Learning for Life & Work

Learning for Life and Work (LLW) has been specifically devised by leaders of education and business in Northern Ireland to prepare student for a successful life. It involves three broad strands:

1. Local and Global Citizenship that explores issues such as racism, democracy and how to be an informed and active citizen.
2. Employability including how to be an entrepreneur and how best to prepare yourself for future jobs.
3. Personal Development helps us to understand ourselves and relationships. This aims to promote healthy, resilient and independent students. Through LLW they learn to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions that will help them be more successful adults.

All students have the opportunity to engage these strands, which has been designed to be both relevant and to incorporate new active learning strategies. This means that LLW often includes group work, games and discussions. Students have reflected that their LLW lessons have been both useful and fun.

LLW students continue to make a positive difference to the world around us, be that writing to MLAs to improve public transport access, analysing the need for our school’s rules and publicising where to get local help for addiction and health issues or advocating on behalf of human rights.

GCSE Learning for Life and Work

This allows students to explore the strands and issues above in much greater detail. Each strand has its own exam (worth 20%) and has the advantage of allowing for some assessment to be taken at the end of Year 11. Students report that this gives them exam experience and confidence for their Year 12. The GCSE also has a large controlled assessment element (40%) and has proved to be an enjoyable, successful and interesting subject.

LLW GCSE promotes opportunities to develop key transferable skills such as creative thinking, problem solving and effective teamwork.

LLW GCSE students have progressed to study subjects such as Business Studies, Health and Social Care, Politics and Sociology.

A past pupil of LLW at Lagan wrote: “Eleven years ago I chose Learning for Life and Work for GCSE. Best decision ever. I learnt about how to manage money, look after children and how to live independently. All things that I need to know in my adult life, but that were not taught in traditional subjects. I enjoyed the two years I studied LLW with the wide range of topics and the genuinely interesting course content.”