Company visits

Company visits and cultural trips: both an essential didactic tool and a vital element in our strategy to turn the ECG into an Entrepreneurial School

There is no better way of discovering professional life than through a practical experience. Company visits, as well as cultural trips are an invaluable complement to our lessons and help pupils delve deeper into the topics covered in class, as well as to discover entirely new aspects. A company visit cannot be improvised. In order to achieve the desired didactic effect, it requires advance preparation, coaching throughout and follow-up processing.

Providing an insight into professional life and developing entrepreneurial skills

Visits enable pupils to discover professional life and the daily reality of different trades and professions.  Thanks to our contacts with professionals, students can develop a better understanding of the functioning of a company and its different services. It also provides an opportunity for young people to discover the different professions in depth, and to understand practical expectations.

Visiting a company also helps to develop entrepreneurial skills, and in particular soft skills such as initiative-taking, a zest for learning, intellectual curiosity, a meticulous attitude to work, creativity, a team spirit, as well as a drive to excel, all of which are increasingly sought after by employers.

How to find the right company

It is important to select a company that meets specific learning objectives. Ideally, there should be a link between theoretical elements covered in class and the elements touched upon during the visit. In order to find a suitable company to visit, teachers can rely on their own personal contacts, the school’s internal network, as well as existing relations with parents. From our experience, it appears that many companies are eager to stay in close interaction with the educational world and often such visits can even take place spontaneously, upon request.

Another possibility is to capitalise on pupils’ own initiatives. Some pupils have parents who are entrepreneurs and who have good connections with the business community. After all, one of our missions as an entrepreneurial school is to foster an entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of responsibility among our pupils. So, there can be no better way of motivating pupils than by encouraging them to establish the first contact on their own, or by putting them in charge of organising the entire visit.

Thorough preparation at the outset

A cultural outing or a company visit cannot be improvised and requires joint preparation work both with a contact person inside the company, as well as with pupils themselves. It is the teachers’ mission to provide the corporate partner with general information about the pupils, their present skills levels, as well as the main didactic objectives to be met by the visit. In collaboration with the corporate partner, teachers also select the professions to be presented during the visit and they identify some employees who can relate their experience.

At the same time, teachers prepare the visit together with their class. At the outset, teachers raise their pupils’ awareness of their roles as ambassadors for our school, insisting that the impression they leave may have a lasting impact on the school’s reputation. Among others, they specify a set of rules to be respected throughout the visit concerning the required dress code, the use of mobile phones and basic courtesy (no chatting, no chewing gum, etc.).

Pupils can subsequently be encouraged to do some research about the company in order to get to know it better and to be able to comprehend its situation. They can also be instructed to prepare a set of questions which have to be answered during the visit.

Coaching students during the visit

Providing proper coaching throughout the visit is of crucial importance. Misbehavior should instantly be sanctioned. In order for pupils to reap the full benefits of the visit, they should be encouraged to take notes, and even to take pictures or shoot videos (after having obtained formal permission from the person in charge).

Encouraging follow-up processing

A company visit is not an end in itself.

In order to make the most of it, it is crucial to capitalise on the main learning outcomes. This can happen across a range of subjects. An assessment session on the basis of a questionnaire can help to test learning outcomes. Likewise, a general stocktaking moment can help to extract general ideas and concepts that can be transferred to other organisations. Teachers can also prepare follow-up activities such as giving analytical presentations, as well as writing reports or review articles.

Another aspect that should not be neglected is communication in connection with the visit. Again, pupils can be made responsible by encouraging them to write a statement for the school’s website, Facebook page or even an article to be published in the press. Such productions should ideally be illustrated with pictures.

Providing feedback to the company

Our corporate partners invest a lot of time and efforts into such projects. Common courtesy therefore requires the school to send a letter of appreciation signed by the pupils. Ideally, additional feedback should be provided, possibly in the form of student productions derived from the visit.