A student at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has landed a teaching position at a local school shortly after completing a work placement.
Joe Mee, a second year History student from Leicester, has been offered a casual part-time teaching assistant job at the city’s Alderman Richard Hallam Primary School starting this summer.
This comes after Joe completed a five-week placement at the school beginning in January this year, which included working with both the children and the teachers, as well as helping year six students study for their upcoming SATs exams.
The 19-year-old said: “I am so happy and surprised that I have been given this opportunity and I feel very privileged to be offered a job so soon into my degree and after just five weeks of placement.”
An unexpected highlight of the placement was the chance to get up close and personal with the Premier League trophy.
Joe said: “The trophy visited the school as part of their partnership with Leicester City Football Club and I was lucky enough to be there at the time. Although I’m not a Leicester City fan, it was great to have my photo taken with a trophy that is so widely known!”
Although a compulsory aspect of the History in the Workplace module of his course, Joe took the time to find the placement himself, as he recognises that work experience is vital to finding a job after graduation.
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Joe’s lecturers also played a major role in his success, making themselves readily available for chats and regularly passing on placement leads and useful contacts.
Joe added: “The placement was very helpful, as it gave me an insight into how the world of teaching works and what teachers do, as well as providing me with good references and a network of contacts, which will definitely help me after I graduate.
“History in the Workplace was by far my favourite module this year, as it gave us the opportunity to look for a potential career that we may be interested in after graduation and introduced us to the working world.
“During my placement, I also developed very good relationships with the staff at the school, which made me even more certain that I want to go into a full-time teaching career when I finish my degree.”
Joe is looking forward to honing his skills while working at the school during the final year of his degree.
He has also applied for his first ever #DMUglobal to Berlin this June, which is set to be DMU’s largest yet with 1,500 students attending in total.
History in the Workplace is a second year module on DMU’s History BA (Hons) degree. Module leader Dr David Dee said: 'It’s great to hear that Joe had such a positive experience whilst on placement at Alderman Richard Hallam.
“The offer of paid employment, in an area of work he wishes to enter after graduation, is a cherry on top.”
Posted on Friday 3 March 2017