For young people with additional needs, it can be life-changing. Offering opportunities tailored to individual needs and aspirations builds confidence, develops essential skills, and prepares young people for their next steps.
At Shaftesbury education’s specialist colleges, work experience is embedded in learning. Students transfer skills learned in class to work-related tasks on-site at college and through external work experience.
Fostering independence
This approach enables students to build their understanding of the sequence of steps needed to complete a task.
At Shaftesbury Nash College, in London, students are involved in different roles across the college, from catering, helping with administration tasks or car washing. A group of students also help run the college’s online Vinted store, photographing and listing items, and organising postal deliveries.
Work experience opportunities are inclusive, and can be adapted to enable all students to participate.
‘Internal work experience helps students learn and develop skills in a safe and familiar environment, building their confidence,’ said head of college Martin Bentham.
‘We provide support, teaching and modelling tasks, reducing the level of support over time so students carry out processes independently, demonstrating progression.’
Partnerships with organisations including The Warren – a Metropolitan Police sports and social club – and charity Invisible Palace provide opportunities for students to transfer the skills they have learned to a less familiar setting.
‘Students learn how to prepare for work, travel to the workplace, use tools and equipment safely, wear the correct PPE, follow instructions, and work as a team – the “soft skills” we all use day to day in the workplace,’ said Martin.
‘External work experience and employer visits are opportunities for our students to explore job roles in a meaningful way.
‘Exposing students to a variety of tasks and experiences can help them discover if they like working indoors or if they prefer being outdoors; if they like working with animals or enjoy meeting people. It is about opening those doors.’
Building confidence
Blending education with enterprise, Shaftesbury Mille College, near Poole in Dorset, works to bridge the gap between academic learning and meaningful pathways to employment.
At the college’s 350-acre site, students are immersed in tasks across animal care, catering and retail, conservation, horticulture and events, helping them identify areas of interest.
For student Liv, it sparked an interest in animal care. With the support of college staff, she secured work experience at Margaret Green Animal Rescue, where she spends a morning a week.
Building on knowledge and skills learned at college, she is involved with providing enrichment and companionship for animals waiting to be re-homed, as well as helping with cleaning out enclosures.
“I work with the goats, pigs, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and cats. I also visit the horses a lot.
“I enjoy the site at Margaret Green, it’s beautiful and quiet and I love being surrounded by animals.
“I would love to continue volunteering there and am interested in seeing their other site for dogs, too. It’s a career path I’m interested in, but I don’t have a definite decision.” – Liv
After completing work experience off-site at a golf club, student Seb was interested in further developing his knowledge at the college.
Since the start of the year, he has been doing work experience with the maintenance team, helping with set up of public events, learning about health and safety, and carrying out general maintenance tasks around the college site.
“I enjoy learning new skills and they are a great team to work with.
“I have done many tasks; drilling, building, and digging are just some of them.
“College has helped me with setting up maintenance shifts.” – Seb
Mutual benefits
The college works with external partners to provide opportunities for students to gain vocational skills.
One example is its partnership with the National Trust, with two students about to embark on a six-week work experience placement, spending a day a week at the National Trust’s Studland site.
With the support of college and National Trust staff, they will undertake a variety of tasks, from meeting and greeting visitors and helping with car parking, to litter picking and site management. The students will also have an opportunity to get involved with project work at the site during their placement.
The National Trust team developed social stories to help students prepare for their job roles, which the college’s education, enterprise and visitor services manager Annabelle Pearsall says were invaluable.
Annabelle hopes the next step is for the college to support National Trust staff to adapt resources to share with students and other groups they work with. This will help people taking part in work experience placements break down tasks and work through them at an appropriate pace for them.
Annabelle said: ‘Big changes are not required to work with students with additional needs. By offering a work experience placement for a short period of time, businesses can understand the needs of the individual and adapt or carve out tasks.’
Supporting transition to further education or employment
Supporting students to develop employability skills also plays a crucial role in their preparation to move on to further training or employment.
With new opportunities to be involved in work-related learning at the college’s on-site café, Faith’s Kitchen, and shops at the Courtyard Craft Centre in Lytchett Minster, students were encouraged to apply for positions.
Through the recruitment process, students learned what is required in applying for and getting a job, from filling out an application form to shortlisting candidates and mock interviews.
Growing for the future
On a Friday morning in Crystal Palace Park, a group of volunteers tend to a small garden plot.
Among the group weeding, planting and clearing foliage are students from Shaftesbury Nash College, who regularly attend the community gardening sessions run by the charity Invisible Palace.
During the sessions, the students work under the direction of a landscape gardener, with support from college staff.
Since starting the sessions, their confidence has blossomed. As well as gaining practical work-related skills, the students take pride in contributing to a community project.
Omar enjoys gardening and working outdoors. ‘I like doing the tasks and working with other people, learning new skills,’ he said.
Combined with their college learning, these internal and external work experience placements play a crucial part in building students’ skills and confidence, and help them decide what they would like to do in their futures to make life add up for them.
To find out more about Shaftesbury education and how we support young people, please visit the schools’ websites: