Figure 17: Incidence of other placement

Figure 17: Incidence of other placement (n=313)

Q15 'Apart from the Erasmus+/Leonardo da Vinci placement abroad, did you also do a placement in Ireland as part of the same study programme?'

35% 65%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Yes No

As shown in Figure 15, soft skills such as communication and interpersonal skills were the strongest areas of development for most respondents. This is perhaps consistent with the high level of ‘personcentred’ vocational areas represented, such as tourism, social care, and beauty therapy. However, just over 20% also reported significant development of more specific competences such as dealing with technical documentation, use of latest technologies, or ability to operate specialist machinery.

This proportion of skills development was more or less reflected by the in-person research group. Three of the four interview subjects focused very much on the self-confidence they had developed, and what they had learned from the international aspects of their placement. The fourth, Oisín, emphasised the vocational skills he had learned above all else. The key differences seemed to be that he had a longer placement period, working for three months rather than two weeks, and that the placement happened several years after his initial education. He had worked extensively and lived abroad during that time, so felt that his interpersonal and intercultural competences were already quite developed.

I’ve lived outside of Ireland before. It’s not going to be a big culture shock – it’s three months. I was just delighted to be accepted. There was no trepidation or any negative in going out there. It was all positive.

The main thing I learned is greater appreciation and understanding of the world of bees, and pollinators in general. It really opened my eyes up to how to identify species 100% accurately. That would involve my microscope work as well which I, prior to going out there, didn’t even realise that was essential for identifying and differentiating different species. So IDing specimens is one of the key skills I would have brought back. But also just some practical things, in terms of carrying out field studies, just simple little things that can help you along. Like, just being very precise with your notes and the likes of that. They’re the kind of things I brought back. Another technical skill that I didn’t think I’d get to work on was the preservation of specimens – pinning pollinator specimens. That’s a very technical skill and I didn’t realise how difficult it was going to be until we got taught how to do it. We spent about two weeks doing that towards the end. It’s something I have continued since I got back. The position I have now, [the experience of working with pollinators] is an element of it, but the fact that I had good fieldwork skills, which would have been improved upon in Spain – that’s something I use in my everyday work. But the bee thing is something I’m passionate about and something I do see myself getting into down the line. So I use the skills every day you could say.