Queen Margaret University School Experience Programme Handbook

QMU has established partnerships with the following local authorities Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Scottish Borders and Fife. Educational representatives from these authorities have been closely involved in the design and development of the new Education programmes.

From 2020-2021 QMU’s partnership with these authorities has formed part of the wider Edinburgh Early Phase Partnership along with Napier University and Moray House. Whilst each university retains its distinctive Programme partnership elements, the wider partnership enables all stakeholders to meet regularly to discuss school experience and partnership related developments including the sharing of good practice with local authority partners.

Name & Address of Institution.   Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

The Student Placement System (SPS)

Placements are organised as part of a national on-line system known as the Student Placement System (SPS), which is based on matching requests from universities to offers of placements from individual schools via their Local Authority. The system is managed by the GTCS.
The SPS operates to a strict, nationally agreed timeline and meeting the required deadlines is essential. Once schools have submitted their offers in line with the SPS timeline, Local Authorities will confirm offers. Universities are required to upload course details and student data for placements due to take place within the forthcoming academic year. The system will then run rounds of automated matching and both Universities and Local Authorities will also have the facility to manually match students to schools. Once matches are approved by Universities and Local Authorities schools will be notified via email of the students they should expect to receive throughout the school year. Normally,

• Round one will match placements which start before November
• Round two will match placements which start before February
• Round three will match placements which start after May

Students will complete a placement application form and the information they provide will be uploaded to the SPS. Under no circumstances should students attempt to organise their own placement directly with a school. Students who attempt this will be referred to the Professional Progress Committee (PPC).

Please also note that students can be placed in any one of the 32 local authorities.

A student’s identity, such as their religious/ cultural practices can have a significant impact on teaching, learning and assessment in practice. However, it is a statutory requirement that the University and placement providers address these through establishing relevant policies and guidance which address diversity and inclusion.

QMU is committed to equality of opportunity and believes in a culture of diversity and inclusion.Disabled students should experience the same broad range of practice settings to enable them to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning outcomes for each placement. At QMU, the term ‘disabled’ relates to the impact of an illness, impairment, developmental disorder or specific learning difficulty on the specific tasks associated with university level study. The Disability Service works with a broad range of students including those with long term medical conditions (such as MS, epilepsy, diabetes, chronic fatigue etc), mental health difficulties, sensory impairments, physical impairments, those on the autism spectrum and those with specific learning difficulties (such as dyslexia).

QMU Disability Service

Placement allocations are non-negotiable. Students do not have the right to exchange allocated Placement with their peers. Normally, the Programme teams do not enter into third party communications about allocated Placements. The responsibility lies with the student to raise reasonable and relevant concerns directly with the Placement Officer for Partnerships and Placements. The following are not considered valid reasons to request a change in Placement:

• Personal preference - allocated placements are deemed relevant and will offer appropriate learning experiences.
• Financial hardship - students should consider the cost of school experience as being a necessary and integral part of the programme and plan for this in advance.

Students may only request a change in placement allocation for extenuating circumstances not identified on the school experience information form, e.g. changes to health or well-being requiring reasonable adjustments. Relevant supporting evidence must be provided to the Partnership and Placement Officer (e.g. medical certificate) before any such request can be considered. Evidence that is subsequently proven to be false is brought to the attention of the Academic Lead for Partnerships and Placements. Requesting a change of school placement allocation does not guarantee that it can be made.

There is no direct provision by QMU for the cost of accommodation or travel expenses whilst on placement. Students should consider the cost of school experience as being a necessary and integral element of the programme and plan for this in advance.

Students are expected to arrive at their placement school well before the start of the school day to ensure lessons are well prepared and resourced before pupils arrive. They should also expect to stay on after the end of the school day to tidy up, mark pupils’ work, put up displays, attend any staff or planning meetings, plan and prepare lessons or activities for the next day or help with after school clubs. As a guide, student teachers are expected to arrive at school between 8.00-8.30am and leave 4.30-5pm.

If difficulties arise with placement hours, School-Based Educator/Mentors, and the student are actively encouraged to draw this to the attention of the school and university so that a mutually acceptable plan of action can be developed.

The University is aware that many students now find it essential to find work whilst studying. However, employment outside of the programme must not adversely affect student’s work during school experience. Students are expected to mirror their working patterns to those in operation at the school. They must recognise that flexibility on the part of the school is not to be expected.

