Fresh thinking. Real collaboration. Practical solutions – Funded by the Gatsby Foundation | Delivered by SDN (Part of the SDN Mesma Group).
Join a sector-focused Action Group in 2026… Are you involved in T Level delivery and looking for smarter ways to design and deliver meaningful industry placements? We’re launching six brand-new Action Groups to help you do just that, and we want you to be part of it.
These short, high-impact groups will bring together employer engagement leads and curriculum colleagues to crack shared challenges, exchange insights, and co-design practical solutions.
- Sector-specific – focused on real challenges in identified T Levels or routes
- Time-limited and purposeful – meeting monthly over three months
- Collaborative and action-driven – no endless meetings, just focused work on things that matter
- Designed for impact – creating national resources, tools and CPD for wider use
- Build shared understanding between experienced curriculum and employer engagement teams
- Equip staff to ‘speak the language’ of their sector and tackle employer barriers
- Explore how to align placement delivery with sector norms and curriculum rhythms
- Clarify roles and responsibilities to better prepare students
- Develop tested, research-informed approaches for wider use
- Build their professional network
Upcoming Action Groups
Sector/Route
Digital
Engineering & Manufacturing
Management & Administration
Building Services Engineering
Health (non-acute settings)
Creative & Design
Launch date
January 2026
February 2026
February 2026
March 2026
March 2026
April 2026
Want to be involved?
If you’re a T Level provider and work in employer engagement or curriculum delivery, we’d love you to join us.
Each group will be limited to 20 participants to ensure meaningful discussion and practical outcomes. Sessions will be co-facilitated by Anna Sutton and Karen Kelly, experienced sector leads with a track record of building trusted, productive networks.
Be part of a growing community shaping the future of high-quality placements.
Get in touch here to register your interest or ask questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: I’d love to attend the Action Group for my sector, but the location is too far – how can I get involved?
We’re trying to work in different areas but recognise this won’t work for everyone. The good news is that the learning and resources created will be shared with all providers via online CPD sessions when the groups have concluded so make sure that you are on our communications list.
Q2: I lead on curriculum, but my employer engagement colleague can’t attend – is that OK?
Yes, we understand not everyone can join. You’re welcome to attend solo, and we’ll encourage you to bring insights back to your colleague and feed in their views along the way.
Q3: I’m attending an AoC Community of Practice for this route – is this the same thing?
Not quite. These Action Groups are short-term, sector-specific working groups with a defined focus on practical outputs to support industry placement take-up. While we’ll share learning across the networks, this is a separate opportunity to co-develop tools and approaches that will be tested and shared more widely.
Q4: How much time will this involve beyond the meetings?
Each group meets once a month for three months. Between sessions, there may be light follow-up tasks such as discussion with your team or employers and resource testing but nothing too heavy. We’ll make sure it’s manageable around your core responsibilities and Anna and Karen will be doing the ‘heavy lifting’ around resource development.