BackExplainer: Unifrog's Placements tool FAQs (UK schools and colleges)
The Unifrog Placements toolmakes it easy to administer work experience, Virtual Work Experience (VWEX), work shadowing, internships - any time when a student has sustained direct contact with an employer. In this guide, we answer your most commonly asked questions about the tool.
Our Placements tool is the industry leader, used and loved by more than 2,500 schools and colleges; 500,000+ work experience placements have been administered from start to finish using the tool.
“The system is quite literally life-changing – thank you!” Eugénie Pasco, Kingswood School
"You can see for every student where they’ve gone on placement and all the details, even down to the employers' insurance documents. Ofsted were really happy I was able to produce that at the drop-of-a-hat.” James Golds, The Highfield School
"During our Ofsted inspection I was able to log into Unifrog and demo the tool to the inspector so I could show how Unifrog had helped us grow our work experience programme… my target was to get 100 students from the year group out on work experience but we’ve actually got 140 students going out - if anyone isn’t using the Placements tool, it is incredible!” Natasha Roberts, Melton Vale Sixth Form College
Here's a post from Careers Leaders UK, a popular group on Facebook:
Here are your most frequently asked questions about the Placements tool, answered:
What is it exactly?
A series of forms
At a basic level the Placements tool is a series of forms which need to be completed by specific people at specific times; when one person finishes their form, the system automatically messages the next person in the chain. The forms collect information about each placement, as well as each person's permissions
A dashboard
The tool gives teachers an at-a-glance view of the progress of each placement across multiple students, and makes it easy to chase when a placement is stuck at a particular stage.
A database
When an employer is asked to host a student using the Placements tool, we invite them to join our Placements contacts database. If they say yes, teachers can ask them if they are up for hosting further students.
What does the tool help with?
The tool makes it easy:
For students to get the ball rolling, then reflect on the placement afterwards;
For the employer to plan a brilliant placement (we give them a little library of expert guides);
For the employer to also follow and confirm that they follow best practices in:
Insurance;
Health and safety;
Risk Assessment;
Safeguarding;
Data protection (eg the UK GDPR);
For the parent/caregiver to agree to the placement and stay informed of what’s happening;
For the school/college coordinators to have an overview of the whole process, across multiple students;
For the school/college to build up a database of employers who have previously hosted placements, showing things like student ratings, the sector, and whether the employer is up for hosting virtual or in person placements.
How does the tool help employers?
Employers who have hosted a placement before via Unifrog now have most of the information about themselves and their organisation auto-filled (they can still edit this information if they want).
Employers who are Unifrog partner organisations have more information auto-filled, including documents like their ELI certificate, and they also have the option to auto-fill placement-specific information (eg the start and end dates and the placement overview).
How does the Placements contacts database work?
The Placements contacts database is a Unifrog-wide database of people who are interested in hosting students for:
In person work placements
In person work placements lasting 20 days or more
Virtual placements
Apprenticeships
Other opportunities (like assemblies or mentoring)
There are currently more than 50,000 people in the database, with more people joining every day. Teachers can search the database and can ask the people on it if they are up for hosting work experience for their students. Access to the database is included as part of the Placements tool. If you have a teacher login, you can read more about it here.
How does it support with Equalex and Modern Work Experience?
The tool works with the rest of the Unifrog platform to help you plan, coordinate, deliver and record modern WEx, and fully meet the Equalex framework. For all the details, check out this guide on Equalex and Modern WEx.
How much does the Placements tool cost?
The tool is an add-on for schools to the normal Unifrog package. The normal price is £750 (ex VAT). As usual with Unifrog, you don't pay any extra for training and support.
Has the tool been properly put to the test?
Yes. More than 2,500 schools/colleges now use it, with more starting every day. Over 500,000 work placements have been successfully administered through it.
Does the tool cater for placements done as part of T levels?
Yes, the tool is fully set up to administer placements associated with T levels. Here are the main things that support T level placements:
Learning goals: The coordinator can take into account the student's objectives, and the employer's overview of the placement, to define learning goals for the placement which are shared with the student and the employer.
Logbook: Students record their hours each week, and employers confirm the hours.
Multiple check-ins: Coordinators can add multiple during placement check-ins, with drop-downs to rate students on various factors (eg attitude, punctuality), plus in each check-in they can update the placement learning goals.
Filtering for T level placements: On their management dashboard, coordinators can filter to see only placements that are being done as part of T levels.
How do we know the forms in the Placements tool sufficiently meet the official guidelines?
