Hmmm, what seems to be missing above?
Well a little bit more detail wouldn’t go amiss would it? I recently agreed to take on the role of NE England co-ordinator for the Nuffield Research Placement Programme. Essentially, talented 16 year olds in the middle of their A Levels spend two weeks in summer analysing some data and writing a report that is of use to the business or organisation who sets an assignment. It is usually a two week placement and following on from 2020, this year will run largely virtually. You get a report that is of use to you and a great opportunity for your staff to mentor and support a talented young person; they get a taste of the real world of work and research and develop their own skills through working on the report. The project costs nothing to be part of and you will be supported every step of the way from devising a project question to signing it off at the end. Projects typically take place during July and August and last about two weeks.
what sort of report could they help me with?
The answer to that is largely up to you but if you think that they are high achieving students, already interested in your area of work and also fully supported by a series of skills modules and packages that they have aces to as part of the programme in the run up to the placement, you might be surprised what can be achieved. Feedback from the previous 25 years of successful placements suggests that the students often achieve more than was anticipated. The selection below are taken from some of the 90 projects undertaken in Scotland last year.
For the full document and in depth info about all 90 projects, please grab a coffee and click on the picture!
You can see the range of different disciplines that are being addressed, all related to STEM subjects and the social sciences. Impressed? Universities, Research Institutes and Businesses all posed questions and hosted the students (largely virtually). You can only imagine the impact on the young people identified as high achievers but from disadvantaged backgrounds. Typically these are students who don’t progress as far in their careers or even get to University despite their obvious potential.
How do i get involved?
To get involved couldn’t be simpler. Simply email me:
andrew@sparkteesvalley.com
You don’t need to have a specific project in mind yet, I can help you with that. You can also find out more information on the NRP website. Click on the image below:
This project costs nothing to take part in but offers a fantastic opportunity for one or more of your staff to take on the mentoring role for the student(s) working with you. They may well be working on the project remotely but like in any team the student needs to keep in touch and be supported to give you the conclusion that you need to know about. Feedback from companies who have taken part in the past suggests that this is one of the biggest reasons that they take part: their own staff development and the feel good factor of supporting a talented young student.
So please get in touch and there is a slightly longer video below that has more in depth information. I look forward to hearing from you.