Work Experience Policy

School: Carlow Educate Together NS

Introduction

Carlow Educate Together NS welcomes volunteers on work placement to our school.  Work placement can be a worthwhile experience for both the school and for the person on work placement.  Our children and our staff are able to learn from the volunteer’s expertise and experiences and the volunteer is able to gain valuable experience of working in a primary school.  In order for volunteering and work placement to be a success, it is therefore very important to make the experience enjoyable and worthwhile for everyone.  

NOTE: The word “volunteer” in this document refers to anybody working in the school on a voluntary basis on work placement.  This includes work experience and teaching practice for training colleges.  However, it does not include parents or others who volunteer in the school on an informal basis, e.g. Read Together, visits to a classroom, etc.

What is covered by the Work Placement Policy?

A volunteer is a person who comes to our school, on application, on a voluntary basis for a specific period of time.  This work is structured and its overall aim is to give the volunteer experience that is part of a course / degree or to gain experience of a school setting with the goal of working in a school environment in the future.

The Process

If a person wishes to complete a work placement in our school, Garda vetting is an essential part of the process.  Students in colleges / universities will generally be provided with the appropriate forms for vetting and these must be produced to the school. It is important that if the volunteer is not in an education setting, even if they have Garda Vetting from a club or group, he/she must apply to Educate Together for Garda vetting.  Details of the appropriate forms can be found on the Educate Together web site or by calling 01-4292500.

Carlow Educate Together can cater for a maximum of three volunteers at any time.  Applications, as is our ethos, works on a first-come, first-served basis.  To apply for a work placement, the applicant should contact the school either by phone, by email or in person.  The applicant should bring a letter of application (with dates of work), Curriculum Vitae and identification.

Once an application is received, the principal of the school will email the staff to ask them if they are able to accommodate a person on work placement in their classroom.  This process usually takes one week.  If a teacher is able to accommodate the volunteer, the school will contact him/her for a meeting with the principal.  The principal will then meet with him/her to speak about the school’s ethos and show them around the school.  The volunteer should bring any useful documentation for their supervisor and this will be passed on to the appropriate teacher.  Anyone on work placement will have to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Often the voluntary work consists of working with small groups of children.  It is required that the volunteer organises any letters of consent for parents of all children involved.  It is only when parental consent is given that the work placement can commence working with small groups of children. It is school policy not to allow a volunteer to work one-to-one with a child except in exceptional circumstances, e.g. play therapy.  

Once the above has been completed, the work placement candidate will be ready to commence.

Guidelines of Applications

The school has a number of guidelines for applicants to ensure that their experience of the school is worthwhile.

• Parents and relations of children are welcome to volunteer in the school.  Volunteers with a relationship to a child (or children) in the school should avoid any work placement in these particular classes.  This is to ensure that there is no conflict of interest.
• Our school is well known for its excellent forward planning and all staff members work together to plan for the best learning outcomes for our children.  If the work placement consists of any taught lessons, it is expected that planning is completed for this.  The principal will be able to help with any issues around this.  For students on Teaching Practice, it is important to ensure planning is based on the long term aims of the class teacher.  It is good practice to visit the school and the teacher before teaching practice commences.  Teaching practice candidates must share their lesson plans with their teacher and a brief outline at the end of the placement (i.e. that they would provide a cuntas-míosúil style document or else a copy of their lesson plans for the teacher to include in their own planning folder).
• The school does not supply resources for work placement volunteers.  All resources needed to teach lessons must be provided for by the volunteer.  Exceptions to this would include paper, pencils, crayons and other basic stationary. The volunteer is also welcome to use the school photocopier for all black and white copies free of charge. However, as a Green school, it is expected that photocopying is kept to a minimum.  (Colour copying is charged at 10c per copy).
• Any volunteer working in the school must follow their teacher’s guidance. While all teachers are very happy to accept volunteers in the classroom, it does provide them with an extra workload.  It is expected that the volunteer respects the teacher’s classroom rules, plans and any other structures in the classroom
• Volunteers should familiarise themselves with the school’s policies, particularly – child protection, behaviour and data protection.  These are available on the school’s web site.
• If the volunteer requires performing “case studies” on children, these must be approved by the supervisor (class teacher).  In assignments, children should not be identifiable from the case study reports.
• Volunteers must fill in a sign in / sign out sheet on a daily basis for the purposes of fire safety

Roles

There are usually two members of the school community that the volunteer will have formal contact with – their supervisor and the principal.

 The supervisor is usually the teacher of the class that the volunteer is working with.  This supervisor will be responsible for filling out relevant forms, documentation and grading sheets for volunteers.  The supervisor will also work with the volunteer to discuss lessons, planning and any other work that the volunteer may require.

 The principal is responsible for initially meeting with the volunteer and explaining the ethos of the school.  The principal must also give the volunteer’s relevant documentation to the supervisor.  He must also provide the supervisor with sign in / out sheets and signed documentation from the volunteers.

Being Part of our Staff

The school wishes any voluntary experience to be a positive one.  While volunteering, the school encourages volunteers to take part in school life.  This includes coming to the staff room at breaks and helping out in the classroom.  The school expects volunteers to use their initiative and “muck in” from the very start.  Supervisors will expect that this will happen so volunteers should not feel nervous.

Confidentiality

There is a lot of confidential information in a primary school.  As a basis for any volunteer in the school, this is an area that is essential to maintain.  All volunteers will sign a confidentiality agreement.  This agreement ensures that volunteers do not discuss the staff or children in the school.  Some guidelines for this include:

•  Photographs or videos of individual / small groups of children cannot be taken be the volunteer without permission. 
• Volunteers cannot gain access to a child’s file without parental permission. 
• If writing reports / case studies, children’s names must not be written – a code is more suitable

 As confidentiality is of major importance to all schools, any breach of the confidentiality agreement will result in the immediate cessation of the volunteer’s time in the school.