No. A placement is part of your course rather than a job, so it is unpaid. It also costs you nothing to take part. If a placement leads to paid work with that employer afterwards, which happens more often than you might think, that is a separate arrangement between you and them.
Why it matters
Learning doesn't only happen in a classroom
A placement is where what you have learned meets what the job is actually like. Some people discover they have found their thing. Others discover they have not, which is just as useful and a lot cheaper to find out now.
Build real skills
Develop the practical and technical abilities employers are actually looking for, on work that matters to a real business.
Explore career paths
Try a role and an industry for real before you commit to it. Many students are offered work or an apprenticeship by their placement employer.
Go further than you expected
From businesses down the road to fully funded placements overseas through the Turing Scheme, experience that genuinely stands out.
What you'll actually do
Three kinds of placement
Which one applies depends on your course. Your tutor and your Work Placement Officer will tell you which route you are on and roughly when it happens.
All students
Standard placement
Flexible hours, arranged around your timetable. The route most students take. A placement in your subject area, built into your study programme.
Matched to what you're studying
Arranged with your Work Placement Officer
Flexible to fit around lessons
Builds your CV and your confidence
T Level students
Industry placement
315 hours, roughly 45 days with one employer. A substantial placement that forms a core, assessed part of your T Level qualification.
Counts towards your T Level
Structured learning objectives
Regular reviews with college and employer
Long enough to be treated as one of the team
Selected programmes
Extended placement
Longer than standard, set by your course. Some courses outside the T Level route also carry a longer placement because the profession expects it.
Counts towards your qualification
Often in regulated sectors such as care or early years
Additional checks may apply before you start
Your course team will confirm the detail
Start to finish
How it works
You are not handed a phone book and told to get on with it. Here is the process from first conversation to the end of your placement.
1
Talk it through
We start with what you are interested in and where you want to end up, then look for an employer that fits.
2
Checks and paperwork
We check the employer, the insurance and the supervision before you go anywhere. You get the details confirmed in writing.
3
Your placement
You are in a real workplace doing real tasks, with your Work Placement Officer checking in while you are there.
Where you could go
More than 500 employers, across every sector we teach
From large regional employers to small businesses down the road. Here are the main sectors our students go into, and the kinds of places a placement can happen.
Construction
Site based experience with contractors and trades, seeing a real build from the inside.
Sites
Trades
Building services
Engineering
Workshops, manufacturing floors and maintenance teams working to real tolerances and deadlines.
Manufacturing
Maintenance
Fabrication
Health and social care
Care settings, support services and community organisations. Additional checks usually apply.
Care homes
Community
Support services
Business
Offices, admin teams, finance and customer service, seeing how an organisation actually runs day to day.
Admin
Finance
Customer service
Media
Studios, production and creative teams, working to a brief and a deadline that belongs to someone else.
Production
Design
Content
Sport
Clubs, leisure centres and coaching, including sessions run for the local community.
Coaching
Leisure
Clubs
Hospitality
Kitchens, front of house and events, in venues where the service has to be right first time.
Kitchens
Front of house
Events
And plenty more
These are the biggest sectors, not the whole list. If your subject is not here, ask your Work Placement Officer what is possible.
Ask us
In their words
What it's actually like
Three students, three very different placements, and what came out of them.
Engineering
Student name
Placeholder quote. A student describes turning up nervous on day one, being given something real to do by the end of the week, and what that changed about how they saw the course.
Course, placement employer
Health and social care
Student name
Placeholder quote. A student explains how a placement confirmed the career they wanted, and what the staff there taught them that no lesson could have.
Course, placement employer
Turing Scheme
Student name
Placeholder quote. A student talks about a funded placement overseas, what surprised them, and how it changed what they think they are capable of.
Course, destination
The Turing Scheme
Your placement doesn't have to be in this country
Students on selected pathways are invited to take part in the Turing Scheme, working on real projects overseas. It is the kind of thing that changes what someone thinks they are capable of, and it costs them nothing.
- Travel, accommodation and living costs are fully funded
- Real project work, not a sightseeing trip
- Open to students on selected pathways, so ask early
Where our students have been
Belgium
Thailand
Spain
Portugal
USA
Bali
Indonesia
Greece
Finland
France
Germany
Netherlands
Community impact
Work that leaves something behind
Not every placement is in an office or on a site. Some of the best work our students do ends up serving the community they live in, and it is still there long after they finish the course.
The practical stuff
The questions people actually ask
The things students worry about but do not always say out loud. All of it is normal, and all of it has an answer.
Tell your Work Placement Officer early. Travel is one of the things we take into account when matching you with an employer, and there may be financial support available towards transport costs depending on your circumstances. Do not let it be the reason you end up somewhere that does not suit you.
Usually normal business hours, though it varies by employer and sector. Hours are always appropriate for your age and in line with the regulations covering young workers. You will know your pattern before you start.
Completely normal, and worth saying out loud rather than sitting with. Tell your Work Placement Officer how you are feeling and they can talk you through what to expect, who you will report to on day one, and what happens if you are struggling once you are there. You are not the first person to feel this way.
Placements are for everyone, and support does not stop at the college gates. Our Additional Learning Support team works with the placement team to make sure the setting, the tasks and any adjustments are right for you before you start. Speak to either team as early as you can.
Yes. If you have an employer in mind, perhaps a family contact or somewhere you already work part time, that is called an own find placement. We still need to run our usual checks on the employer to make sure it is safe and suitable, so tell us as early as possible rather than the week before.
That is one of the best reasons to do a placement rather than a reason to avoid one. We can arrange something more exploratory, or a taster across a different area, and plenty of students discover an interest they had not considered. Ruling something out is a useful result too.
Placements are timed to complement your learning rather than disrupt it, and for most courses it is built into the timetable. Your tutors know your placement dates and will support you with anything you need to catch up on.
Contact us straight away. The work experience team monitors every placement and is available throughout, whether it is a safety concern, too much or too little to do, or just not feeling right. We take it seriously and we will step in. If it is urgent and you cannot reach your officer, ring the college on 0800 358 7575.
Got somewhere in mind?
Own find placements
If you already know an employer who would have you, tell us early. We will run the same checks we run on every placement, then it is yours. The earlier you ask, the more likely it is to work out.
For parents and carers
Your young person is in safe hands
Trusting a workplace with your child is a big step. Every employer we use is checked, every placement is monitored, and you will always know where they are and who to call.
- Every employer is checkedInsurance, risk assessment and supervision confirmed before any student starts.
- Monitored throughoutThe team stays in contact during the placement and steps in if anything is wrong.
- You’ll know the detailsWhere they are placed, who supervises them, and how to reach us.
- There is no costPlacements are free, and international placements are fully funded.