Personal development and employability

We run a number of initiatives designed to develop your academic, personal and employability skills. Important areas such as communication, analysis of data and ideas, computer literacy, networking, time management and project management are focused on through academic modules, careers workshops, employability fairs and a unique volunteering and enrichment programme.

We are heavily invested in making our graduates employable and regular events and activities are organised to introduce our students to a range of skills, experiences and career pathways in education. We host guest speakers from educational consultancies, businesses, charities, local government and schools, providing our students with numerous opportunities to seek advice, make contacts and gain inspiration.

Furthermore, first year undergraduate students undertake a STEP 1 programme. This programme aims to build students' employability skills by presenting them with a real-life challenge from an educational partner from an external organisation. Students work in teams to research and present a solution to the partner, allowing students to build key skills such as communication, group work and problem solving from the start of their programme.

Employability and enrichment programme

Our employability and enrichment programme is a dynamic community-based learning experience that is designed to allow students to put into practice the knowledge that they have developed through their academic studies. Students are encouraged to participate in community partner projects and undertake work on a range of educational projects.

All projects enable students to enhance their skills in a number of areas including team building, project management, planning, undertaking research and communicating to different audiences.

Past projects have included:

Working on a museum guidebook which involved developing activities for children based around exhibits in the Yorkshire museum
Creation of learning resources for young refugees in collaboration with Refugee Action York

York Students in Schools - getting classroom experience

York Students in Schools is a successful volunteering programme which allows any student interested in a career working with children to volunteer in local schools, tutoring or mentoring pupils.

You work alongside a qualified teacher to help with class activities. It is especially valuable if you are not sure whether you want to go on to take a PGCE or another professional qualification, and want a way to get real experience in a classroom before you decide.

Find out from three of our Education students about their own experiences of volunteering in schools.

Further information about York Students in Schools.

Internships

We offer a small number of paid internships during the vacation periods as well as during semester time. The number of hours and the length can vary depending on the project, but are usually between four and twelve weeks. Interns can be involved in a wide range of activities, including conducting literature reviews; collecting, inputting and analysing data; and designing and creating IT tools and databases.

Past internship topics have included:

Teacher emotional intelligence and teacher effectiveness
Exploration of home literacy environments in a diverse community
Early language development: The rank order stability and persistence of language skills and problems
Educational transitions and mental health
Women's representation among doctoral students in six countries
Patterns of application to study in the UK home nations from EU students and the effect of tuition fees
Educational background and pathways of UK professors
Vocabulary learning and reasoning in English as a Second Language
Literacy development in British primary school children
Making, viewing and reviewing Shakespeare
Creating a digital repository of research instruments
Investigating the potential relevance of task-based language learning in the UK language teaching context
Understanding Society
Narrative skills and spelling ability in children learning English as an Additional Language
Developing an e-assessment for an MA module in educational research methods
Social class and bilingualism

Placement

A placement year is a structured work experience opportunity that can be integrated into your studies, giving you a substantial amount of work experience that is recognised within your degree title. Many organisations offer placement opportunities and they are a great way of developing your employability skills while getting a flavour of a particular working environment.

Placement years generally last between 9 to 12 months and are often aimed at penultimate year undergraduates (they tend to take place between 2nd and 3rd year).

Benefits of being on placement

Increase your confidence
Opportunity to fast track to a graduate job
Try out the day to day of your future career
Put your skills into practice
Strengthen your academic performance
Build up your professional network
Strengthen your commercial awareness