Toni Abiodun describes how she got on with her course placement year<\/p>\n
What made you decide to do a placement?<\/strong><\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t sure if I wanted to do a placement year or not, so I spoke to the Careers Service. They were very helpful and suggested I consider working for City Year UK. City Year UK is a voluntary organisation sending mentors into schools around London, Greater Manchester, and the Midlands. I decided to apply and after an interview I got a placement. I worked in two schools, one in south London near Croydon and one in central London.<\/p>\n The role isn\u2019t a teaching role, you\u2019re there more as a mentor and to offer one-to-one support. I worked closely with Year 9 classes (age 13-14) and the kids got to know me well.<\/p>\n I enjoyed being with the children, they\u2019re just a breath of fresh air, there\u2019s so much energy and some of the things that they come out with are just crazy! No day is the same when you\u2019re working in a school. I miss being in school myself, so it was nice to be back in that environment. Although obviously in my role I was seeing everything from a different perspective.<\/p>\n What did you learn from the experience?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Since I returned to university, I\u2019ve found myself doing a lot better because of the skills I picked up during my placement year. For example, my communication skills have improved, which has given me the confidence to speak up in seminars and engage more in lectures. I really feel I\u2019m on top of my work. And my marks have improved too, which is good.<\/p>\n I learnt quite a few things about myself and became much more self-aware. I\u2019d like to work with kids in some capacity in the future, maybe in the community or within in a school. They offered me a pastoral role at the end of the placement, but I wanted to come back to university to complete my degree.<\/p>\n Overall, would you recommend taking a placement year?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes 100%. I can\u2019t advocate for it enough. For me it gave me a new perspective, it was a year outside of education to reboot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"