Work Experience Reflection

The Structure and Purpose of the Barnfield Primary School

Barnfield Primary School is an organization in the United Kingdom. It is located in the Barnet Local Education Authority, and it is an average-sized mixed-gender school. As of 2019, the school had 501 pupils. The Ofsted inspectors have listed the school as an outstanding school in the United Kingdom. Besides, the school is more extensive than most primary schools, with most of the students being from minority ethnic groups. Most of these students speak English as an additional language. Another proportion of the students are disabled, while others have special educational needs (Barnfield Primary School, 2021). Some of the pupils, also known as premium pupils, are offered additional government funding, including free school meals. Most of these children are those whose parents are in the armed forces. The percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals is 38.6%. Moreover, the institution has a children's centre on-site, which is utilized by the local community. Pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage and nursery schools often get very effective help to gain confidence in becoming independent and keen learners. The institution's teaching is outstanding and aims to bring out the best in every pupil (Barnfield Primary School, 2021). Besides, teachers are highly qualified and have high expectations to ensure that pupils rise to meet their objectives. Due to effective teaching in the institution, pupil attitudes and behaviour towards learning have been changed for the better while promoting respect towards each other. Pupils are proud of their school and play an active part in contributing to the calm, positive atmosphere. Pupils have also created a culture of high aspiration and success for all.

Other than learning, the organization's leadership is outstanding and is committed to the vision of continuous improvement. The administration provides effective and powerful role models around the institution. Additionally, the governing body is highly effective in supporting and challenging the school to help it become even better. Under the excellent leadership of the headteacher and the senior team, the quality of teaching and learning has improved, and pupils have been performing better in English, mathematics, information and communication technology, and science. The school provision for children in the Nursery is outstanding and is a strength of the school.

The institution believes that literacy is the primary key to education and lifelong learning. Therefore, the school aims to improve learners’ skills, enabling them to be effective and have practical communication skills. Besides, the school seeks to promote writing, reading and speaking. Another role of the school is to develop a global perspective for children. Additionally, the institution is inclusive and is fully committed to ensuring quality education and opportunities for pupils to reach their potentials. Therefore, the institution provides a balanced and broad curriculum. The institution offers to support and train learners to equip them with the best skills. Since 1997, the institution has been working in improving the quality of teaching, and it is now moving forward once again, and standards are improving (Barnfield Primary School, 2021).

The organisation I worked for was a nursery setting where I provided care and was responsible for children between 3-4 years of age. My role as a volunteer included observing and supervising how children access learning and interact with one another, whilst maintaining a safe and sanitary environment of care for them. I developed an understanding of child development, referring to the Early Years Foundation Stage profile. I also resolved conflicts between the children, by aiding individuals to express emotions and feelings using words and expressions. Moreover, I engaged with children in the organization through playing and creating awareness to nursery school students on fire through play. Similarly, I talked to children about various emotions to help them develop an understanding of emotions. Likewise, I taught children how to behave in stressful situations.

Psychological Research, Theories, and Insights in The Work Experience

In the placement, children were engaged in understanding various aspects through play. Children played the different parts of firefighters, including receiving calls, putting on fire jackets, making notes, and housing down fire using pipes. Play is critical among children since it enables them to use their creativity to develop their imagination, physical, dexterity, and emotional strength. Nijhof et al., 2018). Therefore, play is critical in developing a healthy brain as young children engage and interact with the world around them. Besides, play is essential among children as it enables them to negotiate, share, resolve conflicts, and, more importantly, learn self-advocacy skills. Similarly, play among children is critical in building healthy bodies through increased physical activity among children. Moreover, psychology reveals that play is essential to relieving stress, thus enabling children to work through their anxiety and fears (Nestor & Moser, 2018). Moreover, play is critical in developing self-control, which is essential in the success of children and their careers later in life. Since play help stimulates the mind and boosts creativity, play applied in the placement is critical to helping them in learning. Moreover, play in practice is supported by Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, which suggests that play promotes cognitive, emotional, and social development in children. Therefore, play is critical in improving learning among children.

Similarly, at the same time, one child was observed to be shy and just observed from a distance. However, I provided space and later came to join. According to Poole & Schmidt (2021), shyness is created due to social inhibition. In this case, the inhibition in an infant is often manifested as a stranger. Besides, based on the concept of shyness vs. introversion, introverts are not afraid of social interaction; instead, they prefer more sedate and solitary activities, thus mostly avoiding social interaction (Chen, 2019). Therefore, regardless of desired social interaction, they are inhibited by their excessive self-consciousness and perceived lack of social skills. However, encouraging the child made her courageous to join the other pupils.

