Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 HI we have students come to our nursery either from school or from college, some come one day a week for several weeks, others do two week blocks. the ages vary, but normally 15 upwards. Some of these students have never had any experience of being around children, others have vast experiences. Some are highly self motivated others are shy and a lot quieter. How can we make them all feel included and part of the team. some suggestions have been to do a placement handbook for the students, telling them a bit about the nursery etc. someone suggested adding the student to the planning so they have an identified role in the day. _ any other ideas to make them feel included and to let them gain the most out of their time with us? We are also struggiling with other staff responses to students, many staff just leave the student to it, offering little guidance. Some staff feel uncomfortable asking a student to do a job, so some times students are sat not interacting with children or staff, and are just left to it. any ideas on how to 'manage' , support and encourage our students would be great. Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 To support our students we created a student handbook. The thread surrounding the handbook is around here somewhere but its been a long day and I can't find it now . The handbook includes all policies and procedures (in case they are needed for coursework), routine of the setting, introduction to staff members including quals and experience, useful website addresses and places of contact (to help with coursework). We hold monthly meetings with students to discuss their progress both at work and at college and we have just started to 'buddy up' students and experienced staff members. I have an open door policy for staff and students alike to come and discuss important matters whenever they need to. Doesn't work for everyone, but it works well for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Hi Claire, Thanks for your thoughts, i was thinking something along the lines of a student handbook We have a student liason 'person' (for want of a better word!!), I am the student liason 'person', i think it was agreed that im not too old to be overbearing to the coming students (i am only 24 LOL), and also since i have just left education (again) i still have a bit of an idea of what it feels like to be a student. I regualrily try to put myself in their shoes and think how i would have felt in our setting as a student (not hard to do since i was once a student there, many moons ago LOL).... i try to empathise with them, and understand their feelings and anxieties. My manager is also good at doing this and is very good with students, however it takes more than two of us to help make the students feel welcome and supported and valued!. I would hate to think that we are failing our students in any way. ~ sometimes it just feels like the 'whole' staff team is not behind us on the idea of accepting students into the nursery. I guess i need to think about this one, and see how we can do our best to support all students equally. Dawn To support our students we created a student handbook. The thread surrounding the handbook is around here somewhere but its been a long day and I can't find it now . The handbook includes all policies and procedures (in case they are needed for coursework), routine of the setting, introduction to staff members including quals and experience, useful website addresses and places of contact (to help with coursework). We hold monthly meetings with students to discuss their progress both at work and at college and we have just started to 'buddy up' students and experienced staff members. I have an open door policy for staff and students alike to come and discuss important matters whenever they need to. Doesn't work for everyone, but it works well for us! 56651[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running Bunny Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Depending how long the students are with you, how about a 'phased induction' like you would offer to new members of staff? You could set them a 'quiz' at the end of each week or SMART targets to achieve by the end of the week to give them a focus - there's nothing worse than a bored student!! As a liaison 'person' are you in the room with the student or are you the link between the student and the school/training provider? I would recommend a 'buddy' system with a member of staff in the room taking responsibility for setting tasks as they will be the best judge of how much they know and what they can do. I would also recommend that the buddy was not the manager or the deputy as in my experience, they do not like authority and are less likely to ask! Just a few ideas for you... RB x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Depending how long the students are with you, how about a 'phased induction' like you would offer to new members of staff? You could set them a 'quiz' at the end of each week or SMART targets to achieve by the end of the week to give them a focus - there's nothing worse than a bored student!! As a liaison 'person' are you in the room with the student or are you the link between the student and the school/training provider? I would recommend a 'buddy' system with a member of staff in the room taking responsibility for setting tasks as they will be the best judge of how much they know and what they can do. I would also recommend that the buddy was not the manager or the deputy as in my experience, they do not like authority and are less likely to ask! Just a few ideas for you... RB x 56671[/snapback] Thanks for your ideas, all very useful. I am sometimes in the room with the students, other times im not. All students are made aware that they can come to me, as a first port of call, but yes i think the buddy system would be very useful. I also think that we will start asking the students to evaluate us they leave (similar to how we feedback to them) i guess it would be useful to actually see what the students think rather than just viewing them as passive in the process, im sure we would learn a lot if we actually listened to the students feedback (on how they feel the placement went/ what was good / not so good etc etc....) Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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