About Virtual Work Experience
Virtual Work Experience is a relevant, fun and interactive resource in which pupils interact with real workers, doing real jobs, telling them about different aspects of their place of work and specific job skills.
It can support the curriculum in many ways but its primary aim is to support work placements. By opening the doors to the workplace, Virtual Work Experience gives young people the chance to explore different work environments within the safe confines of what is very familiar territory to many of them - a computer game.
The virtual worlds
There are currently six virtual worlds which pupils can explore.
Each virtual world focuses on a specific sector:
- Customer contact centre
- Food and drink production
- Hair, beauty and nails
- NHS
- Passenger transport
- Retail
Some of these, and jobs within them, are familiar to many of us; some are less so and as a result may be perceived as something quite different from what they really are; others are often ‘invisible’ within a broader organisation.
Some of these jobs are not readily accessible to young people as a result of logistics or health and safety issues. By stepping into the virtual worlds students can find out what’s involved in some of the key jobs available across Scotland.
Trial and evaluation
The focus of the trialling phase is on how the resource can support work placements by complementing and supplementing these experiences.
The evaluation will aim to highlight other ways in which the resource can support Curriculum for Excellence and interdisciplinary teaching, so teachers are being asked to consider this, in collaboration with other subject teachers, in the trialling phase.