Chloe Conway Yr11 student from The Herts and Essex High School chose the evocative topic of globalisation to research whilst on her virtual work experience placement. 

In the modern day, globalisation shares a hand in hand relationship with technology. From technology enabling us to easily communicate with each other, to technology processing our data faster than ever before; technology has sky rocketed globalisation in the recent decades. This somewhat complex phenomenon has led to the world now being called by many as a “global village”. To put it in perspective how far globalisation has developed, would you believe that back then, it took 1000 years for the invention of paper to travel from China to Europe? However now in a matter of seconds, a message can be sent to the other side of the world to whom you may desire, at any time of the day.

Covid-19 has had a significant impact on multiple aspects of everyday life. Nayat Menon, a Yr 11 student from Saint Olave’s Grammar School, chose to explore the changes to these various aspects and the influence they will have on us even post-pandemic.

23rd March 2020 will be etched in history books as the day the UK put its shutters down after the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown. Nearly everyone believed that the restrictions would last just a few weeks and then we would be back to our normal lives. Little did we know, this was not going to be the case. Over a year later, Covid-19 continues to be prevalent as a global pandemic, which has likely impacted every human being in some way or another.

The Corona pandemic will impact every industry. Whilst most have been hit negatively; there are however some that will benefit or actually be 'born' through this adversity. Therefore, Lucas Griffiths Yr11 student from Malmesbury School, Wiltshire decided to research an alternative option to the traditional Summer Holiday!  

To begin, what is Virtual Tourism?  

In brief, it’s a way for someone to travel somewhere with the aid of technology, all without having to take a single step. It comes in a multitude of forms, ranging from something as simple as a guided tour on YouTube, to a fully immersive state-of-the-art virtual reality setup. Virtual tourism refers to a broad spectrum of digitally augmented realities, but the most commonly used devices are computers and VR headsets.

Whilst on virtual work experience Yr 11 student Harry Dong from the Bishops Stortford College explored the explosive growth of Esports accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is Esports?

Esports, also known as Electronic Sports, is a new-born competitive sport using video games. Esports often consists of organised events or tournaments where professional players face off in the same game individually or as teams. Even though video games have been around since the 1980s, the idea of Esports did not come along until mid-2000s. In the 21st century Esports has been gaining incredible popularity especially among teenagers and young adults through livestreaming on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. We have seen the participation of large companies and organisations; their professional teams and their sponsorships have pushed tournament prize pools and revenues to new heights. By 2010s Esports has developed into one of the largest factors in the video game industry or even the whole entertainment industry, becoming an international phenomenon.

COVID-19 and the ensuing preventative measures has caused a rate of Economic downturn akin to the great depression. Whilst on virtual work experience with Delta 2020, Jack Thorpe Yr13 Kingston Grammar School student aimed to assess the damaging consequences of a economic shutdown on the job prospects of today's youth.

In the 10 weeks since the WHO’s announcement of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the ensuing safety measures taken to avoid unnecessary deaths, the UK economy has been facing one of its largest challenges to date. I believe that, while generally shielded from the virus’ symptoms, the UK’s youth, particularly those set to leave full time education, will take the lion’s share of the economic downturn in the form of high unemployment.