VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Careers education for the next generation A
project from the National Literacy Trust is introducing children as young as five
to the world of work. In our ever popular View from the classroom piece this month, education journalist Sal McKeown visited Robert le Kyng Primary School in Swindon to join a year one class for their celebration.
'Are you a journalist like me?' asked a girl, clutching a microphone and clipboard. 'Yes,' I replied. 'I am here to write about your celebration today. What are you working on?' She smiled and told me: 'It's a story about the tooth fairy and unicorns.' I have dreamed of commissions like that. Still, I did get to see six groups taking their first
steps as would-be chefs, architects, scientists, journalists, supermarket managers and doctors. The scientists were using plastic pipettes to get water from a container into a little flask and mixing foam. Who knows, perhaps this messy STEM activity could lead to the discovery of new vaccines tomorrow? The doctors were busy using toy blood pressure monitors, the architects were wearing their hard hats and all the groups were noting down on their worksheets the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills these jobs
entail from lists and prescriptions to measuring and reading numbers, making phone calls and serving people. Class teacher Helen Beale said: 'I’ve been
interviewed twice today about cyberman and Daleks and I’ve been quite impressed with the children's skills in turn-taking, asking a question and listening to the answer.' The Words for Work: Dream Big project is run
by the National Literacy Trust and sets out to develop literacy skills, raise aspirations and challenge stereotypes. Fifty schools are signed up to the current round which started last September and are working through the project's three stages:
• Visit to a workplace – pupils spend a morning being detectives finding out about a day in a workplace • Dream Big day – schools receive a collection of books, props and lesson plans organised around six careers to bring to life in their classroom through a day of role-play • Dream Big celebration – schools invite parents to talk to them about the importance of career- related learning and celebrate their child’s work
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www.education-today.co.uk April 2020
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