I’m interested in working with children, and possibly becoming a primary school teacher.

I go to school in London and enjoy class work. I’ve decided to do a Diploma in Society, Health and Development because it will help me decide whether I want to go into teaching at the end.

What will I learn?

I’ll study six mandatory units, all about the different sectors and what they do. I’m going to learn about partnership working, sharing information and how principles and values are used by people who work in the industry.

There’s a whole section on personal and professional development at work, plus looking after people and protecting their interests. These are things I’ll need to know if I want to go into teaching.

I’ll also take an A level in Spanish and a Level 3 Award in Playwork for Early Years and Child Care Workers. This makes up the additional / specialist learning part of my Diploma course, where I get to choose subjects that I’m interested in.

What am I looking forward to?

My extended project will look into using synthetic phonics to help teach children to read. I’ll look into how they’ve been used before, and how well it’s worked.

Because I’m doing work experience as a classroom assistant at a primary school, also helping kids to read, I can include this in my project report.

I’m going to be a volunteer too with Beaver and Cub Scouts, so I’ll be working with kids aged six to 11. And, I’ll spend time with the Hutchinson Foundation to help with fundraising.

What will I do afterwards?

When I finish my Diploma course, I want to study a BA in Childhood Studies. Hopefully, I’ll go in to a PGCE in Primary Education to start teacher training straight away in an inner-city school.

This case study is an illustration of how and why a student might decide to do a Diploma; it does not refer to a real individual. To talk through your own specific study or career goals, you can seek further advice and check local availability with your teacher or Connexions Adviser.