Terms of Agreement. between Learning to Work and Parents / Guardians for Private Work Experience

Transcription

1 Terms of Agreement between Learning to Work and Parents / Guardians for Private Work Experience This agreement aims to: 1. clarify the way services are offered by Learning to Work, including associated responsibilities 2. provide a benchmark for Learning to Work to assess and establish its performance against similar providers 3. clarify the duty of Parents / Guardians whilst working with Learning to Work

2 Learning to Work organises work experience for around 4,500 students each year in schools and colleges across East Berkshire. Work experience is an opportunity to experience the world of work in an employer s premises to develop new-found skills and explore different career options. Work experience also provides an opportunity to develop selfconfidence and improve interpersonal skills. How to find a suitable work experience placement? All students must complete a work experience application form. Own Placement if you know someone who would be able to provide you with a work experience placement for your week, please complete the relevant section on the back of the application form. Own placements must be through personal contacts and should not be a result of cold calling within the area. Learning to Work Placements if you are unable to find a suitable own placement, Learning to Work can arrange one for you. ALL PLACEMENTS MUST BE SUBJECT TO A HEALTH AND SAFETY CHECK. If placements are outside Berkshire there will be a 35 charge for this. The private work experience process The large majority of work experience placements are organised through schools or colleges however work experience can be organised privately but the duty of care lies solely with the parents as opposed to a school or college Students complete the work experience application form. Students are then interviewed individually, usually by a member of the Learning to Work, Work Experience Team and possible placements are discussed. A letter of confirmation will be sent to the business offering a placement and a health and safety check will be carried out once agreed Each student will receive details of their placement from Learning to Work outlining basic details about the placement including health and safety advice and a risk assessment. At least a week before the work experience, students are expected to telephone the organisation they have been placed with. This is a chance for students to introduce themselves and confirm the placement. Preparation before going on work experience is paramount and this will be discussed during the initial student interview. How can parents help? Encouraging a positive attitude towards work experience. At this stage in a student s life work experience is not careers-based instead the emphasis is on the experience of work and the transferable skills they may use. Travel arrangements Students need to discuss travel arrangements with parents/guardians to ensure that they are able to travel to the areas indicated on the form. It is hoped, therefore, that parents/guardians of those taking part in work experience schemes will co-operate by encouraging their sons or daughters to attend regularly and in the right spirit. Any problems or difficulties, should, in the first instance, be referred to the Learning to Work office. Arrangements A parent / guardian must agree to the duty of care whilst a student is on work experience and be available at all times during the placement should the need arise for the business to get in contact. Any absence from work experience must be reported to both the Learning to Work and the work experience company. 2

3 Payment Students on work experience must not be paid. Employers may wish to re-imburse pupils for the cost of travel, or provide free transport or canteen facilities and this is permitted. Hours of Work These will be the normal hours worked by the young employees of the organisation concerned and in any case, no more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours in a week. Starting and finishing times may vary depending on the type of work involved. Placements should not start before 6.00 am or finish after 10.00pm depending on the availability of transport. Where placements involve on-site work, travelling time is not included in the normal working hours. Health and Safety In line with current legislation, a duty is placed on each employer to undertake a risk assessment for each work experience placement. Please note however, that all companies are checked for health & safety and general suitability. Employers are also encouraged to give instructions on safety precautions and the reasons for them, whenever this is necessary. Special attention is given to young people with special needs who take part in work experience schemes. Please remind your son or daughter to take extra care whilst on work experience, as they have a duty of care to others as well. Insurance Pupils undertaking work experience are not regarded as employees under the National Insurance (Industries Injuries) Act

4 Learning to Work Parents / Guardians Safeguarding Safeguarding & Child Protection The following guidance is direct from the DCSF and adhered to by Learning to Work to ensure the safety of young people on work related learning, in particular work experience placements. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) provides access to criminal record information through its Disclosure Service. This service enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions (paid or voluntary) by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially that involves children or vulnerable adults. CRB checks must be considered in all of the following cases for the person who will have day to day responsibility or regular access to a young person. A decision will though depend on an assessment of the overall potential risks posed to a young person and will take into account any systems in place to minimise these risks: 1) Young people identified by the school as vulnerable for educational, medical, behavioural or home circumstance reasons 2) Young people on work experience placements lasting more than 15 days over an extended time-frame, especially where these involve regular lone working with an employer over long periods (rule of thumb would suggest anything over half a day at a time) placements located in particularly isolated environments with 1:1 working placements involving a high degree of travelling on a 1:1 basis 3) Work experience placements which include a residential element 4) Any adult person acting in a mentor role or going into a school for a regular period of time Learning to Work responsibilities: Learning to Work has a Child Protection Policy in place to cover the varied activities on offer. The policy reflects specific local authority guidance and has been written in line with the guiding principles laid out in the Berkshire Area Safeguarding Procedures Parent / Guardian responsibilities: Inform Learning to Work of any relevant information regarding additional student needs, potential risks or hazards around educational, medical, behavioural or home circumstance reasons. All Learning to Work members of staff undergo a minimum level of child protection training and before employment commences, satisfactory enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks take place. The same CRB checks apply to all volunteers from the local business community who meet the criteria listed above. 4

