For our last day in Birmingham we took a taxi in the morning to South and City College in Birmingham. We checked in at the front desk and the Head of Faculty brought us up to the meeting room. We were first introduced to the assistant director of student services and she told us about what was offered within the services and her role specially. Within these services there is an additional learning support team, dyslexia team, learning support team, and enrichment officer. The additional learning support team has groups of teaching assistants that help children with autism, adhd, or other disabilities. The dyslexia team helps children with dyslexia while giving them tips and tricks for learning and studying. The learning support team helps to give the students the resources to learn or get to school, like applying for a bus pass. The enrichment officer provides activities for the students like soccer and cricket for physical exercise. We also heard from the deputy faculty head of construction and technology who aims to bridge the gap into employment and works with the full time course students. We got a tour from Andy later in the day of some of the vocational, hands on options through the school.

Also within our orientation we learned that this school has 8 branches to it and is made up of the minorities and asylum seekers. Their ESOL curriculum offers a broad range of learning opportunities that have a clear learner journey which was inclusive to all learners. They focus on improving English, numeracy, and digital skills to help learners to progress onto to vocational or work ready courses. They also prepare learners for progression into the wider college curriculum and for the next steps in their careers. They also work with external stakeholders to ensure the adult curriculum design is in line with preparation for work with clear contextualized pathways. One of the branches of this school is an all women’s branch. This branch was created to make women trying to get an education feel comfortable in their learning environments and have the ability to engage in their experience. Some women don’t feel comfortable with the presence of men in their classes for reasons like culture. Within these colleges specifically for women, they offer ESOL, child care and social care. The students are also offered enrichment activities on the main campus once a week on Fridays. While these students are on campus there are no men in their proximity. The parents allow them to come with the understanding that no one is mixing with them, meaning boy students. Once the girls are done with schooling at their college, they have to learn how to adjust to life with men or boys present. While learning here the students learn 50 percent lecture and 50 percent practical. There is a large language barrier because it is a very diverse school. We learned that they have students from all over like Pakistan, India, China, Ethiopia, Poland, and many more. The age range within the school also varies and can go as high as 99. Usually the morning classes are the higher level courses and the afternoon is the lower levels. 

Something I found interesting is the way student loans work in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, students only have to pay back loans if you hit a certain threshold with your paycheck and if you don’t hit this threshold then you don’t have to pay the loan back. This is completely different than the United States in the way that you have to pay back all of your student loans. If you reach your threshold then you only have to pay back 9% of the loan, but if you don’t reach the threshold by 30 years then it gets written off. I found this information very interesting and think that maybe the United States should try and adapt this.

We then were able to split into groups and shadow multiple different classrooms before lunch. The first classroom I observed was an IT class. The classroom was full of about 8 students who were at least level 2 or 3 and they are preparing for their English exams that are taking place tomorrow. The teacher was very interactive with her students and did many activities to check how well her students were retaining their information. I found the teacher to be very helpful and proficient at her job and she answered any questions that we had. She was very encouraging and played off of the feedback that her students were giving her. We then went into a child care class with level 2 and 3 students who were working on a project. They were able to show us their projects about adults giving care and explain what their tasks were. The students and teachers in this class were also very nice. Lastly we went to a math class before lunch were we went for the end of their lesson. The teacher went through her thought process behind teaching her students and told us that she finds it best to make interactive powerpoint to engage students. 

Next was lunch which was provided by the school and was very delicious. We observed a lower level class after lunch where they were taking a spelling test and talking about the different parts of a sentence. This class was very interesting to observe. After that we went on a tour and saw the different technologies and contractions offered. There was brick laying, plastering, plumbing, engineering’s, and automobiles. I thought this was great for students to get hands on experience and be ready for the work field when they are qualified. After the tour we went back to the hotel and grabbed our luggage to take a coach bus to London. When we arrived in London we had to get changed immediately and run off to the Alumni Dinner. My friends and I dressed up and had a very nice dinner. I can’t wait to explore more of London tomorrow !