Guernsey Work Experience manager Michele Clark with Grammar School pupils during a presentation the students gave about their time spent with businesses. Left to right are: Ellie Alexander, 15, Joe Bibby, 14, Lucy Sharrott, 15, and Etienne Laine. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0797486)
WORK experience is vital in preparing students for the world of work, according to Education minister Carol Steere.
While she never got the chance to do work experience herself, Deputy Steere said it was an important part of a student’s education today.
‘I think it’s great that students have been getting out and experiencing work,’ she said.
‘It is a valuable part of preparing them for real life.’
This year’s students were the first to take part in the new Guernsey Work Experience programme, or GWEx. This has taken over from the UK-based Trident programme.
GWEx manager Michele Clark is in charge of helping to place 800 students this year.
She believed the scheme would be an improvement.
‘Trident did not quite fit with the Guernsey way, so we decided to move away,’ she said.
‘It is now easier to identify with Guernsey and local people.’
This year, students were given diaries to track their events over their week in the workplace.
Students designed the diaries while on work experience last year, and pupils were able to vote on the final logo.
A mixture of Year 10 and 11 students are currently involved from both state and private schools across Guernsey and Alderney.
Students at the Grammar School did their placements a few weeks ago, and have been giving presentations about their time with local businesses.
Joe Bibby, 14, spent a week at the Channel Island Stock Exchange and said the time had given him some invaluable experience.
He was given the chance to edit the exchange’s database and research companies’ backgrounds to ensure they were within the rules.
‘It was a really good week,’ he said.
‘I found it very interesting and I’d recommend it to anyone going into finance.’
Article posted on 30th June, 2009 - 2.29pm
One Article Comment
A few observations: work experience, like many other educational incentives can be very beneficial, providing both parties are committed to it. Working in an IT Department, we regularly get work experience students and it’s fair to se we’ve had a mixed bag over the years.
Some work experience students have acquitted themselves with excellence, in fact three of them became full time staff and have clocked up over 20+ years service between them.
Others however have come in with very little desire to do anything. One even left after a couple of days after spending most of the time demonstrating a complete lack of interest in anything apart from the end of his nose. In a busy working environment this is a complete waste of time, not to mention highly frustrating.
I support the idea of work experience – I myself gained my first job through a work experience placement. However in order for the system to work, it has to be fully supported both by employers and students, with time taken to assign students to appropriate placements.
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