Our vocational teachers have recently undertaken a range of transformative business externships, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the possible career routes their subjects feed into, as well as further developing many links with our local employers and wider community.
The placements have been incredibly wide ranging with 15 teachers exploring a range of industries with the opportunity to shadow professionals. Employers have been very positive in welcoming us into their fields and sharing an insight into their professions and the staff have learnt so much from the opportunity.
Examples of these externships include the Law team visiting Trinity Chambers and working closely with barrister, Alex Littlefair. They also travelled to Scotland to meet the legal team at EDF Energy to understand the corporate side of law. The Forensic Science team worked with Keith Borer Forensic Consultants to learn how evidence is analysed and utilised within a court case. They have also had the opportunity to work with CPI and Hart Biologicals to see first hand the advancement of new technology and laboratory processes. Our Criminology team have worked with The Oswin Project to see how the charity helps former offenders to rebuild their lives and to rehabilitate effectively to reduce offending and to ensure a positive start after prison.
In addition, the IT and Games Design teachers visited Accenture, who rank 169 in the Forbes Global 2000, to discuss how they support their clients in driving business forward with the use of new technologies. The Health and Social Care team worked with a local primary school as well as meeting with a team of social workers to understand how children are supported by external agencies. Our Psychology teachers met with local drug and alcohol recovery service HumanKind to understand their approach to delivering support within the local community. Durham Gala Theatre has also been extremely welcoming to our Performing Arts teachers as have Durham Womenโs FC in sharing their training methods and routines with our Sports staff.
These individual experiences will provide our students with a more informed context of their subject in the working world and they will have the opportunity to meet our new contacts throughout the next academic year. We look forward to further building on our relationships with employers both locally and nationally to ensure our students are able to prepare for their future careers by developing the skills which these employers hold to be the most significant.ย We thank everyone involved for providing our staff with superb opportunities and our students with excellent role models.
