Identity, Personal Development & Careers
The following post has been kindly written by two year 13 student’s from Stroud High School with additional reflections from the head of year.
Ismail has been a guest speaker at our school for the past three years. He brings a fresh perspective in exploring identity, community and personal development, which we have found to be very insightful and engaging for our students. We have developed this to explore how these concepts can fit in with career paths, thus helping our students to understand different sectors and consider more fully where they seem themselves in the future.
Diversity, identity and values were some of the themes our eyes were opened to during Ismail’s supporting talks at Stroud High School, especially from our workshop lecture delivered to our year group, Year 13. The talk offered relevant and fascinating philosophies that helped many of the students to evaluate and explore their own sense of identity, as well as how to reserve personal identity in professional settings.
We were encouraged greatly to remain authentic to ourselves and remain intact with our own identity as well as to open up inclusive spaces for other members of our communities. The talk was invigorating and engaging, the whole year group were talking about and discussing the ideas offered for a long time after, and discussions of identity were had all over.
Not only were we encouraged to explore our own identities, but we were also introduced to the voluntary sector, something we had not explored before in our time at school. Ismail also positively advised us to consider values and morals when choosing professions rather than following any external influences, in order to retain our principles and remain passionate and driven. This insight inspired us to consider the voluntary sector as a future option and look at careers which fit our passions.
Following this, we decided to get back in touch with Ismail to ask for advice specific to our areas of interest. Our main questions revolved around environmental activism and diversity. In an in-person meet up we were able to discuss our ideas more deeply and Ismail directed our thoughts to new concepts such as the crossover between environmental and diversity issues. We explored career pathways into the voluntary sector and received guidance on where to look for opportunity. We left feeling more confident in following more fulfilling career pathways and certain in our decisions to choose future careers that supported our values and would help to make a difference for the better in the society we live in.