Supported Internships
What is a Supported Internship?
A supported internship is a workplace based educational programme for young people with SEND that consists of one or more placements, for up to a year, of on the job training. The primary aim of a supported internship is to equip young people age 16 and 24 with the skills they need to help them into employment.
Supported Internships are carried out for the most part in the work place ( but there are different models) young people are helped to find a Supported Internship employer and will be matched to a job that suits them. The internship is unpaid but can lead to employment if at the end of the placement, there is a vacancy and the young person meets the criteria.
Who is a supported internship for?
They are for young people who really want to work and are aged between 16 and 24 with an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan)
What support will the young people get?
Once the young person starts the supported internship programme they should be assigned a job coach who will teach all the skills that are needed, to be effective in the work place environment. The role of the job coach is to help the young person make the transition into the work place.
What will be achieved by going on a supported internship?
All young people that complete a supported internship will know how to apply for a job and will know what is expected of them in the workplace.
All young people that complete a supported internship will gain confidence, improve their self-esteem and feel they have made a big step on their path to independence.
Perhaps best of all, when they succeed in the workplace they will become a trailblazer showing other young people and employers that disability is not an obstacle and is often an advantage in the workplace.
Who can access a Supported Internship programme?
To be accepted onto a Supported Internship Programme, you must
- Have an EHCP
- Be aged between 16 and 24
- Want to gain the skills to be employable
- Be able to travel independently or working towards this
Who Currently offers a Supported Internship programme?
East Riding College Supported Internships
Bishop Burton College from September 2021 (pdf document)