Top Student Hired on the Spot

In a series of employability events that Early Years students have recently undertaken, top BA Early Childhood Studies student, Jade McKenzie, 21 from Doncaster greatly impressed employer Little Learners, The Deaf Trust into hiring her on the spot!

Students were put the students through their paces through a series of tasks; preparing and presenting an activity to their peers, undertaking written tasks as well as a one to one interview with an employer. A range of employers from the Early Years, Primary and Community sectors participated, including representatives from Doncaster Initial Teacher Training Partnership, Children’s Centres, Private Day Care Providers, Ofsted and staff from the PGCE programme.

Jade commented on the day saying that, “Taking part in the interviews allowed me to prepare for a real interview and enabled me to gain insight into the expectations of employers. Getting a job from it was amazing it has built my confidence and been invaluable”!

Students also showcased their recent work on International Perspectives they have studied as part of their programme.

The conference event held at The Stables, Restaurant and Conference Centre was attended by senior management, as well as staff and year 1 students.   The work included investigations into international curriculum models as well as approaches to learning comparing this to the Early Years Foundation Stage; the framework used in England for 0-5 year olds. Their studies included Forest School, Te Whairki and High Scope.

Early Years Lecturer Deborah Ellis said, “The focus this academic year has been linked to employability and developing student confidence in presenting and speaking to an unknown audience”.

Thinking of working with children between 0-3? University Centre Doncaster has a variety of courses specfically tailored around the learning and development of little ones, to take look go to www.don.ac.uk/universitycentre/departments/earlyyears