Institution: Yewlands School Technology College
Context
Yewlands School Technology College is part of a ‘Family of Schools
0-19 years’ seeking to promote the very best, inspirational
learning opportunities for learners of the 21st Century. The
school has gained recognition for its ‘Family of Schools’ work by
the local authority, the Department for Education Innovation
unit, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the National
College for School Leadership. Yewlands serves a diverse community
in the north east of Sheffield and is currently developing a skills
based curriculum across the ‘Family of Schools’. The schools’
vision is to develop personalised learning pathways within a
flexible and adaptable ‘state of the art’ environment that will be
accessed by the whole community.
Many of the pupils at Yewlands have limited life experiences,
lack motivation, have low aspirations and drop out at Key Stage 4.
Second and third generation unemployment is not uncommon in this
area and a good deal of pupils lack a good role model in the family
with regard to aspiring careers. Around 30% of pupils have special
needs and only 8% go into Higher Education.
Why work experience abroad was introduced and how the
programme is organised
To overcome the lack of
interest and to recognise the value of languages, Yewlands school
decided to pilot the NVQ modern languages qualification in Year 9
and teachers have been very pleased with the impact it has
had.
NVQs courses normally incorporate a high percentage of work-based
training where evidence is collected for assessment purposes.
Secondary pupils studying for an NVQ in languages in school cannot
realistically collect much work-based evidence in the workplace and
the majority will have limited if no exposure to practising their
skills in an authentic situation. The classroom provides only a
limited environment for simulating the workplace and even with the
use of native speakers such as a foreign language assistant, it is
very difficult for pupils to gain a full appreciation of the
business scenarios which the assessments are based
around.
The majority of our NVQ pupils visit a local company to see how
languages are used in the workplace and despite this being a hugely
motivating experience, it only provides them with a snapshot of the
workplace and offers a very limited opportunity to ask a few
questions in the target language.
Like many schools, the majority of our Year 10 pupils carry out
a two week work experience placement in either March or April.
However a work placement in a local company can sometimes be a
passive experience where the tasks that pupils are asked to do are
often menial and bear little if any relevance to the learning back
at school.
We decided that the work experience slot would be an ideal
opportunity for pupils to spend time in an overseas company and put
their linguistic skills and business knowledge into practice. We
knew that financing a trip abroad would be an issue and would
prevent some of our pupils from taking part and so funding
opportunities were explored.
The Leonardo da Vinci programme is part of the European
Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme which aims to build a
skilled workforce across Europe. It offers funding for work
placements abroad but traditionally has only been used for students
aged 16 and over. The main reason for this is that pupils need to
be studying for a vocational course to be eligible for the funding.
As the NVQ matched this criteria, Yewlands became the first school
in the country to use Leonardo funding for Year 10s.
The value of using the Work Placement
Toolkit
The Work Placement
Toolkit (WPT) was launched by CILT a couple of months after the
work experience programme had been planned. As a trip of this exact
nature has not been carried out in the UK before the Toolkit was a
welcome guide as it provided us with a comprehensive framework for
the trip. It served to reassure us that we had covered all the
issues necessary with regard to the planning and management of the
trip. Not only did it help us to structure the format of the work
experience and brief our business mentors but it also helped us to
plan the preparation of our students prior to departure.
The Toolkit also contains plenty of hard facts and evidence to
advocate the usefulness of languages within the workplace and the
value of spending time in an overseas company. This information was
presented to students and parents at an information evening and in
subsequent lessons.
In line with the WPT’s recommendations, our pupils were prepared
culturally as well as linguistically and we ensured they found out
as much information as possible about their work placement, using
the web or other information sources such as company or product
literature.
German companies, like most other European companies, are not
used to the idea of work placements for young pupils. It was
therefore important not only to convince them in the initial stages
that this pilot project could be successful but also to give them a
clear brief of the pupils in question, their ability and their
linguistic competence. The WPT served as a useful framework for our
Coordinator in Germany. Having come from an educational background
and knowing little about business, it gave her the confidence and
insight to approach the companies in the first instance, brief them
on our requirements, select appropriate mentors and draft up the
contracts.
In addition to building in a number of NVQ assessments during
the trip, the Language Learning Framework section helped us to plan
the first week of activities designed to build confidence, settle
the pupils and also pad out the time spent in the work placement so
the pupils had enough to keep them busy. The framework was also
useful in the design of the work booklets for each pupil as well as
each individual work placement and this served as a guide for both
the pupils and the business mentors. We also built in useful
phrases and relevant vocabulary and questions for each company.
Results/effects
The work experience trip
to Germany was a great success for our pupils. There were moments
of homesickness and anxiety but the pupils and parents were all
prepared for this, and knew it was the ‘character building’ part of
the experience.
All the pupils were extremely enthusiastic at the end of the
trip, their confidence levels and self-esteem had soared, their
linguistic competence and cultural and business awareness had risen
dramatically and they were all keen to repeat the
experience.
The pupils passed a number of NVQ assessments linked in with the
trip and also gained a
Europass accreditation which provides evidence of the time
spent abroad in a placement. It also records the nature of
activities undertaken. In line with the WPT recommendations, the
pupils had to fill in a self evaluation form which helped with
Leonardo funding as it helped them to reflect on the trip and
acknowledge their achievements.
Issues/tips
For schools wishing to plan a
work experience trip abroad, the WPT is an ideal guide as it will
help teachers to plan effectively, avoid potential pitfalls and
ensure the pupils get the maximum out of the experience. There are
separate sections aimed at students, language teachers, work
placement coordinators and company mentors. This is really
useful for mapping out clear aims and objectives and planning the
role and responsibility of everyone involved in the trip.
It is also important to establish the right links abroad and
ensure pupils are well supported and looked after, especially for
those who are under 16.
Future developments
Yewlands has received
funding for a further work experience trip to Germany in 2009 and
also for a new trip to Spain. The WPT will serve once again as a
framework for setting up the programme with our new Spanish
Coordinator and for organising the work placements. Next year, we
will follow its suggestion to use the adult version of the European
Languages Portfolio as an extra record of evidence and plan even
fuller itineraries for the trips based on its
suggestions.
Author: Juliet Park, Yewlands School Technology College