Enhancing undergratuates' employability
The three modules offering English undergraduates teaching experience in local secondary schools present an ideal opportunity to enhance the students' employability and gain valuable time in the classroom. While obviously appealing to those students interested in pursuing a career in teaching and considering doing a PGCE, the institutional, organizational and professional skills acquired are readily transferable to other fields of employment.
It should be noted that the International Writing in Schools module is University assessed. The students therefore not only bring first-hand experience of what they are being taught in seminars to the classroom, they also gain credit according to their ability to translate this material to school pupils. Both the Holocaust Literature and the Teaching Shakespeare workshops also involve designing and developing teaching strategies and materials in seminars. However, in contrast to the International Writing module, the teaching experience offered with regards to these two modules is on an extra-curricular basis.
The experience was hugely helpful: Teaching a range of ability groups and experience in a variety of schools are excellent ways of enhancing an application for teaching. I also discussed my experience of the placement in my PGCE interview.