Students get hands on experience in the Housing sector
An experimental module is helping Northumbria University students get hands on industry experience.
The University has teamed up with the North East-based Housing Association Karbon Homes to give their Health and Social Care undergraduates the chance to immerse themselves in the work of Karbon’s Supported Housing team.
Andrea Hillery, an Employability Coordinator at Northumbria University said:
“The newly designed Experimental Learning fieldwork module will help raise student awareness around multi-disciplinary working and collaboration amongst teams within the sector through practical experience.
“The module was designed to give our students real industry and employer exposure, helping our Health and Social Care students to develop their employability skills and educate, inform and enlighten them for life beyond university”.
Louise Tarrant, an Employability Coordinator at Northumbria University said:
“It’s been hugely beneficial for the students. They’ve been able to find out a lot more about the support that Karbon Homes offers, how they work with their service users and get practical experience. It’s given them a different perspective on the challenges and key issues in the sector and how they can relate this back to their course.”
The students were able to visit Karbon Homes offices in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne where they were given presentations about the work that the Supported Housing team does. They then job shadowed members of the team as they visited some of their service users.
Millie Clark, a student from Northumbria University said:
“The work experience aspect is different from all the other modules that we’ve done because we’ve never had this opportunity before.
“It’s really immersive. You really get a grasp of what it’s like to work at Karbon Homes and find out more about what they do. It’s a lot more in depth and meaningful, it’s not just about selling homes, it’s a lot more about supporting people to live independently.
“I’d definitely recommend it. It’s inspired me and I could definitely see myself working here in the future.”
Karbon Homes Supported Housing team offer tailored support to their customers’ individual needs, offering 121 and group support with mental health, learning disabilities, homelessness, substance misuse or any other life challenge.
Jon McDonald, Head of Supported Housing at Karbon Homes, said:
“I think we’ve really opened the eyes of the students and given them a better understanding of, not just Karbon Homes, but the housing sector as a whole.
“The feedback has been really good. It’s been a really positive day. We hope this is just the start of the journey and that we might get some more students who certainly consider Karbon Homes as a future employer.”
Northumbria University will be hosting a presentation and networking event, which will give the students the opportunity to present their unique findings to all organisations in the room. This will give contributors and students an opportunity to hear ideas and approaches from the other cross-sector businesses involved and network amongst each other.
You can find out more about the students' session with our Supported Housing team in our short video:
An experimental module is helping Northumbria University students get hands on industry experience.
The University has teamed up with the North East-based Housing Association Karbon Homes to give their Health and Social Care undergraduates the chance to immerse themselves in the work of Karbon’s Supported Housing team.
Andrea Hillery, an Employability Coordinator at Northumbria University said:
“The newly designed Experimental Learning fieldwork module will help raise student awareness around multi-disciplinary working and collaboration amongst teams within the sector through practical experience.
“The module was designed to give our students real industry and employer exposure, helping our Health and Social Care students to develop their employability skills and educate, inform and enlighten them for life beyond university”.
Louise Tarrant, an Employability Coordinator at Northumbria University said:
“It’s been hugely beneficial for the students. They’ve been able to find out a lot more about the support that Karbon Homes offers, how they work with their service users and get practical experience. It’s given them a different perspective on the challenges and key issues in the sector and how they can relate this back to their course.”
The students were able to visit Karbon Homes offices in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne where they were given presentations about the work that the Supported Housing team does. They then job shadowed members of the team as they visited some of their service users.
Millie Clark, a student from Northumbria University said:
“The work experience aspect is different from all the other modules that we’ve done because we’ve never had this opportunity before.
“It’s really immersive. You really get a grasp of what it’s like to work at Karbon Homes and find out more about what they do. It’s a lot more in depth and meaningful, it’s not just about selling homes, it’s a lot more about supporting people to live independently.
“I’d definitely recommend it. It’s inspired me and I could definitely see myself working here in the future.”
Karbon Homes Supported Housing team offer tailored support to their customers’ individual needs, offering 121 and group support with mental health, learning disabilities, homelessness, substance misuse or any other life challenge.
Jon McDonald, Head of Supported Housing at Karbon Homes, said:
“I think we’ve really opened the eyes of the students and given them a better understanding of, not just Karbon Homes, but the housing sector as a whole.
“The feedback has been really good. It’s been a really positive day. We hope this is just the start of the journey and that we might get some more students who certainly consider Karbon Homes as a future employer.”
Northumbria University will be hosting a presentation and networking event, which will give the students the opportunity to present their unique findings to all organisations in the room. This will give contributors and students an opportunity to hear ideas and approaches from the other cross-sector businesses involved and network amongst each other.
You can find out more about the students' session with our Supported Housing team in our short video:
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