This file keeps a record of meaningful changes to the user experience, and the dates on which they went live.
Some users have a difficult time understanding what they are being asked when presented with an 'immigration status' question. This change aims to address the issues found during the last round of research.
For non EEA candidates who have the right to work, we changed the free text field to a user-friendly radio button list so users can select the most relevant preset option.
For both EEA and non EEA candidates, we changed the 'other' text area to a text field and reduced the word count to 7.
The scope of the Interview Needs section is to gather information about the candidates interview availability.
We changed the title and description of this section, as well as moving it to candidate/application/interview-availability from candidate/application/interview-needs
The safeguarding information question, previously part of the submission journey, was merged into the safeguarding section in the application form.
We removed the 'additional information' question, which was also part of the submission journey.
The design on the candidate interface was changed to use a primary navigation bar.
We moved the equality and diversity survey away from the submission journey and onto the application form as a new section to complete.
We added the reference condition to the candidate interface, pre and post offer.
We changed from having 2 personal statement fields to 1, with updated guidance. This applies only to newly-started applications.
We added the ability for candidates to request a teacher training adviser from within Apply itself.
The number of course choices that candidates can apply to at a time was increased from 3 to 4.
Candidates who receive feedback when an application is rejected are now asked whether the feedback is helpful or not.
There were several changes to support the change to request references after an offer has been accepted instead of before:
- The Accept offer flow is updated to allow candidates to change and confirm the people who’ll be asked to give them a reference
- If a candidate accepted an offer, a new screen is shown allowing them to see the status of their references and offer conditions
- Candidates are able to request additional references, chase or cancel them after an offer has been accepted
- References no longer need to be requested as part of the application, and then 2 selected. Instead, details of 2 people who can give a reference are required, in a new task within the 'Safeguarding' section.
Several changes were made to the equality and diversity survey:
- The content of the introduction page was updated, to be simpler
- 'Intersex' replaced with 'Other' in sex question
- 'Roma' added as an ethnicity
- The 'Do you have a disability' question was removed, and instead all candidates are shown a list of disabilities and health conditions, along with a 'None' option
- A new question was added asking if the candidate received free school meals.
The flow for adding a degree was changed (for new applications only), so that the order of questions was different, and the data would be more structured.
Candidates who apply again can now pick 3 courses instead of 1 to apply to.
For the 2021 to 2022 recruitment cycle, applications could no longer be submitted through UCAS and only through Apply. We made some changes to the services:
- the ‘choose a course first’ page was removed as there is no longer any need for candidates to check if a course uses Apply or UCAS before continuing
- the personal details section was moved to the top to encourage candidates to fill this out first
- the GCSE sections were updated to ask whether candidates were retaking a GCSE or needed to sit an equivalency test
We dropped the confirmation page and instead candidates see a new interface after submitting which shows the statuses of their application in a new ‘dashboard’ interface.
We changed the work history section so the candidates are asked for a full work history instead of the past 5 years. Candidates no longer need to describe ‘skills and experience relevant for teaching’ for each job and are instead asked if the job used skills relevant to teaching, with a yes or no answer. A tick box was added if candidates are unsure of the exact start or end dates.
The service opens for applications with a limited set of school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) providers, alongside UCAS (‘dual running’).
The service was launched with one provider, the Royal Academy of Dance.
For the 2022 to 2023 recruitment cycle, we made changes to the initial email and to each of the pages shown when giving a reference, as references are now only asked for after a candidate has accepted an offer. Referees are no longer asked whether the candidate has the potential to teach, but are instead asked to provide a factual reference.
We added the reference condition when making an offer.
We added 2 new reports:
- Withdrawals
- Sex, disability, ethnicity and age of candidates
We’ve made some changes to allow providers to make taking a subject knowledge enhancement courses an offer condition.
Information about references was moved from the application page to a new references page. Before an offer has been accepted, only the details of the referees are shown. After an offer has been accepted, the references themselves are shown as they come in.
When making an offer, some guidance is shown to describe that references are only collected once an offer has been accepted.
The reference number and candidate ID was replaced with an application number to simplify how we use identifiers.
Providers are now able to offer a candidate a place on a different course from the one they applied to.
When rejecting an application, providers now see a new set of options to explain their reasons for rejecting the candidate.These now contain checkboxes for categories which reveal further checkboxes for sub-reasons, with a text field for details of each reason.