April 2016, October 2016, October 2017 - Job shadowing day. All the 8th class students spent a day in an enterprise accompanying an experienced worker.
Students could learn about a particular occupation or profession to see if it might be suitable for them. It helps to provide an experience for a student of what it is like to perform a certain type of work.
Visits to industry and companies as well as job shadowing, practical training and guest teachers from companies at schools support pupils’ career education goals. Pupils have little understanding what different jobs are about, what knowledge and skills are needed in different fields of work and what is the right career for them.
Some students' reflections on the job shadowing day in Kääpa School on 10 November 2016
Kristina: I went to shadow a florist. I got there one day before one wedding day and helped to make decorations and flower arrangements. Next day we went to Tartu to give the bride her bouquet and ring base. In the afternoon we went to decorate the car. Later we had to go to the ceremony where we had to wait until the flowers were given and pictures were taken and then we had to take the flowers and go to the place were the party was, we had to decorate the place before the guests arrived. When the place was decorated we started to go home.
Florist agency is very interesting working place where you have to know which flowers are compatible in different situations. You must know a lot about flowers and have good sense of colours and composition.
I would like to go to Räpina gardening school to become a florist when I finish Kääpa school.
Kerstin: I went to the University of Tartu Nature Museum to watch tour guides and museum life. Kelli H, who is the project manager, worked with me. Museum of Natural History is mainly active in the organization of excursions and wildlife demonstration. In addition to guides there work a project manager, secretary, designer and also cool IT technicians.
Certain skills are required if you want to be a tour guide. First, the guide must be friendly, patient, and also brave. Communication skills and entrepreneurship is very necessary for the tour guide. Guide must have a natural science background and he must also be able to work independently. To be a tour guide, you have to demonstrate proficiency in the biology and other natural sciences. You need to learn how to be an interesting interlocutor and you'll also be able to take care of the animals. Of course, you have to get to know the animals, because if you trust a stranger animal in child's hands, you have to know that the animal does not hurt the human.
Kelli showed me the rooms that I would not see during an ordinary course of the tour. I saw a very fancy office of one man, who worked and studied in the museum archives of minerals, rocks and more. He also introduced me to her office, and it left me a deep impression. It was really awesome.
The day in the Museum of Nature was so awesome that I would go there also next time. If people are so kind and friendly, you can not feel unwell. Now I'm sure that I will not be afraid to communicate with so many strangers.
Marcus: I shadowed a techical engineer's job in company Tech-Eng OÜ. Tech-Eng is a company which offers machine repair service. The day plan was to repair some machines. I learned a lot of new knowledge.
My day was very good, we finished all the things that were planned for our day. I really liked my job shadowing. Maybe in the future I would also like to become a technical engineer.
Markus: I went to shadow a web designer job at Punk Digital OÜ. The company mainly deals with marketing service programming. There were four jobs: Head of development, designer, project manager and a programmer. I was told there, what programs to use and how to start making a website. The day when I was there, some people were on training and some were developing a webpage of Asko. Their biggest project so far has been Visit Estonia www.visitestonia.com. Workday starts there at 9:00 AM and ends at about 04:00 PM.
It was pretty interesting there, everyone had their own job to do and everything was organized. No one was sitting on their own, but were talking with each other. I think I could fit in this job, because I am keeping up with the subject and I have practised this. I was told that if you are good at this job it isn’t hard to find this job in Tartu or Tallinn, because it is a very valued job.
Sander: I went to shadow my uncle's job, he works as a border guard. The name of the institution is Police and Border Guard Board. Border guards have to be able to communicate in Russian, English and Estonian. Very important is the physical fitness, because they have to run and walk a lot. Border guards must be able to communicate with people, be brave, have a healthy lifestyle and accuracy. This day was very nice and catchy. In the future I would like to become a border guard, because I like adrenaline. But first, I have to finish Kääpa school and then I can go to Police school.
Markus: I went to shadow a car mechanic's job. Kagu-Sell OÜ repair cars and sells parts of cars. There are working car mechanics, diagnosticians, sellers, head of the company and the shop manager.
Car mechanic needs maths, physics, chemistry, English and Russian. They also need to have patience, strength, communication skills and acumen. I got to try to change wheels and tires myself which was a new and exciting experience for me.
Randel: I went to Tartu AHHAA science centre and I shadowed a guide. At the beginning I got too much information and everything was strange to me. However I got lots of knowledge, for example I didn't know that there works an inventor in AHHAA. I did a science theatre show for some people, it was fun to do it. I could taste the lemonade which was made in 10 seconds. Almost all workers there had a good sense of humour.
I liked the guide's job very much and I think, that it could be my job in future, because it needs lots of talking and I like talking to people. I got very good experience at AHHAA centre and I hope I could do something more like this.