Moreover, my objective was to promote personal, emotional, and social development. During this exercise, one child was trying to write the number 26, the number of children who attended a class that morning. She was seen to be very keen on writing though he could not manage it. Sometimes, he seemed very frustrated when he could not write the number correctly, which frustrated him. He became very emotional to the point of crying. Every time I distracted him with another activity, he would go back to the old activity. This behaviour can be explained by the frustration-aggression theory, suggesting that frustration results in aggressive behaviour (Breuer & Elson, 2017). The approach also reveals that frustration is a feeling of tension that results when the individual effort to reach goals is blocked. Therefore, when an individual is blocked from reaching their goals, they become angry, generating feelings of aggression. Consequently, it is evident that the child's inability to write "Number 26” makes him aggressive and emotional. Besides, the child shows remarkable resilience, which can bounce back from stress, challenges, or even trauma. Ilias et al. (2019) state that children are always resilient since they do not like failing, nor do they fear falling short of expectations.

Another practice is talking to children about different emotions to help them understand their feeling and emotions. I also used various cards showing basic emotions and diverse financial expressions. I also asked the individual to indicate how they felt in the morning by making a facial expression. Besides, I offered various stimuli like showing cupcakes and sharks and observed how children reacted to multiple emotions. The cognitive-behavioural theory explains how people's perceptions of or spontaneous thoughts about situations influence their emotional, behavioural reactions (Aardema & Wong, 2020). This theory helps individuals learn to change and identify disturbing and destructive thoughts (David et al., 2018). This model helps in identifying and replace the thoughts with more realistic and objective ones. Focusing on the individual's beliefs is critical to changing their emotions. Therefore, talking to children concerning their feelings was crucial to change their thinking and emotion. It is also essential in promoting learning. At the same time, I used the various demonstration to educate the pupils. According to Zhang (2019), illustration and demonstrations are critical in providing learners with experiences of actual events, helping them learn, and, more importantly, raising learners' motivation and interest. Demonstrations improve students' perceptions of the subject and enhance the students' understanding and achievements. Also, it is indicated to promote thinking skills and enable students to think more creatively, thus using various illustrations in teaching students.

Besides, I applied cognitive behavioural therapy using various colours. One zone was red indicating anger, blue indicating sick and sadness, yellow indicating worry, and green indicating happiness and calmness. Through this experiment, children were motivated to express their emotions in the morning by choosing the various expressions. Sanger (2020) reveals that Zones of Regulation is critical in teaching students self-control and self-regulation. This curriculum enables students to move between zones. Besides, it allows learners to identify their emotions and level of alertness. Children were encouraged to speak their feeling, especially in the morning. Similarly, the strategy is critical in helping learners with a language barrier to take part and promote social skills.

Furthermore, I took part in teaching children how to manage emotions. In this practice, children had the choice to use a pen to draw around their hands. Every finger pointed at various skills to manage emotions. Among these tips included never hurting others, taking a deep breath, expressing oneself, calming down, and solving problems. Teaching emotional control was critical since studies reveal that recognizing one's emotion is beneficial in enabling the individual to know how they feel and helping calm down without adverse consequences (Lazarides, & Buchholz, 2019). Besides, it allows individuals to have healthy relationships and manage difficulties and setbacks. Moreover, teaching about emotion allows the student to learn that they are humans with emotions. However, regardless of being emotional, there is a need to recognize the emotion and what it is trying to tell us. This knowledge helps child feels more in control since emotion can significantly impact their mood and behaviours. For instance, feeling angry and worried can impact friendship and happiness. At the same time, negative emotions can affect children's learning and performance, thus the significance of teaching children about their feelings. Besides, Lazarides and Buchholz (2019) state that the skills to reflect feelings and realize them enable an individual to control them effectively, thus creating ownership of their life./p>

Benefits of the Work Experience

Working with children was different from working with adults. Therefore, I realized that some skills were not developed enough to the extent of working with children. For instance, my problem-solving skills were far beyond what was needed while working with kids. Amalia et al. (2017) state that among kinds, problem-solving means making choices that enable children to be happier, more confident, and more independent. While working with children, I understood that children have to be guided, unlike adults who had logical thinking. Therefore, I developed analytical thinking, communication skills, logical reasoning, and persistence. Moreover, I learned that being proactive and competent was more important while working with children compared to adults.

Another skill learned is communication skills. Though I had already developed communication skills, to be sincere, I have to start from scratch. I discovered that my communication skills were different from what kids need. While working with children, I realized that I needed to give more examples and illustrations than before to illustrate an idea. Besides, I learned that children's learning mainly was via examples and stories to enable them to relate to actual-world concepts. For instance, I had to persuade a child who was shy to join a team. According to Hansen et al. (2018), communication skills are crucial to understanding and meeting children's needs. Similarly, communication enables children to express thoughts, information, and feelings. Therefore, from the work experience, I learned advanced skills of listening, talking, and, more importantly, controlling my emotions.

