Connect, Reflect, and Explore With Us at COBIS 2022

This May, Virtual Internships will be exhibiting at COBIS 2022, the Council of British International Schools 40th Annual Conference, with the theme: ‘Connect, Reflect, Explore’. 

British Schools Come Together to Solve Key Challenges

The conference will bring together key figures from the COBIS network of 450+ British International Schools in 79 countries to exchange insights, ideas, and best practices on the key challenges facing schools in 2022:

• How do we bridge the learning gap from two years of teaching disruption?
• How can we improve emotional well-being support for our students in sociologically, and even existentially, challenging times?
• Where is technology’s place in the classroom as the pandemic eases?
• How can we use technology in the classroom most effectively? 

Discussing Technology’s Place in the Classroom

Those final two questions sprout an energizing discussion for us at Virtual Internships, an EdTech company specializing in providing structured global internships and employability experiences online. 

The value of real-world experience and career exploration for students is ever-present in the conversation around FE reform, but the challenge remains: 

“How do we create a robust internship program with relevant companies who have the structure in place to support interns on a sustainable basis when are faced with barriers including location, staff resources, safeguarding protocol and not least, a global pandemic?”

The Virtual Internships Foundations Program is the solution to this challenge.

Virtual Internships Foundations: Remote Internships for High School Students

We provide a unique, guided remote internship program that looks drastically different from the job shadow or traditional WEX opportunities commonly available to year 10+ students.

Virtual Internships Foundations strives to remove these challenges for schools by providing guaranteed, structured international internships with one of over 10,000 vetted international companies, combined with robust supervision, employability coaching, and a feedback loop. 

The program was specifically designed for young students at the pre-university stage, in recognition that career exploration, skills development, and crucially, skills reflection are critical when students are making a choice about the next step. 

Coming Together at COBIS 2022

Our mission very much aligns with Unifrog and the BMuscat’s session at COBIS 2022 entitled ‘How to Build a Bullet-Proof Careers & Higher Education Program,’ and we are excited to hear how schools are tackling the challenge and to explore the place for internships in this model. 

This is our first in-person school conference since we launched the Virtual Internships Foundations Program and we can’t wait to connect with COBIS schools to discuss how we can work together to meet those increasingly important Gatsby Benchmarks and set students up for success, on their own terms. 

Connect with Virtual Internships at COBIS 2022

Sian Steggles, Head of K-12 Development, will be at the conference from Sunday 7th until Monday 8th May, 2022. Use the form below to book some time to chat with Sian over a coffee or stop by the Virtual Internships stand in the exhibition hall.