Youngsters from a local primary school have been getting a flavour of University life after their student teacher organised a campus visit to showcase the opportunities available to them after school.
Fourth year Primary Education student, Aine King, was completing a placement at Westpark School in Northfield and wanted to show her pupils the array of options they can pursue at the University of Aberdeen.
The students enjoyed a busy day at the Old Aberdeen campus, completing a session on employability skills, delivered by Schools Engagement Officer, Pam Cumming. They then visited the Zoology Building and took part in a biodiversity extinction session, followed by a tour of the Zoology Museum.
After that, the pupils were treated to a tour of the Striking Impressions exhibition at the Sir Duncan Rice Library, before visiting the Tau racing car in the Fraser Noble Building. And Sarah Wang from the University’s Confucius Institute gave the youngsters a taster session in Mandarin, teaching them some basics of the language.
Aine, from Falkirk, was on placement at Westpark School for nine weeks, gaining invaluable experience for her future career in teaching.
Aine said: “I organised the day to go with the school topic of ‘my world of work’ while I was on placement. I felt it was important for children to see the possibilities of where they could go after school. They had been given talks from school visitors about different jobs and I thought it would be nice for them to see another positive destination they can choose.
“The University isn’t just about going to get a degree, there are so many jobs the University also offers straight from school: cleaners, admin assistants, receptionists and much more.
“I also wanted to give the children the opportunity to experience something they haven’t before or might not ever experience. They were all interested in the fact I also go to 'school', but I teach them at the same time. I wanted them to be able to see that Miss King comes here to learn how to be a good teacher as it was something I got asked about a lot on placement.”
Aine has always wanted to be a teacher and graduating in June will be the next step in reaching her goal.
She continued: “Primary teaching is all I’ve ever wanted to do, even from when I was around eight years old. I used to play teachers and had my own teacher set up with registers and jotters in my room. I never had a Plan B, it was always just primary teaching. I wanted to work with children and make a difference to their lives and create a safe space for learning.
“Being on placement has allowed me to build my confidence and I can see improvement in myself already. I would say my favourite thing about being on placement is getting to learn alongside such amazing children. They make me both laugh and cry – in a good way. Seeing the ‘lightbulb moment’ on children’s faces when I am teaching is so rewarding as well as seeing them improve day to day.”
Class teacher, Andrea Godoy-McAllister, said: “The day was great and our learners had a great time exploring an important part of our city. The skills for work they developed from this trip are crucial for their future careers and seeing themselves in the setting of Aberdeen University will hopefully inspire them to achieve all their goals now and later in life. We thank everyone involved in planning and providing the visit and we are so grateful to anyone who gave up their valuable time to talk to us.”
Schools Engagement Officer, Pam Cumming, said: “It’s been wonderful welcoming young people from Westpark School on campus again. Building relationships with schools is paramount for raising awareness and aspirations and on this occasion, it was wonderful to work with one of our University students and having her input into the success of a day. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with everyone and hope that one day we will see the children on campus again, as students.”