Guest posting to voced-coord list June 16 - 28, 1997

Item 8 of 10: What does school-to-work involve?

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 16:02:58 +1100
To: voced-coord@owl.qut.edu.au
From: Richard Sweet
Subject: VocEd: Richard Sweet (guest) - what does school-to-work involve

If there has been one theme to the discussion over the last week or so it is this question: what do we need to do to get school-industry programs right? I am, as I have said, an optimist, but even so I don't under-estimate what will be needed to get the majority of Year 11 and 12 students involved in high quality school-industry programs that involve extensive workplace learning and that form the first steps in a carer ladder.

But even when we get this right, will we have put in place an effective school-to-work system for Australia's youth? My contention is that we will still only be part way there at best. We need to get the bits of the jigsaw that lock into school-industry programs right as well.

This means making good, well informed career education a right for all students, and making sure that it meets the needs of the work-bound as well as the TAFE-bound and the university-bound. It means making career education a responsibility of the whole school and of its community - employers, parents, community groups, ex students - not just of one over-worked careers adviser. It means giving students themselves a far bigger role in gathering and reporting on local career and job opportunities. It means making good career education in Years 7-10 a basis for well informed choices of school-industry programs in Years 11-12.

It means doing something about the waste land of middle schooling that Jim Cumming revealed in his report From Alienation to Engagement. One way to do this is to give all Year 7-10 students the sorts of opportunities that are motivating so many Year 11-12 students through school-industry programs. But doing it through community based learning or service learning. Some enterprise education: learning from experience, in the community, in teams, from projects, with students having real control over their learning rather than being spoon fed in the classroom.

And it means putting in place youth-friendly employment placement services that really connect schools to their local labour market. Janelle Schloss from Marsden High in Queensland has some great experiences with the Jobs Pathway Program to share here. How about it Janelle?

Effective school-to-work also means linking job placement services for school leavers with good school leaver monitoring and tracking services so that those who fall through the cracks can be given access to individually tailored programs of job placement, education and training and community service - as Sweden does with its Municipal Follow Up Responsibility, that requires schools to develop such programs for all leavers not in jobs or study up to the age of 19. But that is a story for another day.

By the way ABC Radio National's Life Matters Program ran a short segment on part-time apprenticeships this morning that featured Julie Woods from Gladstone in Queensland. They are going to have a wider discussion on schools and employment next Wednesday at 9.00am. If you think that you have something to contribute - for example on schools doing job placement - ring Nick Rushworth at ABC Radio National on 02 9333 1401.

Richard Sweet
Research Coordinator
Dusseldorp Skills Forum
210 Clarence St
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 267 9222
Fax: (02) 267 7882
e-mail: richard@dsf.org.au