
Karen Kelly
Development and Implementation
Phil Golding
Research, Evaluation and Development
Nicki McGee
Administrative Support