We’ve designed the forms to meet official guidance fully, including relevant guidance from KCSIE 2022, and from the HSE. Over the course of building the tool, which has been several years' work, we’ve been careful to benefit from the expert input of tens of experienced work experience coordinators, and from employers who are old hands at hosting placements. There are a few elements to this:
Guidance Part of the tool is a set of guides that lay out in every-day-English each party's responsibility when it comes to safeguarding, H&S, RAs, GDPR, and insurance. There are templates for any paperwork that doesn't already exist. Students, parents/caregivers and placement coordinators at schools/colleges all have access to these guides.
Gathering information The tool asks the right questions to the right people at the right time. If necessary - for example because the placement is at a workplace that is above average risk - the tool asks further questions so that decision makers have all the information they need.
Giving and recording permission The tool involves all parties in the process, asks their permission, and records it. As a coordinator you can review the paperwork for all placements that have been recorded - very handy if you have an inspection.
Do people like it?
The really important thing is that it's popular with everyone involved: students, employers, parents/caregivers, and placement coordinators at schools/colleges.
It saves everyone time, and it helps students and employers to have more successful placements.
"It is a complete game changer. Thank you Unifrog!”Judith Crimes, Birchwood High School
“The whole process is so easy and hassle-free” Sweta Thakrar, Dr Challoner's School
“Careers leaders have been waiting for a planning and safeguarding platform for many years! Thank you Team Unifrog.”Karen Green, Westgate School
Does Unifrog do Health & Safety checks for you?
No, Unifrog does not do Health & Safety checks for you. By asking questions of the student, the employer and the parent/caregiver, and in particular taking into account the characteristics of the student and of the workplace, the tool:
Can decide if the employer needs to answer further questions, and needs to provide more documentation (eg providing a Risk Assessment)
Can flag to school staff if a placement is higher risk - so possibly in need of further checks
The tool also provides you with the centralised space where you can record documents and notes.
How can I see it in action? And how can I ask questions about it?
If you don’t work with us already, please request a demo here (we'll then set up a meeting with you), or call us on +4420 3372 5991. We would love to hear about your school/college and what support you are looking for.
Is it compliant with the GDPR / UK GDPR?
Yes - we have built the tool with data protection law firmly in mind. For example, you'll see that our Privacy Policy fully deals with this new tool.
Does the system work if the placement is not in the UK?
The Placements tool is built from a foundation in UK law and best practice, but the confirmations and agreements between parties are binding regardless of the country where they are made.
We’ve been careful to make things work seamlessly for non UK environments, for example in the tool the employer commits to complying with local data protection law and local covid guidelines, and we’ve built in various handy things like asking the employer what languages are spoken in the workplace.
What about Take Your Child to Work days?
We do not have a separate version of the Placements tool for Take Your Child to Work days, because the paperwork required for a parent to host their own child for work experience is exactly the same as for when a parent is not the employer.
The school retains a legal duty of care over the student during school hours, even if at the workplace the parent's child will be sitting right next to the parent.
On Unifrog's Placements tool, if the parent is also the employer:
When the employer/parent is completing the Employer initial form, they can put their own email address as the Parent/Guardian email address;
After completing the Employer initial form they will get a notification to complete the Parent / guardian agreement.
Can we use the Placements tool for Virtual Work Experience (VWEX)?
Yes the Placements tool is for both in person and virtual placements. However, whether in person or virtual, the key question is whether the student has sustained, direct interaction with the employer. If they don't, the experience should be recorded in the Activities tool, and not on the Placements tool.
Here are our criteria for what we consider a placement:
The student needs to be in direct contact with the employer;
The student will normally do a bit of work shadowing and some of their own project work that relates to what the employer does;
The student should have more of an educational aspect to them than a normal job, but they can be doing real work for the employer;
The student can be paid or unpaid, though if the student is doing a significant amount of ‘real’ work for the employer, then they should be paid.
If a student does not have direct contact with the employer – e.g. the employer is putting on a course or event for lots of students and there’s not much direct interaction between the student and the employer – then we consider it a course/event/webinar, and not a placement. In this case, the student should record on Unifrog in the Activities tool that they have done it, but it’s not appropriate to use the Placements tool for this.
How is the administration process on the Placements tool different for virtual placements?
In the case of virtual placements, the process on the Placements tool is more simple than it is for in person ones, for example there is no parent agreement form, and no school permission form.
There are also some different safeguarding questions, for example the employer has to confirm they will comply with safety online best practice.
What's your favourite Facebook post about the Unifrog Placements tool?
