On the BA Education course, you can gain real-world experience through an optional placement module in your second or third year.
The module is designed to help you gain practical experience in a professional setting, which can be incredibly valuable for personal and professional development. You will develop a wide range of skills and explore different career paths in the field of education, enabling you to stand out in the job market.
Chioma completed a year-long placement with the Nottingham branch of Sexpression:UK, a national charity with the goal of empowering young people to make informed decisions about relationships and sex.
No two days were the same and work was flexible and included:
I had a very good understanding of education and the education system which was quite beneficial in lesson-planning. I understood some of the issues young people face in education, such as the feeling of not being listened to, and so I made sure young people’s voices were heard in our sessions.
Useful skills picked up during my studies were presentation skills from numerous assessed and non-assessed presentations, communication and teamwork from group projects and also understanding how to use technology effectively in the learning process (from the Learning in the Digital Future module).
I learnt about issues young people face and was given safeguarding training to ensure that they are protected from harm. I gained a good understanding of the RSE landscape, particularly in a British context. There is a gap in RSE with issues such as a lack of qualified educators in the area with teachers themselves not being adequately trained. This is where third-sector groups like Sexpression come in.
I can now approach sensitive topics such as sexual assault and domestic violence with more ease to multiple age groups. I feel more comfortable talking about such matters to foster safer environments.
Some of my legacy was focused on making the Good Shag Guide, a guide to help university students navigate sex safely and healthily. It was fun working with the Students’ Union and people from different courses.
Another is the fact I am now the President and Equality Diversity and Inclusion Officer of Sexpression. I gained a certain level of respect that people entrusted me to be the next president. It’s an honour.
I would absolutely love to work in an organisation or company specialising in sex education/health or with survivors of different kinds of abuse. I want to give back to local communities.
It also made me feel comfortable potentially pursuing a career in teaching due to my positive in-class experiences. I was initially reluctant with the prospect of doing a PGCE but knowing I made a difference in classrooms is helping me make an informed choice about my future.
Tamara completed a semester-long placement with Students in Classroom. This is a programme that consists of university students helping children in primary and secondary school with their literacy and reading comprehension skills. She also completed a year-long placement with Girlguiding UK, in the Rainbows division which is targeted towards girls aged 4-7 years and teaches them independence as well as life skills.
A typical session on placement would consist of me sometimes helping the teachers set up for their day with the lessons and activities they had planned for the children, or me preparing myself with the literacy and reading activities I would do with the children on that day. The teachers normally would give me a list of children they want me to particularly focus on reading with, as well as reading with the rest of the class. I also provided help in English lessons whenever needed.
With Rainbows no session is the same, every week we’d do a new activity with the girls, whether its first aid one week or making rice krispie treats the next. I think this is one of the reasons why I enjoy Rainbows so much because it is a fun and relaxing environment where the girls are allowed to have fun after a full day of school; and you the volunteer also enjoy yourself.
I found one of the first-year modules to be extremely useful. Learning and Development was a module that focused on learning styles and the process of the mind and how it changes as we grow, and I found it to be very helpful when it came to planning activities for the children to do, as of course each child had a different learning style. Because I was working with them one-to-one it was easier to apply it to them, which is not an opportunity you’ll often get in a class of 30 children.
In Rainbows I didn’t necessarily apply any skills I’d learnt, but rather it taught me more about alternative forms of education such as forest schools or homeschooling, and the importance of formal and informal education and how both can be beneficial. Not all the girls that attended Rainbows attended mainstream education and it was interesting to see how they were still just as advanced as the girls that attended mainstream school. Furthermore, Rainbows is a great example of informal education and seeing the benefits of it firsthand, as well as hearing them apply what they learn in Rainbows into their everyday life, is an amazing thing to see.
Overall my placements have indeed helped me with a career choice after graduation; because after having first-hand experience of working in a primary school, it made me realise that whilst I didn’t want to work in a primary school as a teacher, I did want to have that school environment interaction whilst still working with children. That is why I am interested in becoming an educational mental health practitioner that gives me the hands-on experience of working in a school whilst providing children support, which is something I was keen on before.
Please keep in mind that study abroad, mandatory year abroad, optional internships/placements, and integrated year in industry options may be subject to change at any time due to a variety of reasons such as curriculum updates, modifications to agreements with partner universities or placement/industry hosts, travel limitations, or other factors beyond the control of the university.