5 Health and Safety In addition all businesses who are visited by Learning to Work for a prework experience risk assessment check are advised of and information provided on the safeguarding guidelines to ensure they are aware and do not place themselves in a vulnerable position. The same applies to students going on work experience to local nurseries / primary schools. Personal mobile phone access (or any equipment with a camera attached) should not be taken into classrooms and no student should be left unsupervised with children at that nursery / primary school. All personalised assessments made in relation to safeguarding by Learning to Work are logged on the company database to monitor, record and distribute to the intended recipients. Risk Assessments: Risk assessments will be completed for all activities. Learning to Work will request company risk assessments and forward to young people (and their parents / guardians) and participating staff via the school. Pre-activity visits: Learning to Work will conduct health and safety visits, record on the Employer Profile and securely log all health and safety checks prior to work experience placements. Insurance: Learning to Work: Learning to Work holds Employers Liability Insurance, Public Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance. Specific activities / business involvement: All activities and businesses will be covered by the minimum level of insurance as deemed necessary by national guidelines. Risk Assessments: Forward all risk assessments provided by Learning to Work to the young person participating. To provide Learning to Work with risk assessment information relating to specific individuals who will be participating in Learning to Work activities. As part of the risk assessment procedures, inform Learning to Work of any work experience accident, incident or non attendance. Pre-activity visits If appropriate or requested, to arrange and comply with any pre-activity visits. Insurance: To acknowledge receipt of relevant insurance information and guidance as deemed necessary to participate in Learning to Work activities, especially those off site. 5

6 Business Engagement Evaluation and Review Good Practice Guidance Staff training and competence: All Learning to Work staff will be sufficiently competent to conduct the activities they have been asked to do. In most cases, this will be IOSH Managing Safely certified training to provide staff with an awareness of health and safety to support delivery of activities. Additional training to meet the demands of their job will also be followed. To maintain a current and relevant database of company contacts to meet the needs of activities provided by Learning to Work to schools and colleges. To support individual schools / colleges with access to new contacts for specific areas of work, funding etc. To engage in and develop a variety of networking opportunities and events to promote the benefits of involvement with prospective new business partners. Evaluation: All activities will be monitored and evaluated and feedback will be sought from young people and adults (business and schools / colleges) alike. Evaluations completed at the end of each activity will tailor forthcoming days. Review: Reviews of Learning to Work activities will be ongoing to continually develop and improve the level of service and opportunities on offer. Comply with regulations from DfE, local authorities and other sources of good practice to ensure all activities are appropriate and conducted in a safe manner. Learning to Work will ensure all activities offered is of a minimum standard when benchmarked with other similar providers. Parental Consent a) ensure parental consent forms for work experience are completed and given to Learning to Work b) provide parental consent for students to appear anonymously in photographs of Learning to Work organised activities that may be used for publicity purposes. c) provide a duty of care and be available for the duration of the work experience placement Communicate new links with Learning to Work to maintain a co-ordinated approach and avoid possible duplication of effort and confusion. Evaluation: To provide Leaning to Work with completed evaluation forms following activities, including assisting with debrief opportunities for participants. Review: To participate in or provide feedback on an ongoing basis to develop the work related learning opportunities. Attendance at planning meetings where possible to appraise programmes and identify key skills requirements. Comply with regulations from DfE, local authorities and other sources of good practice to ensure all activities are appropriate and conducted in a safe manner. 6

7 Marketing and Publicity Equal Opportunities Data Protection and Copyright Payment Photographs of Young People: Learning to Work will not refer to the names of students in such photographs without additional and specific parental consent. The use of any photographic images of young people involved in Learning to Work activities will be in accordance with the Data Protection Act Publicity: Arrange publicity and media coverage where appropriate to promote the work of Learning to Work, and therefore local school / college and business partners. To offer equal opportunities to all young people and adults involved in activities. Learning to Work has an Equal Opportunities policy which relates to all activities carried out. As a charitable company, Learning to Work also provides a range of activities to meet the needs of the young people and adults within the geographical area it serves. Data Protection: Any personal data or information that is held within the terms of the Data Protection Act 1984 will be used only for the purposes registered under the terms of the Data Protection Act. Copyright: Learning to Work will not contravene copyright laws by using material or information the company is not authorised to use. Learning to Work will issue an invoice once the work experience placement has been confirmed. Conditions of payment will be outlined on each invoice. Photographs of Young People: If any instance is known where a Standard Photography, Video & Voice Consent Form has been refused by a student, please inform Learning to Work before the activity. Publicity: Acknowledge Learning to Work as the source of activities or work in all internal and external marketing and promotional material, including the Learning to Work logo where possible. To offer equal opportunities to all young people and adults involved in activities. To protect the privacy of business partners and respect the copyright of Learning to Work products and activities. To provide invoice details to Learning to Work before any work is completed and to pay all invoices as agreed and within the terms of each invoice. 7