Similarly, I had prior experience in teamwork. However, working with children was far different from my knowledge. I realized that unlike Belbin's team role theory, which reveals that understanding roles within a particular team can help one develop strengths and manage weaknesses, I realized that working with children was far different (Rahmani et al., 2021). Teaming with children requires one to take almost all roles provided by the Belbin's Team Roles. For example, I had to take team roles while creating awareness of fire and firefighters. For instance, I needed to be the leader, coordinator, evaluator, plant, and implementer. Another challenge I faced was repeating instructions which proved to be more challenging than expected. Therefore, as a learning ground, I developed effective teamwork skills such as listening, time management, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Moreover, I developed negotiation skills as I had to repeat instructions for children to understand and achieve their objectives.

However, I was also equipped with various skills which suited the work environment. Among such skills is leadership skills. Leadership is defined as the action of leading a group of people. My leadership skills are so diverse that I can effectively work with various groups of people; thus, I could manage to work effectively with children. From my skills, I have developed strong problem-solving skills, the ability to teach and mentor, decisiveness, integrity, and relationship building which are critical skills in leadership (Karagianni & Jude, 2018).

Besides, I have prior confidence. The confidence required to work with children was similar to that I had earlier gained. Therefore, through confidence, I was able to succeed in teaching the learners. Besides, I realized that there were many things and activities that I needed to teach to learners. Therefore, I required time management and organization skills. While working with my last organization, I learned a great deal about prioritizing and selecting what information was needed right away. Therefore, time management and organization were very critical and helpful. For example, I had to teach awareness and, at the same time zone of regulation and emotional control, which is time-consuming.

Lastly, the patient was a critical skill that I had already developed. I realized that patience was crucial to bridging the gap between what I already know and making children understand. It was a bit frustrating, though control of emotion and patient enabled me to be successful. For example, I mentioned a child who was not able to draw the number 26. Regardless of my effort to move forward, he always moved back to the task. Sincerely that was frustrating to me, bearing in mind that time was limited. However, patience enabled me to overcome my emotions. Besides, I had to repeat myself several times for the kids to understand. Children also had various distractions, through patience kept me from getting frustrated.

Expectations of Work Experience and how these differ from the Reality

Before joining the school, I was expecting that children were easy to work with. I also expected that the children were ready to learn, prepared, motivated, and focused. I was always eager to learn new skills in my childhood and was always motivated to learn continuously.

However, the first challenge was that students were not time managers as I expected. Most kids wasted time on some activities which were not beneficial to them. For example, while teaching emotion management, I expected learners to draw various skills around their hands. Unlike my expectations, students used this time to draw cartoons, cars, and other sketches, which were not helpful. However, I understood it was a development stage. Besides, other leaders were not prepared for class. From my observation, some learners often slept more hours than they learned. Though my practice was allocated limited time, some students took most of their time sleeping. However, based on my perception, learning was effective.

Central Challenges of the Work Experience and addressing them

One of the biggest challenges was time management. I am aware that my time in the work placement was limited and my time allocated with students was also limited. I am aware that leaders need time to prepare materials for upcoming lessons, intersect with other students, and review student work. As a teacher, I found it challenging to handle multiple roles while controlling class. However, I effectively applied my time management skills and prioritization to overcome this challenge.

Another challenge was balancing diverse learning needs. Some students were slow in learning; therefore, I realized that the class had different learning abilities and needs. Satisfying all of them in the same way and time was challenging. However, I applied student’s centred teaching approach to reach all learners.

Conclusion

Barnfield Primary School is an organization in the United Kingdom. The school administration provides effective and powerful role models around the institution. While in the work experience, I was engaged with children through playing and creating awareness to nursery school students on fire through play. In the placement, children were engaged in understanding various aspects through play. Psychology reveals that play is essential to relieving stress, thus enabling children to work through their anxiety and fears. Moreover, my objective was to promote personal, emotional, and social development. During this exercise, one child was trying to write the number 26, the number of children who attended a class that morning. Studies show that children are always resilient since they do not like failing, nor do they fear falling short of expectations. Another practice is talking to children about different emotions to help them understand their feeling and emotions. Based on the cognitive-behavioural theory, it is critical to identify disturbing and destructive thoughts. From the placement, I developed problem-solving skills, communication skills, and teamwork skills. However, I had prior skills such as leadership skills, confidence, organization, and patient. Moreover, I expected learners to be ready to learn, prepared, motivated, and focused. However, this was not the actual situation. Some of the challenges faced include time management and balancing diverse learning needs.

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References

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Barnfield Primary School, 2021. Barnfield Primary School - GOV.UK. [online] Get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Available at: [Accessed 28 July 2021].

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Karagianni, D. and Jude Montgomery, A., 2018. Developing leadership skills among adolescents and young adults: a review of leadership programmes. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 23(1), pp.86-98.

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Nestor, O. and Moser, C.S., 2018. The importance of play. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 11(3), pp.247-262.

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