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As part of the MYP4 and MYP5 curriculum pupils undertake work experience placements. In MYP4 it is a day shadowing and in MYP5 it is a 2 day placement. ISG offer placements and some pupils have found their own.
By Caroline Bennett MYP Careers Advisor International School Groningen and one of her students
MYP4 and MYP5 (grade 9 and 10) usually have work experience and for some reason or another it has been on hold for a couple of years. This year though it was back and bigger and better than ever before. As part of MYP5’s 2-day experience they had to write a report and interview someone at their placement.
MYP4 and MYP5 pupils experienced a wide range of placements ranging from the school’s catering department to taking the train and staying over in Rotterdam and going to work on the 16th floor of the Shell building there. We had pupils go solo on placements as well as going in pairs and going in a group of 9. Feedback from parents, pupils and placement contact persons were all positive and we hope to repeat the experience again in 2022/2023. If it was up to pupils they would be out there in the work place for a minimum of a week. Here are some quotes and snaps that show their days.
“The objectives that I initially went into the experience with were ‘why is variation important for learning’ and ‘how can I broaden my knowledge on entrepreneurship with this experience?’. These were the things I was looking forward to learning. However, I was very anxious about interacting with the people at the work experience. I thought I would feel a sense of imposter syndrome and would panic if someone asked me a question. I felt that it would be difficult for me to socialise with the people around me which is a very significant part of the experience in order to learn and grow my network.
Social skills
Therefore, the skills that I believed were required of me were social skills, in order to learn something new I had to interact with people effectively. Open mindedness was also really important as with a closed mind it is more difficult to broaden your knowledge and consume information. Communication skills were up there too, because if I failed to communicate or did not communicate well it would be difficult to hold a conversation or exchange information.
In addition to that, I believed that critical thinking skills would have also been required. Since not only is it important to listen but it is also important to evaluate the information that you have consumed. Lastly, I believed that my collaboration skills would increase as I would have to work with other people that work at WeTrainers.
Shape me as a person
I really enjoyed the placement as I got to learn not only about the placements and entrepreneurship but also a lot about myself and what kind of person I am. I believe that this information will really help shape me as a person in the future. Additionally, I also got to meet many interesting people which also really grew my network. I would not mind pursuing my placement in the future, but I would rather open my own company and become and entrepreneur. The reason why I do not have a clear answer on whether I would fully pursue this placement is because despite there being a lot of freedom in the placement, I would rather have freedom over a whole company.’
