Manchester Metropolitan University

Guidelines for Use of the Proforma for Pre Placement Interview of Disabled Students with Academic Staff

When to use the proforma?

Before any workbased placement or work experience it is recommended that a member of the academic staff holds a pre placement interview with any student that has declared a disability to the university. Unless the student is formally employed by the placement provider, it the university’s responsibility to ensure that appropriate support is in place within a placement setting.

Depending on your department/programmes systems this may be with the:

  • Departmental Placement/work experience/field trip Coordinator
  • Departmental Academic Disability Tutor
  • Personal Tutor

Pre placement Meeting

The starting point forthis discussion should be the student’s Personal Learning Plan (PLP). However, remember that this may have been drafted early in the programme when the students may have little awareness of placement requirements. Remember that the student is the expert and has a better understanding of their specific needs. Make use of this and discuss the options with the student,they know more about the disability than anyone.

Page 1 of Proforma

Has a place to record all pre placement meetings, the dates of placement, venue and any specific comments.

Page 2 of Proforma

Disclosure

  1. Discuss the benefits of disclosure with the student for example that:
  • Support can be put in place effectively by the university and the placement provider
  • Reasonable adjustments can be made
  • Safety issues can be considered for them and their potential colleagues and clients
  • Non disclosure (and hence a lack of additional support) may lead to a limitation in them achieving their potential onplacement and hence impact on their ultimate placement grade
  • They have a Professional responsibility under any rules of conduct.
  1. Discuss the disclosure process and whether they are happy to do it themselves or they wish the university to do it for them.
  1. Some students may choose not to disclose and this is their right, however the potential issues and implications of this must be discussed with them. If any adverse events dohappen it may be the students’ responsibility.
  1. Should the student choose not to disclose following your discussions please ask the student to complete, sign and date the disclosure waiver on the pre-placement proforma.

Review and discuss the current PLP recommendations

  1. Are the recommendations feasible to implement?

Discuss with the student the feasibility of implementing any suggested recommendations on the actual placement site. On some types of placements it may not be feasible to implement the recommendations eg: use of a laptop on a geography fieldtrip. Use of personal helpers, readers, scribes, British Sign Language Translators etc may need negotiating in advance (especially if there may be a confidentiality issue).

  1. Does the student feel they need support additional to the PLP requirements.

With your experience of the placement/work experience requirements discuss with the student if they need any additional support. If there are any additional needs or again you do not feel confident in discussing them contact your Departmental Academic Disability Tutor or LSS for advice. These need careful discussion as they may not currently be covered under the students Disabled Students Allowance (DSA). There may be cost implications which would need to be discussed with the funding body. If this is the case again contact Learning Support Services (LSS) for advice.

  1. If it is not feasible you may need to discuss alternatives.If you do not feel qualified to give advice we would recommend you contact your Departmental Academic Disability Tutor. If your department does not have one contact LSS for advice.

If there are no PLP recommendations for placement/work experience you may feel you need to contact the LSS. However,if you have experience of the placement/work environment you may have morespecific experience and insight which will enable you to discuss appropriate/feasible options with the student.

Potential Support Options

  1. This section allows you to identify detail of the support the student currently uses and whether they feel they will need this on placement. Remember if this is prior to placement 1, they may not really be aware of the requirements of placement and will need your guidance.

9-12

If they use any assistive technology you need to first identify would they wish to use this technology on placement, secondly if it is realistic and feasible to do so ( eg use of a laptop on a fieldtrip, wheelchair access etc) and thirdly do they require any assistance liaising with the placement provider. For example, if they would like to use a digital tape recorder on a National Health Service placement you may need to discuss confidentiality issues with their placement provider. If they require specialist equipment for sensory loss eg a specialist stethoscope the student or you will need to liase with their placement provider to ensure this equipment is available to them.

13If they require assistive technology that they do not have access to currently you need to refer them to Learning Support Service as soon as possible for them to assess and expedite the process. The sooner you can do this the better. Again if this is not identified under their DSA assessment this could be quite a lengthy process and would need justification.

Additional Support

14This section allows you to identify any additional support needs, such as personal support.

Action Plans

15This section is the place to record specific action plans for each placement.

16This section relates to the requirement for a pre placement visit. This should not be required with all students, for example most students with mild dyslexia can sort out their needs via a telephone call. Whilst a student with a hearing or sight loss is more likely to require a pre placement visit. Any visits can be recorded in section 23onwards.

17This section asks you to state who is going to contact the provider to arrange the visit?

18This section asks you to state who will be required to attend the pre-placement meeting. This may be the personal tutor, placement coordinator or it may be more appropriate if the visiting tutor/University Link Lecturer(ULL) is present.

Remind the student that if placements run consecutively with no break (eg Placements 1-3) there will be limited opportunity to meet prior to the next placement and it is their responsibility to arrange a meeting either with their personal tutor, visiting tutor or ULL prior to the next placement. They may need to negotiate time off the current placement for this meeting and any pre placement meetings with the next provider.

Visiting Tutor/ULL Comments: We recommend that this form is saved electronically on a secure server, so that the visiting tutor/ULL can update the action plans during the placements.

19-22 Space to record any modifications prior to placements 4 &5.

Pre Placement Meetings with Provider

23Discuss strategies with the provider to enable implementation of the action plan.

24You may need to outline the legal requirements related to reasonable adjustment for example that it is illegal not to provide reasonable adjustments for a student on a placement. You may also need to outline the policies and procedures within MMU.

25If there are any difficulties providing reasonable adjustments, you may need to refer it to the LSS,to the placement organisation team, disability advisor/human resources department for further advice.

26 Preelective placement. It is recommended that it is the student’s responsibility to negotiate any reasonable adjustments when they are negotiating their placement offer. They may therefore ask you for advice on this process.

Learning Support ServicesContact Details:

Tel: 0161 247 3491

Website:

Here you will find links to other contacts, literature, support groups etc.

Kath Botham/Jo Nicholson October 09