Removing course vacancies

Posted on: 20 April 2023 Tags: school placements vacancies

When a provider publishes a course, they can list all the schools where a candidate can gain experience.

Previously, once a course was published, it was ‘Open’ for applications. This meant there were vacancies at some or all of the schools listed.

We provided a way for users to state whether each school had vacancies.

If the provider stated there were no vacancies for all schools on the list, the course is ‘Closed’. ‘Closed’ courses can still be found on Find postgraduate teacher training (Find), but a candidate cannot apply.

We have removed the link between the ‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ course statuses and vacancies. Users can simply state whether the course is open or closed.

What we changed

We have:

removed the vacancies section
removed the vacancies column from the courses list
added closing a course
added opening a course
updated withdrawing a course

We removed the ability for users to manage vacancies in Publish teacher training courses (Publish) because:

candidates do not apply to a vacancy at a school
providers often do not know the number of vacancies at their partner schools until late in the recruitment cycle
the number of vacancies can change during the recruitment cycle for reasons outside the recruitment process
we are providing false hope that candidates will be placed at certain schools
providers do not always consider a candidate’s school placement preference on the application, and some don’t know about the preference
the accuracy of vacancy information depends on providers frequently updating their courses
Apply for teacher training (Apply) is going to remove the preference for placement schools

How it works

When a course is first published, it is ‘Open’ on Find.

In the ‘Open’ state, Publish users can:

close the course
view the course on Find
withdraw the course

Close course

A provider should close a course where no placements are available.

When a provider closes a course, it is still available on Find, but candidates cannot apply.

When a user selects to close a course, we show a page confirming the change.

Open course

During the recruitment cycle, the provider might need to close a course and, at a later date, reopen it.

When a user selects to open a course, we show a page confirming the change.

Once a course has been opened, candidates can apply for it.

Withdraw course

When a user selects to withdraw a course, we show a page confirming the change. We also show a link to closing the course, which may be the more appropriate option.

We do not show the close link if the course is already closed.