Taking placements abroad can be costly. But with financial assistance through the Futures Fund scholarship, it doesn’t have to break the bank.
Four Primary Education students completed a week-long placement at the Montessori International Preschool in Denmark thanks to £500 from the Futures Fund.
Lauren Coyne-Reece was one of the students who visited the Danish school. This experience inspired the now Sunderland graduate to go into research for her curriculum innovation.
The 21-year-old, who recently managed to secure a full year maternity cover at her last teaching placement in a school in the North East, said: "I have been researching other countries approaches into teaching reading due to my interest in Denmark. As I result of this I created a story chair and I will taking this into my Year 2 classroom to use to encourage reading."
Talking about her experience at the Montessori International Preschool in Denmark, she said: “I was able to observe some of the teachings of the Montessori method and it really opened my mind about teaching and compare it to the way we teach here in the United Kingdom.
“The preschool had no toys, but a lot of activities distributed in different areas such as the creative area, the literacy area, the mathematics area and the sensory area.”
Lauren observed that children were given a lot of independence to carry out their own activities, even preparing their own snacks.
She added: “The snacks were available all day in the kitchen area, but the children had to prepare the snacks themselves using cutlery and had to wash their dishes once they had finished.”
Lauren also noticed that reading and writing was not forced upon children but they independently chose to work in those areas because of their enjoyment in reading and writing.
“This is something I would like to try and encourage when it comes to teaching my own class, and also an area I would like to research when it comes to completing my dissertation in my final year.”
Lauren says that it's thanks to the Fund that enabled her to learn invaluable skills for her role as a teacher.
“The Futures Fund has enabled me to take advantage of this experience which has helped to develop my professional role as a teacher”.