Meet the team: Francesca
What is your role at Tutor The Nation?
I’m an intern who’s been working at TTN over this summer, working across all sectors of the charity to collaborate on various new and existing projects.
What does your role entail?
When I first started, I was introduced to each member of the team – this is a huge perk of working in an SME; you get to know the ins and outs of each position fairly well and understand everyone’s responsibilities! At first, I dabbled in some of the marketing and social media, then proceeded to working in operations where I got to work hands-on with transcribing and coding Pupil Focus Group Discussion (FGD) audios. I also got to work on setting up a potential Ambassador Scheme using my existing knowledge from my delegacy work at university, and my fresh student perspective. In addition, analysing the latest Impact Report was a really intriguing part of understanding how a charity shares their contributions to society and unveils the wider influence of their work. In the final weeks, I also managed to do a sector analysis and analyse some key safeguarding policies, which really piqued my interest.
How did you get into the Charity and Education sector?
I applied for this internship whilst working as an ambassador & delegate for my university. I was passionate about making change across campus, and wanted to see how change can be made beyond university life. Hence my choice to try and find work experience!
I secured this internship through a scheme run by my university careers service. They partner with Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to offer exclusive internships to students who identify as having a disability or some sort of physical or mental health condition. I applied through my uni, then landed some interviews – one of which was with TTN – and was successful!
What has been your favourite thing you’ve done with TTN?
I actually got to spend a lot of time looking over policies and policy frameworks, as well as understanding the drafting and consulting process. Not only did I get to understand what it means to work for a charity, but I also utilised my time as an intern to develop the skills that would help me progress to my next steps. Having this experience with TTN has made me more confident in taking my next steps in both my education and my future career.
Tell us about an inspirational teacher who taught you.
I had a teacher when I was 5 who knew that I wasn’t having a good time at school. I was part of her first ever teaching class. I found the work easy, I wasn’t being stretched, and therefore found it boring. There had been a shift in the class numbers, with numerous kids including my friends being moved up into the year above to even things out, so to speak. Despite scoring higher than all of my peers on cognitive testing, they benched me, blaming my ‘inability to cope with the change’ – when the change is exactly what I’d needed. They just didn’t know how to deal with neurodivergence in the classroom (I was not the only one), and saw it as a problem instead of something that needed a small amount of adapting.
From that point onwards my teacher brought in her own books from home – I’d previously read every single book in the school. She encouraged me to take up playing the piano to keep my brain busy, and to start reading in French alongside English with help from my Mum. She’d take me out of class for 1:1s when she could to stretch me further, as she knew I was finding the work she had to set for the others too easy. I realised that to her, I was never a burden in the classroom with my knowledge and curiosity: with the cards that the school had dealt us she always found a way to work around it. To this day, she still inspires me. Having that 1:1 support that she gave to me away from everyone else has the same impact that receiving tutoring eventually gave me later down the line: you get heard, moreover you get fully understood, and that’s where the real progress happens.
What are your plans following the internship?
I have an offer to study a Masters in European Studies at a university in the EU, with hopes to pursue a career in public policy analysis. I’d also love to pick up another language or two while I’m there! The skills I’ve picked up during my time at TTN and the knowledge that I’ve acquired about the charity sector have certainly helped me to frame my interests.
