Hear from disabled apprentices about why young people should consider an apprenticeship and how to them work in the Disabled Apprentice Network report Speaking from experience: getting it right for disabled apprentices.
The Department for Education have updated their guidance on how to provide supported internships for young people with special educational needs and an education, health and care (EHC) plan. Although there are no significant policy changes, the updated guidance draws on the experiences of local authorities and providers who have been running successful supported internships programmes, and the 2020 Cooper Gibson research on supported internships.
The SIQAF self-assessment tool, aligned to the Supported Internships guidance, can be used to determine the quality and success of your Supported Internship (SI) provision. It will highlight your strengths and should be used as an annual continuous improvement tool. It has been designed to support reflection and self-assessment, supporting your quality assurance and improvement journey. It acts as a scaffold to support the effectiveness of the SI, and as a catalyst for driving change and improving provision, so there is an expectation for reviews to lead to an action plan. It can be downloaded in both Microsoft Excel and Word formats.
All learners should have a pathway plan from the earliest of years to assist them with their career aspiration. To find the most suitable job takes time in building confidence and skills to access the job market. Through proven track record this Supported Employment Framework will assist you to model a successful supported employment programme/offer. Some learners require additional support to achieve this, and this framework has been designed to enable the delivery of high-quality supported employment. It follows a 5-stage model to provide sustainable employment for learners with additional needs.
In addition, the Supported Employment Pathway Plan Checklist will support the planning approach and quality of your supported employment provision enabling learners to develop the skills and experiences they need for sustainable employment. The checklist should be used to plan and determine the quality through a set of checklist headings and statements.
Watch the Supported employment webinar where CCN share their pathway planning approaches, how they develop learner skills and the framework models.
Hear from an employer who is passionate about supported placements and employment in this short Supported employment, an employer’s view video.
Dynamic Training, an ETF SEND Employer Spoke, has been working with charities and community interest companies that deliver supported employment services. Watch the webinars below as the organisations share their practice.
Watch the Ways into Work supported employment webinar as they share their approach to working with employers, training providers and learners with SEND in an equal partnership to secure the best outcome for everyone.
In the Little Gate supported employment webinar they share how you can work with supported employment agencies to support learners with SEND. In addition, they share their guide, How to recruit and manage individuals on accessible, supported apprenticeships in health and social care, which includes case studies.
City College Norwich (CCN), Centre for Excellence in SEND (community) recently ran a webinar Supported internships working with employers and the community, during the webinar, we went through te process of setting up a supported internship:
As a result of requests from participants attending the webinar, City College Norwich delivered this question and answer webinar about supported internship funding
Employers who have been involved in supported internships tend to be very enthusiastic about them, but we know that initial engagement with employers is not always easy for learning providers.
To help you explain supported internships, and secure more work placements, we have created a Supported Internships downloadable leaflet for you to personalise, print off and give to employers.
This video was created by The Manchester College as part of their Centre for Excellence in SEND Employer Spoke offer. This video, titled Small and Medium Enterprises and Community Startups, was created by neurodiverse young people on The Digital Supported Internship. The Supported Internship Programmes are part of a ten-year collaboration between The Manchester College and Pure Innovations.
Learning support funding for apprentices with SEND is a new piece of guidance developed to support providers in confidently identifying and assessing the needs of apprentices. It also clarifies how to claim funding to provide support and adjustments. Learners with SEND may need support or adjustments to fully undertake some of the learning and activities involved with an apprenticeship. This support may require additional resources or equipment, for example:
The guidance document, End-point assessment reasonable adjustments, has been updated. The latest changes can be seen on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education website.
Dynamic Training, Centre for Excellence in SEND Employer Spoke, delivered a webinar, Reasonable adjustments throughout the apprenticeship journey.
It explores reasonable adjustments that can be made to support apprentices with SEND.
Dynamic Training, an ETF SEND Employer Spoke, held the, Apprenticeship opportunities for learners with SEND webinar. Dynamic Training were joined by external speakers providing the employer voice, The webinar covered a range of topics related to inclusive apprenticeships.
Apprenticeship support for learners with SEND. Weston College held a webinar to explain the funding available to support learners with SEND on apprenticeship programmes, the documentation and evidence requirements and their model of supporting learners in the workplace.
Dynamic Training, ETF SEND Employer Spoke held this Inclusive apprenticeships webinar in which they and external speakers covered the following topics:
The Improving access to apprenticeships interactive resource, created by Natspec, provides information, case studies and resources to increase apprenticeship opportunities for learners with SEND.
The resource takes approximately 45-60 minutes to complete, depending on your current knowledge of apprenticeships.
City College Norwich, Centre for Excellence in SEND (people), put together three Covid-19 Apprenticeship guidance documents to help providers delivering apprenticeships for learners with SEND: Apprentice FAQs, Employer FAQs, Guidance on the delivery of assessment
Leading disability charity National Star, an ETF Centre for Excellence in SEND Employer Spoke, held a webinar, Self-employment for learners with SEND, in which they share their work in this area. The session includes Katy Etherington, a previous National Star learner who runs her own successful graphic design business, sharing her experiences of education, employment, and the self-employment. Other speakers include Keith Bates from Mutually Inclusive who explores the relationship between support and the entrepreneur.
Hampshire County Council, an ETF SEND Employer Spoke delivered an event, Charity and Social Enterprises, in which Lily and Lime Café, a social enterprise run by Minstead Trust and HSDC talk about how Social Enterprises and Charities can support young people on their employment journeys, and how to overcome some of the challenges that they may face.