The two teachers involved found it a very daunting task, but a very fulfilling one. I was exhausted at the end of the three days, but I was also elated, because I saw and I read the evaluations that the students gave me afterwards. And one particular student had said that, at the end of her evaluation, that she wished that every pupil in every school could have had what she had for those three days. So a lot of planning needs to take place, but if teachers can have a detailed three-day itinerary of where they want to be each and every hour, and then a separate sheet for themselves of the resources and the props that they need to make those activities work, then that would make them very well equipped.

Once the preparation was put in place, the actual execution of the three days was superb and we thoroughly enjoyed it and the pupils certainly kept saying ‘We didn’t realise this was going to be such fun!’ And I think that any apprehension that you may have at the beginning, certainly are eradicated as you start planning. Because it is such an important thing and a thing of today, you really can see the focus on why you’re doing it. And the pupils could see why they were actually participating in the programme, so although there were some doubts at the beginning, certainly I think they were unfounded.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Education for Employability is essential for pupils’ education. It’s not a single subject in itself, with boundaries. It very much goes right across the curriculum and I would say that several subjects within the school have a major contribution to make and possibly that’s the way we’ll be moving in the future.