A summer working at Pearson!... Week one of the Pearson Diversity Programme

Increasingly we hear friends, family and media commentators remark on how difficult it is for young people leaving education to find a job in an increasingly crowded jobs market. I am one of the many who have found it difficult to secure long term gainful employment since leaving education.

As someone who got into university through a community college access course, I could honestly say its been much tougher than I anticipated, but no less rewarding in terms of my development and learning. The same can be said of my experience finding a job. Along the way one of the things I’ve discovered is that practical work based learning through work-placements has its merits. Over the last couple of months I have had to really apply myself, re-working my CV and cover letters applying for work placements, voluntary schemes and internships, all of which has helped me develop some of the work place skills employers need young people to have if they are to succeed in an ever changing world of work. 

So, here I am, week one of the Pearson Summer Diversity Internship Programme. It runs for eight weeks. That’s all, Gosh! Over the next eight weeks I will not only be learning about Pearson International but I will be involved in research on ‘Enterprise Education’ within the Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning. This will involve looking at the role teachers, the current schools’ curriculum, business community and government policy at a local and national level could play in helping young people develop competency based skills which leads to employment. Ok, there is a lot more to it than that. So you should follow this blog!

My aim through this blog over the period of the programme is to offer some insight into challenges of the projects I am involved with, in relation to Enterprise Education. It will also provide an insight into what its like being an intern within Pearson International and whether the support and training provided is reflective of the proposed ideas set out within the research proposal I’ll be working on.

Looking ahead, to the end of the programme I could see myself working within this organisation. I hope the internship will help me develop the skills that lead to a job, and maybe even within Pearson!