LUMEN | FUTURE-READY THROUGH SJI WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME
Future-Ready through SJI Work Experience Programme
By Albert Tan and Gina Tan
To nurture our students to be adaptable and resilient to challenges , and to apply their learning across different situations , SJI implemented the Work Experience Programme ( WEP ) as part of our Education and Career Guidance ( ECG ) Programme for all our Year 4 IP students this year . The boys were attached to various organisations and industry partners for them to learn and gain valuable work experience for a period of 2-3 weeks in the month of January before they resumed school in Year 5 ( JC1 ) in February . This initiative provided the opportunity for reinforcement and application of 21st Century Competencies ( 21CC ) across different contexts .
Globalisation and technological advancements are current realities that require students to be prepared to face these new challenges in the future . The SJI WEP aims to prepare our students for the dynamic world and future of work and to provide them with the opportunity to know themselves better ; explore their career interests , and understand the world of work beyond school . It also allows students to appreciate and value all occupations as well as create authentic learning experiences for the students so that they can see the relevance and connection between what is taught in the classroom and its application in the real world context . The school was intentional in wanting to develop our students to have the skills , mindsets and dispositions of being curious and passionate about learning new things , being open-minded and empathetic when interacting with people as well as being resilient to challenges and flexible to changing contexts . The WEP allows students to better understand the needs of the workplace and equips our students to become futureready employees beyond just their academic results . This is aligned with the school ’ s vision , mission and values and is in coherence with one of the school ’ s identified 21CC priorities of developing adaptive and inventive thinking .
A total of 190 placement opportunities were provided by 53 different organisations for our students to choose and explore their interests , step out of their comfort zone and learn new things . These included work experiences in various sectors such as Healthcare , Education , Engineering , Tourism , Entertainment , IT , Law , Manufacturing , Banking , Accountancy and the Civil Service .
An important component of the SJI WEP is that students are afforded agency , autonomy and a sense of safety where they are encouraged to define their own questions and the school is committed to ensuring that the classroom and school are safe spaces for them to engage in context-related questioning . At the end of the WEP , all the students were required to do a reflection of their own unique experiences by distilling the insights gleaned and the key learning points and values they have gained from the WEP .
The success of our first WEP was made possible due to the collaborative partnership and support of the SJI alumni and our various industry partners who generously opened up their companies and organisations to provide work attachment and placement opportunities for our students .
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