"What's in it for me?" by Jenny Hall
Study United FC is a highly successful study centre based at Glanford Park. It operates with children to raise the standards of their education and their achievements. Study United has provided children with a new experience and has allowed their learning practice to stretch further than the classroom. The centre provides much more than a general classroom. There are volunteers as well as teachers so the children get a lot more personal attention and help when they need it, there was approximately two children to every adult in a session. Also, the children have an opportunity to learn and develop new skills that a school cannot offer them. For example, making and editing videos.
I worked at Study United, in the Playing for Success sessions, for a week on my work experience and throughout this asked three groups of children to complete a questionnaire that I had designed. The outcome of this questionnaire was that the children were full of praise for the centre and many did not want to leave after their session because they were having such a good time. Many of the children also said that they felt as if they had improved since coming to the centre, from small things like being able to listen better to larger improvements such as a greater level of confidence.
The children asked were in age groups from year 5 to year 8. In year 5 there were 71% of the pupils questioned, year 7 there was 11% and in year 8 there were 18% of the pupils. Although the majority of children were in year five, the results and comments from each year group were almost identical.
When asked if they had been to every Study United session the large majority said that they had whilst only 16% said that they had not. This is a great achievement for the centre as the children have obviously been enjoying themselves as the majority of the group have kept coming.
Every child questioned said that they enjoyed the Study United sessions and only a small amount gave an answer for what they enjoyed the least:
| What the Chidren enjoyed most | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Working on the computers | 26% |
| Meeting the players | 23% |
| Making a movie | 20% |
| Going on the Ground Tour | 12% |
| Playing Football | 12% |
| Everything | 5% |
| Playing on the games console | 2% |
| What the Chidren least enjoyed | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Nothing | 60% |
| Going home | 18% |
| Travelling on the bus | 8% |
| Talking (To an audience?) | 5% |
| The Ground Tour | 5% |
| Interviewing the players | 3% |
| Working on the computers | 3% |
When the children were asked whether or not they thought that they had improved, the bulk of the group said that they had, although there were still a large number of them who were not sure, but when asked in what way they felt they had improved, almost all of the children wrote an answer. 55% of all of the children questioned said that they had improved and 45% stated that they were not sure whether they had improved.
| What had they improved? | Percentage |
|---|---|
| ICT skills | 66% |
| No answer | 16% |
| Confidence | 7% |
| Grammar | 7% |
| Maths | 2% |
| Listening | 2% |
Some of the children’s comments were very positive about Study United and how it helped them to improve. These comments have been chosen from some of the completed questionnaires to show how much they are enjoying the sessions and how they have helped them to improve.
"In what way do you feel you have improved?"
"I have been listening better because I usually fidget about." - Year 5 Pupil
"Because I was rubbish before." - Year 5 Pupil
"I have improved on the computers." - Year 7 Pupil
"I have improved in my IT skills and my confidence." - Year 8 Pupil
"What have you enjoyed most in the sessions?"
"The whole experience!" - Year 5 Pupil
"The computer work and interviewing the players." - Year 5 Pupil
"I have enjoyed going on the computers." - Year 7 Pupil
"Working on the computers and looking round the ground." - Year 8 Pupil
"What have you enjoyed the least?"
"Nothing, it has all been enjoyable." - Year 5 Pupil
"Going home." - Year 5 Pupil
"The journey to and from Study United takes too long." - Year 7 Pupil
"Nothing, I have enjoyed everything." - Year 8 Pupil
From my work experience and from asking the children to complete the questionnaire, I can tell that the Study Centre has made an improvement to the education of the children. Not only do the children feel that they have improved but one teacher asked, said that she felt that she had also improved, even though she was not directly involved in the learning programme. As the children enjoy the centre so much, they are getting the best experience from it and are able to use that enjoyment in their work and what they are doing at the centre.
