I think today was my favorite day of the trip so far. First, we started our day by taking a bus to Joseph Chamberlin College. In the UK, they use the term college to describe what for us is similar to high school, for ages 16-19. Joseph Chamberlin is a school that focuses on providing resources for students of lower socioeconomic status, also providing a lot of resources for adult learners with english not being their primary language. For the younger students, their main goal is to prepare them for higher education, while for the adults it is mostly teacing them english and preparing them for a job, whether that requires higher education or not. They provide many resources that most schools would not that I found really interesting. For adults, they have options to teach you about life skills, such as navigating public transportation. Additionally, they offer classes at times to work around when childcare services are available, and will also help students to find and pay for childcare if needed. Although they work with disadvantaged students, they have some of the highest achievement rates for students. You could tell that everybody who worked there was extremely passionate about what they did, and it is reflected in their achievement rates.
I also had the opportunity to sit in on an adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class and observe how they do things. Most of the students were older women, with a few men in the class as well. All of them were extremely welcoming, wanting to talk to us and learn about why we were there. One of the biggest thing I noticed that was different than in the US was how open the curiculum was. They were learing how to fill out forms found on applications, and we all were given a sample form. They are much more inclusive than those in the US, including many more options for ethnicity, gender identity, and even asked about caregiver responsibilities and work schedule. In the class, many of the students were muslum, so they have their set beliefs on things like sexual identity and religion, but that did not stop them from having conversations about other ones. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the emphasis on being okay with others whos beliefs don’t match yours, and that you have to be kind and respectful to everybody. In my high school in the US, none of this was ever talked about, and if conversations like religion and sexuality came up, most teachers would avoid it. I found this really interesting and I feel like it is important to teach this, because coming from a country like Sudan for example, which many of the students were from, the UK has much more diversity and it is important to be accepting of everybody.
We also were given a tour of the main school. Comparing it to a highschool in the US, there were so many things that were different. They really cater to their students needs and lives outside of school, which I think really pushed them to be better students. Their school had many study areas that were surrounded by department head offices, so getting help is extremely accessible. Also, their library always had people in there to help students at all times during the day. Additionally, one thing I notices was the amount of prayer rooms and gender neutural bathrooms. Just by seeing the school, you can really tell they care about their students needs and comfort, and want to do everything they can for them.
After this, we went back to BCU to learn about learning disablity nursing. This isn’t something we directly have in the US, so I found it interesting to learn about their role. Their main roles are to adress behaviors while also looking for the meanings behind them, work on buliding skills and independence, and assess, plan, and evaluate care needed. Learning more about their role, I realized in the US, this role falls into the job of teachers. These nurses take over the role of special education teachers, as well as the aids they will have in classrooms. Some of the things they said they will do with their patients are teaching them how to confidently use public transportation, grocery shop, work on coping mechanisms, and support for school aged students with their education. I found this specialty really interesting, because their role is not what you think of when you hear somebody is a nurse, they have to use a whole different set of clinical skills than nurses in other fields.
After finishing classes for the day, we were able to go to the Botanical Gardens. Although it was raining on and off, it was still a great experience. The gardens are beautiful and we were able to walk around and take some pictures before heading back to the hotel. To end out night, we grabbed a quick dinner, then walked around the city and did some shopping. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, so now it is time to rest!
