Supported internships and work experience, leading to paid employment for young people with additional learning needs and disabilities.
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Information about the college
Bridgend College is a further education college with a total of around 7,000 learner enrolments.
The college offers progression opportunities to the next level in many courses. It has approximately 1,864 full-time, and 652 part time learners as well as 545 learners who attend in the evenings or at other times. The college employs around 800 staff and operates across four campuses, with two in Bridgend, Pencoed and Maesteg. It also operates a residential facility for learners with disabilities and severe learning difficulties, Weston House, based within the grounds of its Bridgend campus.
Across the college, 6.4% of full-time learners identified as having fluent Welsh language skills. Around half the college’s learners come from within the Bridgend County Borough, which stretches roughly 20km from west to east, taking in the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore valleys. The total population of the county is estimated at about 135,000. The college is positioned centrally between Swansea and Cardiff. The college serves a region with pockets of high social deprivation with economic inactivity rates above the Welsh average.
Around 148,000 people live in Bridgend. According to data available, the population of Bridgend grew by 8% between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. Of the current population, about 26,000 (18%) are aged under 16, and around 30,000 (20%) are aged 65 and over.
In September 2021, the employment rate in Bridgend was 72.9% which is slightly lower than the Wales figure of 73.1%. In 2021, average (median) gross weekly earnings in Bridgend stood at £608. This was the highest amongst the 22 local authorities. The Welsh index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2019 shows that 40% of Bridgend areas are within the 30% most deprived in Wales.
Nearly all of Bridgend’s residents are of a white ethnic background. The Annual Population Survey of 2021 indicates the percentage of people aged three and over who speak Welsh in Bridgend is 17%, a 3 percentage points rise in 10 years.
Around 19% of adults in Bridgend are qualified up to level 2, which is above the Welsh average. The proportion of adults qualified to level 3 (20%) and to levels 4 to 6 (31%) are below the Welsh averages.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The college has an ambitious ALN transformation strategy, aligned to the priorities and agenda outlined by the Welsh Government, following the introduction of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act and the ALN Code of Practice in 2018.
The college has continued to respond to the evolving needs of learners with additional learning needs, creating an inclusive and person-centred environment, focused on personal development, independence and progression.
Whilst it is recognised that not all learners will progress into paid employment, our aspiration must be to support and appropriately stretch the development of all core life and living skills, building on a personalised pathway for each learner.
As such, the college has developed a number of pathways to support learners within the independent living skills (ILS) curriculum area.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
In 2019, the college launched a supported internship programme, an extended work opportunity for learners with additional learning needs, who, with the right support, would be able to secure paid employment as a medium to long-term outcome.
The college worked with a large local business, a supported employment agency and other partners to launch the supported internship programme. Learners undertake job profiling to identify their interests and areas of strength before undertaking three internship rotations across the academic year. Each intern attends the workplace Monday to Friday, with a college tutor and job coach based on site at the host business at all times, with a classroom available at the employer’s premises.
Interns and departments across the host business are supported with assistance from the college tutor and trained job coach, ensuring that each placement has the best opportunity to be effective and successful, without creating additional workload for staff in the host business. Interns are further supported to develop the skills and confidence needed to travel to and from work, through independent travel training – this is a critical element of the programme’s success.
The internship serves as a year-long interview, with interns developing, demonstrating and applying their skills and learning within different contexts, providing a wide range of experience to reflect on in the recruitment process. Interns also complete the full induction at their host employers, meaning that they are well positioned to apply for job opportunities both within the host business or the wider jobs market. Since launching the programme in 2019, the college now runs two separate supported internship programmes.
The college identified that learners in the ILS curriculum area weren’t always ready to progress onto a full off-campus employment programme and needed further opportunity to develop their confidence, communication and wider core skills before moving onto the supported internship programme.
In 2021, the college launched a campus-based operational coffee shop, fully staffed and managed by ILS learners. The coffee shop is open to the public and college staff Monday to Friday and provides a safe and supportive campus-based experience for learners. The overall model of the coffee shop is aligned to the supported internship programme, with a tutor and job coach assigned to the programme. Learners on the programme complete relevant qualifications and training, including their food hygiene certificate and Barista training. This programme serves as a launchpad for learners to progress fully into the supported internship programme in the following academic year.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Learners with additional learning needs have improved inclusive pathways to support their long-term outcomes, helping to reduce and remove barriers to developing the skills and confidence needed to gain meaningful paid employment.
A graduated approach towards independence and employability enables learners from the ILS curriculum area to access both accredited and non-accredited qualifications, further supporting their holistic development and the personalised support available to them. Importantly, these programmes also serve as an important transition from college into education for young people with additional learning needs.
Across a three-year period of the supported internship programme running, more than 70% of learners secured paid employment at the end of their internship.
How have you shared your good practice?
Practice has been disseminated via invitations to present at national conferences, as well as both supporting and learning work streams for the Welsh Government on this pathway of ILS provision in Wales.