Learning from Life’s core purpose within our course, is for us to gain a new insight and develop new skills out with a mainstream Scottish primary school. In doing so, this will allow us, as future practitioners, to broaden our knowledge, experiences and skills in different settings, which we can then use in the classroom.

For my LfL placement, I always knew that I wanted to go abroad and see how schools operate in different parts of the world, and see how this is similar or different from Scotland. Therefore, for my LfL placement I have decided to go to Horsham, Philadelphia to work at an outdoor school; College Settlement.

At this placement, I will work with children in grades 4-6 (age 10-12 typically) from local schools in the Philadelphia area. These schools will visit the outdoor school for either a singular day, or for an overnight stay of up to 2/3 days. During this time the children will engage with a range of activities including; team building challenges, environmental education and classic American camp games, songs and skits.

I chose this type of placement to push me out my comfort zone, and allow me to learn new skills which will benefit me when I return to Scottish education. Furthermore, science is an area within the Scottish primary curriculum which I do not have much experience. In this placement, an emphasis is placed on environmental education and therefore I thought this placement would be extremely beneficial in giving me this experience (SPR 2.1). Moreover, one area which I need to improve on, in reflection from my MA1 placement, is behaviour management. As this is an outdoor school, this will allow me to engage in behaviour management in a larger environment and interact with teachers and staff who have a lot of experience in this area (SPR 3.2). Additionally, it will allow me to work with teachers who work with a different education system, in the USA, and see how I can implement the strategies which they use out here, into Scottish education.

In terms of contacting this placement, I am sharing this placement with a fellow University of Dundee MA2 Education student, who has contacts within the camp. The owner of the camp is a close family friend to my peer, and when asked if I wanted to join her on this adventure, I knew I couldn’t turn it down!

I travel to Philadelphia on 13th March, however my first day of placement will not begin until the following week – 19th March – where I will begin staff training Monday-Wednesday before schools arrive Thursday and Friday. I am extremely excited to begin placement and learn about the camp and American education, as well as new skills, knowledge and experiences for myself as a future practitioner!

(I will be using my ePortfolio as my LfL folder, to document my placement and type up my reflections etc. I have also included reflections up to week 8, as I am here for the end of the season and in case any of the weeks do not specific requirements).