Working out in the real world
Students get a taste of careers
A group of 40, Year 10 students at Tamatea High School were visited by a dozen employer representatives from various Hawke’s Bay organisations recently when the school piloted a careers speed-dating event to raise student awareness of career possibilities and make connections for students and employers.
The students in groups of three had four minutes with each representative to find out what their job is, what is good about it, what’s not so good, how much they get paid and any other questions the students had.
“The good thing about it is that it’s short and sharp. If the students are interested in a job — great. If not, they only have to wait a few minutes before they move on to a new person,” says Sharon Blount from the Ministry of Education.
Tamatea High principal, Robin Fabish, wants Tamatea High to do all it can to increase the effectiveness of pathway education for their students.
“NCEA results are important for those who want to go to university, but employers tell me they are more interested in young people who are punctual, have a good work ethic and good relationship skills. We’ve got to make sure we’re teaching these skills to our students too.”
Only 30 per cent of students in the country go to university and many don’t continue after their first year, so schools shouldn’t be solely focusing on academic pathways and skiting about academic achievement. The real measure for school success should be the number of students who have clear career pathways that they follow when leaving school — not NCEA league tables, Robin says.
He said the goal is to expose Tamatea students to as many different types of job, career and opportunities in Hawke’s Bay as possible.
“This will help them set goals and make the connections they need to get into the workplace. Employers sometimes find it difficult to find young employees. Leaders in schools need to make sure schools are teaching students the things they need to be successful in the workplace. It’s also critical to help employers connect to the many good young people in our schools.”
There are five other Napier principals who are working with Robin to create an employer partnership with businesses and employers in Hawke’s Bay. The group wants to facilitate connection and understanding between the students of Napier, our secondary schools and employers.
Robin believes regardless of what secondary school young people go to they want legitimate pathways so they can get jobs and contribute to the community.
“It makes sense that we work together on this rather than all of us doing our own thing — it’s much more efficient.”
The partnership is supported by Spark, Pak’nSave Tamatea, Port of Napier, BDO Accounting and Napier City Council. Other businesses will be added over the coming months.