Internships: taking it slow

Dear BPEA members and friends,

One BPEA founder and school consultant, John Hogan, recently visited the US with a small group of teachers on a leadership development tour and has some valuable tips to share about the process of arranging student internships.

Learning through internships - reflections from John Hogan

Many of you know that I suggest ‘slowing down’ the internship process by following the steps set out in our LTI summary booklet.

Getting an internship isn’t a case of ‘cold calling’ and requesting someone to be a mentor. It is part of a deeper structure that is crucial to the student’s development and learning within the Big Picture model.

While we were at Sacramento Met recently, we had an hour and a half talking to the LTI coordinator there - a terrific young man called Andrew Frishman who has previously been an advisor at the Met in Providence. He generously shared his summary of the steps they work through in order to establish an internship for every student in their school - and the word internship doesn’t appear until step 11! (see table attached)

Nothing about internships is talked about with workplace folk until after a student has completed a shadow day, finished their reflection, written a thank you note etc, and the students are taught the processes at each step of the way. Even after a successful shadow day... it has to be a place that the student wants to go back to... the mentor (potential) has to be someone the student wants to relate to... and the work place has to a place of opportunity for learning... and there has to be a chance for student to do something that will help the workplace. If the place doesn’t meet these criteria then another site for shadow day is identified.

At Sacramento Met nearly all year 12’s had internships set up within two months of the school year commencing. Most year 11’s... some year 10’s... but no year 9’s... only a few quick and bold year 9s have even got close to or doing a shadow day.

The work of arranging internships is not the sole responsibility of the LTI coordinator. The work is done with the advisor and the student too. The advisor role is the key one.

Once the deep structure is put in place the work itself becomes ‘one kid at a time’. Some are faster than others at finding their interest... pursuing a place... and doing their shadow days. In fact, this can be helpful - the fast ones show the way. They can inspire other students. Successful internship placements are celebrated.

So if you are working with students to arrange internships, or interested to do so, remember - take it slow. You may like to view the table attached for a suggested structure. Each of the bolded sections also comes with additional paperwork - to request a copy please email me at - john.hogan@bigpond.com

John Hogan
BPEA Consultant


Many thanks from us to John for this inside information on the internship process!