This academic year saw the start of a new work placement module on the (BA) History course at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), and one student has made a huge difference to the lives of some of the city’s school children.
As part of the History in the Workplace module, Megan Shanahan has been working as a classroom assistant and academic mentor at New College, Leicester, as course leaders focus on exploring the links between historical studies and employability and work to make students aware of the many careers available to its graduates.
During her placement, Megan was responsible for providing students with general support in the classroom, giving exam advice to GCSE students, and assisting as a paired reading volunteer, helping students with English as an additional language improve their reading, grammar and spelling skills.
Megan’s commitment to helping students at New College did not go unnoticed by her supervisors there, as their feedback led to her nomination for the DMU Square Mile Inspirational Student award.
DMU Square Mile, the university’s community outreach programme, offered support to students in finding their work placements.
Megan said: “My time at New College has been extremely rewarding in the sense that I found I really helped the children when they needed it, especially with the paired reading as I was their only form of guidance and support when it came to learning the English language.
“The main reason I wanted to do the History in the Workplace module was because I knew that I wanted to go into teaching but I didn’t know the different routes available.
“I always knew I needed voluntary work, so it made sense to learn a module of how my degree is useful in the workplace as well as doing voluntary work.
“After my degree I’m planning to do a PGCE or an access course into secondary school education; this experience has definitely assured me that I have chosen the right career path.
“It has given me hands on experience in the classroom and I am so grateful to New College for that opportunity as it built my confidence in what I wanted to go into.
“I feel so honoured to be nominated for an award because it is amazing that I gave something to the school when they’ve given me so much. It didn’t feel as though I was the only person benefiting from the experience so I feel essentially the award recognises that which is why I’m so overwhelmed with the recognition.”
RELATED NEWS:
Visit DMU and meet our History lecturers at our next open day
The Five Photographs That (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Visit DMU and see how we can help you learn to succeed
See how our campus is being transformed
Dr David Dee, senior lecturer in Modern History at DMU, is delighted at the success students have had during the module’s first year.
He said: “From a subject level, there are many benefits of a module that gets students into the workplace. Traditionally, History degrees don’t often have much or indeed any employability emphasis within their actual curricula, so DMU can definitely be said to be a real trend setter in this area.
“Although History students graduate with transferable skills that do make them employable, this module is about giving them good and comprehensive advice and guidance on subject-specific employability skills and offering the opportunity for work experience within a history related industry.
“Megan can be really proud of her achievements. What’s really positive about her situation is she had an initial placement fall through and this opportunity came up through Square Mile which she had to then go and chase which makes it all the more impressive that she’s done so well.
“It’s also incredibly gratifying for us a subject team to have Megan nominated for an award. We’ve had positive feedback across the board from supervisors of our students on placement from the module but it’s also great to see the crossover of our work with Square Mile paying off.”
Posted on Friday 1 May 2015