BackExplainer: What parents need to know about the placements forms
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Parents and guardians play an important role in the placements process. This guide explains exactly what parents and guardians will be asked to do during the placements organising process!
If you're launching the Placements tool to parents, check out these resources:
What is the Placements tool?
The Unifrog Placements tool is a series of forms that help schools and colleges manage the admin for work experience.
To organise one placement there are seven forms in total, with each one needing to be filled in consecutively (except for the Employer review form and the Student reflection form, which can be completed in any order after the placement ends):
- Student initial form
- Employer initial form
- Parent/guardian agreement
- Permission
- Check-in
- Employer review
- Student reflection
Once one person completes their form, the next person in the process is automatically notified by email.
Our best practice guides for everything to do with Placements can be accessed by anyone here (no Unifrog login needed): https://www.unifrog.org/placement/guides
How does the process start?
- Normally the process begins with the student agreeing with the employer for the placement to happen.
- Once the employer has agreed to host the placement, the student logs the placement on Unifrog by filling in the Student initial form. This includes adding the email address of their parent/guardian.
- Once the student has completed their form, the employer is automatically sent an email, inviting them to complete the Employer initial form. The email includes a direct link to the form.
- Once the employer has completed the Employer initial form, the parent/guardian is invited by email to complete the Parent/guardian agreement.
The Parent/guardian agreement form
Once the employer has completed the Employer initial form, the parent receives an email from noreply@unifrog.org that gives the link to the Parent/guardian agreement form.
On this form, the parent/guardian sees the information the student and employer have already provided. The parent/guardian is asked to:
- Provide an emergency contact number
- Note any additional needs the student has (what they write here is not shared with the student, in order to encourage the parent to be candid)
- Confirm they understand the responsibilities of the employer and the school
- Agree (or not) for the placement to go ahead
After completing the form, they need to mark it as finished and click ‘Update’.
What happens next
Once the Parent/guardian agreement form is submitted, the school or college gives permission. When this step is complete, the placement is ready to go ahead!
At this point, all parties are sent an automatic email, confirming that the placement is going ahead.
The system sends a reminder email to all parties 7 days before the placement's start date.
Placements on parent accounts
If a parent has a parent account for Unifrog (which is setup through their child's school or college), the parent can also track in their parent account the progress of any upcoming placements being done by their children.
Find more details about parent accounts here (doesn't require a Unifrog login to access).
What details about placements can parents see in their parent accounts?
- If a parent's child entered in the Student initial form the parent's email address that is associated with the parent account
The parent will be able to review the information submitted in the Student initial form and the Employer initial form. They will also have access to the Parent/guardian agreement form link directly on their parent account (and they can still use the link in the email to access the form).
- If a parent's child entered in the Student initial form a different email address from the one that is associated with the parent account
The parent will be able to see the status of each of the placement's forms, but they won't have access to the details that the student and employer submitted in the forms.
Whether the parent's email address was entered in the Student initial form or not, the parent will be able to view the status of the Permission form, Check-in form, Employer review form and Student reflection form, but they will not be able to view what is entered in these forms.