Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Placing students in schools
The Partnership Team are responsible for the recruitment of ITE placements. The matching of students to placement offers is an academic decision undertaken in collaboration with the Partnership Team and all details will be relayed via InPlace. We take great care to match students to host schools in order that the training we deliver is compliant with QTS criteria and gives students the opportunity to experience different settings and meet the requirements for QTS.
Matching placements requires considerable commitment in terms of time, effort and motivation. We choose each placement school based on a consideration of students’ individual needs to give students the broadest possible experience of a range of good schools during their studies. Among the factors we consider are:
- the travel time to the placement
- the type of school (urban, rural etc.)
- the key stage of the placement
- any subject specialism at the school
- the expertise of Mentors at the school.
Transport to and from the school can be very difficult to arrange and often involves setting off at 6am and returning home after 6pm. It is expected that students will have to comply with the transport policy arrangements and the decisions of the Partnership Team.
Types of placements
Students may be placed in pairs in their Holistic and Phase 1 placements or placed as individual students in separate classes. Increasingly in initial teacher education (ITE), collaborative teaching is being recognised as a valuable means of professional development at all stages from student teacher to highly experienced / senior member of staff. It is widely recognised that people will be working together and supporting each other to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Team teaching, mentoring, peer coaching, joint planning, mutual observation and feedback are increasingly becoming a normal part of school life. The university recognises the benefits of such collaborative approaches by incorporating opportunities to undertake a group or paired placements where appropriate.
Attendance
Full attendance at the placement school is expected from students. We understand that there will be occasions when students cannot attend because they are unwell or because they have a professional commitment, such as a job interview. If a student is unable to go into the placement setting on a day that they are scheduled to attend, this procedure must be followed:
- Contact the Placement School as soon as possible by telephone and follow the school’s staff absence reporting procedures. It would be helpful if an indication as to the length of absence could be given.
- Contact the Partnership Team on 0113 812 1761 or carnegie.partnerships@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
- Contact the Link Tutor.
On each subsequent day that the student remains unable to attend the placement, advise the Placement School, the Partnership Team and the Link Tutor as early as possible that day. Should the absence extend for more than 5 working days a medical certificate is required.
- A copy of the certificate must be sent to the Partnership Team.
- The Partnership Team will then liaise with the school on behalf of the student until they are ready to return.
- On resuming the placement, the student should ensure that arrangements are made, which are convenient with school, to make up for any days of absence, where possible.
Schools are usually understanding about allowing students time off for job interviews at other schools and may even allow absence for pre-interview visits. In each case, students should engage in a professional and courteous discussion with their Mentor and others at their host school. Your absence as a student can have consequences for the school who will need to make arrangements to cover lessons so the earlier you can let the school know about an absence the better.
In line with Department for Education requirements, all student attendance must be rigorously recorded and monitored, and this is done so via PebblePad.
In cases of extensive absence (5 days or more), the Link Tutor and Mentor may instigate the intervention procedure.
Travel policy
School placements are an integral part of our ITE courses, and the nature of our Partnership means that students may be expected to travel considerable distances to attend placements.
We expect students to meet their own travel costs (students do get a higher grant from Student Finance England to support training to become a teacher). Students who choose to use taxis / private hire vehicles do so at their own expense. Financial help (such as the Hardship Fund) may be available for certain students, though it is likely students will still have to make some contribution to travel costs.
Our Partnership is spread across a wide geographical area to ensure that we have a variety of settings to support student needs, but the core areas are Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale.
Students are expected to fully engage in all school activities and schools may have an expectation for students to be in attendance from 8am to 4.30pm or later.
The university considers journey times of up to 90 minutes each way, to and from placement, to be acceptable as a standard commute. We do not take into consideration traffic. On average, most journeys by public transport or car will take one hour.
For calculating approximate journey times, the Placement Office use the term time address of the student found on InPlace or provided on your student profile prior to you joining the university and refer to AA Route Planner for car travel and Travel Line Journey Planner for public transport. Please ensure that your address is correct and up to date, particularly if you are on a three-year course and could change address each academic year.
All students using their own vehicle must ensure that their motor insurance covers them for travel to and from their placement or activity of the placement, as the insurer may not deem this to be Social, Domestic and Pleasure cover (SD&P). The University does not hold this cover or accept any responsibility or liability for damage caused to your or third-party vehicles and property. We support ride sharing students as a means of controlling costs and the environmental impact of student travel. We do recommend that where students share cars, they should make a clear agreement prior to the start of the sharing including about dividing up the costs of fuel.
Adverse weather
- All schools should have a policy in place for actions to be taken when there are adverse weather conditions that may affect their opening. Students should always follow the school procedures that are in place. Please check with your placement school what their adverse weather policy is at the beginning of the placement and make sure you make a record of this.
- Schools should ensure that students are aware of the school/local authority policy and how they will communicate with them if the school is closed. Many schools have arrangements with local radio stations and have texting/answerphone/website facilities to communicate with staff/students/parents.
- If a student is unsure whether their placement school is opening, they need to make contact with the school/Mentor as soon as possible. If the placement school does close, the student will also need to inform the Partnership Team on Carnegie.partnerships@leedsbeckett.ac.uk or call 0113 812 1761. They will need to inform their University Link Tutor as well. This needs to be done before 9am.
- It would be reasonable to expect that if the school is closed, students will use this time to undertake appropriate work-related activities. Students would need to make contact with the school-based Mentor/ class teacher to ask what work you can do.
- If the school is open as usual, students should make all reasonable efforts to get into work. This means assessing the availability of public transport or, if they normally drive to work and are unable to do so, considering the feasibility of walking to work if they live relatively close and are fit and able to do so. If a student is going to be late to placement due to the weather conditions, they will need to keep the school updated regularly.
Exceptional circumstances (bus or train strike)
- Please speak to your Placement School about the situation you are in to ask their advice and see if there is any way that they can help you commute to placement during the strike. There is a chance that one of the school staff members who drives may live in a similar area to you and be able to drive you all or part of the journey.
- Contact the Partnership Team on Carnegie.partnerships@leedsbeckett.ac.uk or 0113 812 1761 and your Link Tutor as soon as you know there is going to be an issue and let us know. We will look at various options internally to see if we can help and feed these back to you as soon as possible.
- If you have absolutely no way of getting into school students will use this time to undertake appropriate work-related activities in line with instructions from your Placement School / Mentor. Students would then make up the missed days of placement after the end of the placement at a mutually agreed time with the Placement School and University.
