Putting Subjects in Context for Life Ahead

The Careers department has been organising some external speaker sessions over the last few weeks which look at supporting Heads of Departments to deliver the careers aspects of their subjects. Over the last ten days, we have welcomed the University of Sheffield and local insurance company Esure to Caterham School and below are two short articles outlining what was involved.

Politics and International Relations

Studying Politics and International Relations and looking at the topic ‘Do environmental protests make a difference?’ was the title of the University of Sheffield university taster session delivered to our Politics pupils on 15 March. We were delighted to welcome Head of Politics and International Relations, Professor Charlie Burns and one of her current undergraduate students to talk about the above, the course content and what it is like to study at Sheffield.

The presentation got our Politics students talking about the impact of environmental groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil and whether the ends justify the means. Professor Burns and the undergraduate student gave advice about the application process and how important it is to make the personal statement genuinely personal and unique to you. There was also feedback on the difference between international relations and politics and the advantages of taking a joint degree.

What is Data Science? and Women in Data 

Did you know that every minute of the day Amazon customers spend $283k, TikTok users watch 167 million videos or Strava athletes share 1.5 thousand activities? (https://www.domo.com/learn/infographic/data-never-sleeps-9). According to local insurance company Esure ‘the world is drowning in data!’ and we were delighted to welcome three of their data science advocates, including a current parent, to School on Tuesday 21 March to talk to our Lower Sixth mathematicians about the importance of data, what it is and how it is used, alongside why they should be considering how data might impact their career choices of the future. Esure have also partnered with the Women in Data Partnership and are pioneering a schools engagement programme to raise awareness of these careers areas in order to help increase the number of females in this profession.

In an enlightening presentation pupils found out about how businesses use the data we give them to improve our user experience as well as improve their sales analysis and therefore profitability, alongside many other aspects.  We learnt that the roles in data science need to attract a wide range of skills as they are looking for not just mathematicians, but also those with the ability to question and probe, be curious, enjoy problem solving and work well with others. Data scientists can be found in every business and jobs in this profession are expanding exponentially with the top educational backgrounds being those who have studied computer science, business, statistics, maths and physics. However, pupils were especially interested to hear about the different routes the speakers themselves took into the field (such as a PhD graduate in Biology and a trainee accountant).