Placement Courses
As part of my degree Working with Children, Young People & Families, it is mandatory to take a placement every year, as I am now in my final year, this was my final placement.
Finding the placement via Student Futures
I did my placement at the Hospital outreach centre, and I had to do minimum of 100 hours. The placement was arranged by UON within the education placement team, working in partnership with Student Futures. The education placement team sent an application via email for us to fill out and gave us three options to choose from – including where we wanted to do the placement and why we want to do it and where we already have what kind of experience we have before.
They also ensured all important Information was communicated to us, whilst also ensuring all checks, DBS, and paperwork had been signed by us and them, therefore this made everything less stressful.
The Placement Experience
Placements are important, they gave me the opportunity to gain experience, further my knowledge and skills and have allowed me to implement further study and learning in the practical setting. I had mixed feelings about my final year of placement as I didn’t get given the placement I originally wanted. However I did gain more knowledge on both Autism and ADHD and it offered great insight into working in the education environment.
Reflection
My placement was linked to an assignment which is about leadership, therefore I had to take the initiative to take a leadership role within my placement which was done through supporting and leading lessons and activities.
This placement has helped me to build critical and reflective thinking, confidence, communication skills, empathy and reflective practice. It will be beneficial for me now during my degree and will be even more helpful for further ongoing studies and my career. Even though I had mixed feelings about my placement, I really enjoyed helping children with mental health and medical challenges, and helped to understand their needs which has helped me equip skills into my future career.
Find out more about the support student futures can offer.
