Charity Begins at School

Working for a charity as part of the secondary school transition year scheme comes highly recommended by Colaiste Eoin student, Gavin O'Reilly who spent two weeks with the Asthma Society.

"I WOULD definitely encourage other transition-year students to volunteer or to do their work experience at the Asthma Society or another charity because it is great practice for real life jobs. I feel that the skills I learned will be very valuable for future jobs," he said. He was delighted with the varied work and experience on offer. "During my two weeks I always had something interesting to do. Between learning about how the database worked, sending out letters, answering phones, and researching different areas, I was constantly kept on the go. "If ever I wanted something to do or to try out I would just ask a member of staff and they would come up with something." Gavin felt that it was beneficial to work in the Asthma Society for a variety of reasons. "Not only do you learn about asthma and the ways to control it, but I learned about working in an office and the different skills needed, for example communication skills and computer skills.

"During my week, I always had something interesting to do"

"I learned a lot about communication skills just through answering the phone, and handling queries from people from different backgrounds and with all different types of queries. My computer skills were definitely improved over the two weeks," he said. Working for two weeks in a specific area like asthma offers the opportunity to find out more about the condition. "I learned about the triggers of asthma and the different way it affects different people. "Before I did my work experience in the Asthma Society, I thought I knew a lot about asthma because a lot of my relations have it, but after finishing my work experience I realised how little I actually knew," he said. Gavin feels that asthma is such a common condition it's important that young people should know about it.

"Working in an area like asthma offers the opportunity to find out more about the condition"

Approximately 75% of second-level schools in Ireland offer the Transition Year Programme which includes both education
and work experience. Voluntary work and work experience is a requirement in many schools, with students helping out in local communities and charities. According to the Department of Education, the idea behind the programme is: "To promote the personal, social, educational and vocational development of pupils and to prepare them for their role as autonomous, participate and responsible members of society." Transition-year students can benefit immensely either from volunteering for a charity or doing a work experience placement within one. Non-profit and voluntary organisations, individuals, and societies as a whole benefit from the activities of volunteers. Often the experience of volunteering can prove a catalyst for developing excellent job related skills.

If you are in transition year and would like to do your work experience placement with the Asthma Society of Ireland, we have a small number of placements available. Please contact us on 01 8788511 or email office@asthmasociety.ie Also, if you would like to volunteer for World Asthma Day on May 6, 2008 please contact the Asthma Society of Ireland on 01 8788511 or email office@asthmasociety.ie

TOP TIPS: Gavin's tips for volunteering and work experience in transition year are:

• Pick something you feel is worth doing
• Choose something interesting and not something you may find boring
• Working for a charity is a great choice as you are doing different things every day and learning new skills
• Try to organise your work experience placement as early as possible as leaving it to the last minute will make it harder to find a placement
• Show up on time!

By Siobhan McCarthy

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