Barking & Dagenham College students experience work in Portugal

A group of students have returned from Portugal having spent 11 days finding out what it’s like to work in a different country.

The 19 students who study health and social care at Barking & Dagenham College were taking part in the Erasmus programme.  The EU fully funded programme supports those in education, providing opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train and gain experience abroad.  

Salamatu Muftahu, 19, from Dagenham, spent time at a day centre for the elderly.  The centre provides care for clients with varied needs.  Salamatu helped with lots of activities for the clients, such as art and craft, playing bingo, organising aerobic exercises as well as providing personal care such as helping with feeding.

Seventeen year  old Marie Bacon from Romford and  Cheyanne Coulson, 18, were given the opportunity to work in a nursery school.  Their tasks included working with the class teacher to help provide educational and personal care for the children. It also provided an opportunity for Cheyanne to help teach the children English, and in turn, the children taught her some Portuguese!

Other students,  like   Favour Osakwe Mbonu, 17, from Barking, got to work at an elderly and residential care homes working with patients with HIV, dementia and various types of disabilities.

Joanne Small, Health and Social Care lecturer at Barking & Dagenham College said:

“The students had a great time getting to experience working in different locations and country.  It’s really helped to give them transferable skills that they can take into the workplace in the future.  They were a big hit with the staff and clients, so much so, they have been asked to come back again over the summer to help.  We are really proud of them for all their hard work.”