Similarly, all requests for pre-arranged absence from placement must be discussed with the University. Planned absences from school experience placement may be approved by the University in exceptional circumstances only.

IMPORTANT: Students do not have the right to negotiate holidays, or other leaves of absence during a placement directly with the University Based Educator (University Lecturer) or School Based Educator (School Mentor).

Students are expected to comply with the attendance and reporting sickness policies of the school and must familiarize themselves with these policies within the first week of placement. If absence is before the start of a placement the student must contact the School’s Curriculum Leader or the Mentor to report any sickness or absence.

Every student is required to inform the school and the University should they be unable to attend their placement on any given day. Students should:

• Contact both placement school and the Partnership and Placement Officer

• Complete a self-certificate via the Hub

• If absent for more than one day students should contact both the placement school and the Partnership and Placement Officer on each day of absence

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 situation and in consultation with our LA Partners, Head teachers and based on guidance from ADES, GTCS, SCDES the following changes to our usual procedures were implemented in 2020/21. Should guidance from the Scottish Government advise of further restrictions these actions may be further amended. During Semester 2021/22:

If a student chooses to withdraw from a Placement without prior discussion with the School-Based Educator (School mentor), and without the approval of the University, normally, the student is deemed to have failed the Placement Module. However, if extenuating circumstances occur which preclude prior discussion (such as serious illness, or a sudden family bereavement) then a course of action will be mutually agreed.

There may be rare occasions when the school feels it appropriate to remove a student from the placement area immediately, and they have the authority to do so. While, on these rare occasions, the placement school will report the matter at its earliest convenience to the University, the student is also required to inform the PGDE Programme Leader, UBE and Personal Academic Tutor immediately if any such event occurs.

The University has implemented a Complaints Handling Procedure (QMU 2014a) which can be found [ broken link] queries about the complaints procedure or any complaints written on the Complaints Form may be email to qmu complaints email address

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG)

As students will be doing regulated work with pupils, and protected adults during school experience, they must apply to register with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG). It is the responsibility of each student to fill in the detailed application form provide the necessary documentation and to pay for this to be carried out prior to the first school experience. The University ensures that all PVG membership applications are appropriately checked and countersigned and that the whole process has been completed satisfactorily prior to the commencement of placement. Some placements providers require additional checks before accepting students on placements and make this known to the University when making placement offers. Further information on the PVG Scheme Disclosure Scotland website 

School Experience is assessed at regular intervals through:

• Weekly Evaluation (Weekly Reviews)
• Ongoing informal observation and feedback (class teachers)
• Formal Formative Observation by SBE
• Mid-way Review (UBE and Student)
• Joint Formative Observation (University and School staff)
• Summative Placement Report (School staff in consultation with University)

Students who are unable for legitimate reasons to undertake the placement at the allotted time or who withdraw from a placement due to ill health and/or personal issues will have a placement arranged at a deferred time. This will count as a first attempt.

Student Contact and Support

Support from the Programme teams is provided in different ways throughout school experience reflecting current demands for sustainable practices including face-to-face meetings as well as the use of digital technologies.

University-Based Educators act as the first point of contact for an identified group of students and School-Based Educator (School mentors) throughout each school experience placement responding to initial requests for advice and support.

Support is offered face-face, via email, telephone, or virtually on Teams. If a student’s performance is causing concern on any school experience, at the request of the School-Based Educator and/or student, a visit can be arranged. A student will normally receive one visit per placement from the University-Based Educator (University Tutor) and a further visit if a Cause for Concern is raised. All communications and follow-up actions agreed with the School-Based Educator and students are documented and copies of completed reports and action plans are retained and the Programme Leader are kept informed of any issues.

The QMU partnership with schools is built on values of trust and mutual respect which is the basis of our community of professional learning. An effective working partnership depends on shared accountability, responsibilities, tasks and a mutual understanding. The main aim of these shared responsibilities is to make available appropriate information, resources, staff and experiences to foster student teachers’ attainment of the GTCS Standards for Provisional Registration (SPR).

Student Teacher Responsibilities

Students at all times must take seriously their responsibilities within school experience. Failure to do so will adversely affect their placement experiences and learning and could lead to the termination of the school placement.

Appendices ie Placement Forms are downloadable as single documents from Queen Margaret University’s Practice-Based Learning Website Page:

[ broken link ]