Nurses practicing at an elderly home, came to the nursing school and conducted a lesson about person-centred care because this was a topic that the employers felt that the students were missing in the education.

The elderly care nurses found it important to talk about the challenges of the profession to students, as they noticed that the freshly graduated colleagues lack a deeper insight into person-centred care.

Preparation

VET Provider
Liaise with the employer to agree and set a convenient date and time. It is also important to ensure planning and preparing the course of the lessons, the contents, and tasks. Support the employer to prepare presentations, IT supplies and needed stationery like post-it notes, pens.

Employer
Liaise with the VET Provider to agree a convenient time and duration of the teaching. It is important to agree the topic and objectives of the teaching as the employer is not a teacher so may need help to focus the presentation.

Students
Prepare the students as an external person is coming into the classroom and students should show interest and respect to the visitor.

Implementation

VET Provider
Keep the group relatively small, so everybody can be active and mix activities so the students can pay attention the whole time. In this case, the event lasted approximately 2.5 hours with a break in between.

Let students ask questions and go with the flow if needed.

Employer
Support the visitor by providing resources and liaise with the VET Provider for teaching notes and objectives to be covered.

Students
Students should show interest and respect to the visitor and recognise that they are a representative from a future employer so observe correct behaviours at all times. Be prepared to ask questions and get as much information from the visitor as possible.

After the event

VET Provider
Check the feedback from employer and students following the event. Often a time is needed to get through all the new information and it may be that a follow up session with the VET Provider teacher is needed to support what has been demonstrated/ taught.

Employer
The professionals should reflect on the event afterwards themselves and pinpoint the details that need to be improved for future delivery.

Students
Students should appreciate the possibility to exchanging ideas with people with hands-on experience and from a workplace point of view.

Recommendations

It should be recognised that an employer coming into the classroom is not necessarily a qualified teacher and so should be supported by the VET Provider.

Where possible, use practical examples, pictures, videos, sounds, stories. They are interesting and give a lot to learn. Set a maximum size of the group such as not exceeding 20, as student involvement starts to be a challenge.

It is important to get feedback after the event to ensure it continues to be successful as it provides additional value to the curriculum to have an industry viewpoint.

Involve an employer in classroom on a professional subject. In this case, a class worked on a technical subject based on a particular problem in a company. The students worked in groups on their project and present it to the employer who provided comment, correct, complete and discuss with the class.

The group may first visit the company or a site in progress, this helps to illustrate the point and is a good start to work on the technical subject.
For a second time, students work in groups, propose solutions to a technical problem.
In a third time, the employer comes back to the school, students exhibit their work and discuss with the employer who then gives them feedback.

For instance: Reorganise work on the farm to have more free time

1-Students visit the farm, exchange with the farmer and collect the data they need.
2-At school, the students work in groups on the subject and make a proposal.
3-They present their analysis and a new organization of work to the farmer at school. Each group proposal is analysed and commented on by the farmer, the trainer and the other groups.
4-Each student and the trainer provide feedback on the event and what it brought them.

Preparation

VET Provider
The VET Provider must meet the professional beforehand in order to prepare and come to an agreement with him on the range and scope of eth work to be completed.

Employer
The employer must provide as much information and context to a problem faced in the workplace so that students can analyse the issue and propose solutions.

Students
Students should gather as much background information on the technical subject prior to the investigation so that they can fully understand the employer’s issue.

Implementation

VET Provider
The event takes place in three stages: the visit, the work in groups and the report with feedback from the employer. The VET Provider should liaise with the employer on the logistics of the investigation.

Employer
Be prepared to answer as many questions as possible and provide technical information on the issue.

Students
Make the best use of your time in the workplace ot gather information and ask questions of the employer.

After the event

VET Provider
Review the chosen solutions, their pros and cons to help students understand their approach to the problem and how they could improve on their performance next time.

Employer
Attend the VET Provider to receive the solutions presented by the students and provide feedback on the strength of the presentations.

Students
Reflect on your approach to how you tackled the subject and what you have learned about the etchnical aspect and real-life situations encountered in the workplace.

Recommendations

This can be a very rewarding exercise but it needs careful planning and liaison with the employer. You should select a problem that can be covered in the timespan and has the breadth to consider a range of alternative solutions.

Choose a person from the employer who is comfortable speaking in front of a group and who enjoys training young people. When you are lucky enough to have a part-time trainer who is also an employer, you start to bridge the gap.

The subject must be worked on in class beforehand and involve many parameters which allow a great latitude of choice.

The ideal is to make sure that each group goes on different tracks, which will enrich the discussion afterwards.

There is great value in an employer coming in to meet a group of students and share their experience of working within an industry. It helps to demonstrate the application of knowledge into real situations and brings theory to life through a credible guest speaker.

In this example, a teacher at an Agricultural College was delivering animal husbandry specifically how to feed a high lactating dairy cow as part of an animal nutrition course. The teacher was able to relate the theory of nutrition to animals to meet levels of production. A reputable employer was invited into the classroom to explain how this translated into the commercial world through the logistics of feeding a large number of animals against a financial backdrop and the practicalities of large-scale production. The theory was not ignored but put into context of a commercial real situation in an entrepreneurial setting. It can also be used to explain real life problem and solutions to commercial situations. The farmer provides a pragmatic approach to balancing science with the economics of farming.

Preparation

VET Provider
Liaise with the employer to clearly set the expectations and objectives to be covered – what benefit is gained from the speaker.

Employer
Whilst an employer has a lot of experience, they may not be good presenters so they must be selected and briefed to ensure they are interesting, inspirational and talk at the right level for the student.

Students
Prepare the students as an external person is coming into the classroom and students should show interest and respect to the visitor.

Implementation

VET Provider
Sometimes an employer may feel overwhelmed talking to a group so it is best to support the employer through planned questions and examples of what they do – if possible, help the employer to make a presentation or video of their practice.

Employer
Ensure that you provide as much real examples of the workplace as possible to provide an extra dimension to the curriculum.

Students
Be courteous to the visitor. Students should show interest and respect to the visitor and recognise that they are a representative from a future employer so observe correct behaviors at all times. Be prepared to ask questions and get as much information from the visitor as possible.

After the event

VET Provider
Check the feedback from employer and students following the event. Often a time is needed to get through all the new information and it may be that a follow up session with the VET Provider teacher is needed to support what has been discussed.

Employer
The professionals should reflect on the event afterwards themselves and pinpoint the details that need to be improved for future delivery.

Students
Students should appreciate the possibility to exchanging ideas with people with hands-on experience and from a workplace point of view.

Recommendations

Select the right employer – it could be very flat and boring if you get the wrong person.

Prepare your employer, explain the group, where you are in your studies and what you are hoping for them to get out of it.

Prepare your group, ask them to prepare a question each, talk about respecting an outside speaker and ask someone to thank the employer at the end.