School career counsellors to push apprenticeships over university
Careers counsellors will target younger students to convince them to take a trade before their parents decide university is the only option. The program will be piloted in 24 schools across south west Sydney and the north coast. FIND OUT WHERE.
Schools Hub
Don't miss out on the headlines from Schools Hub. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Careers counsellors have been told to start convincing students as young as 11 that taking up a trade is more valuable than a university degree.
The state government will also make it easier for students to take school-based traineeships by hiring mentors to help students with timetabling and navigating their new workplace, as part of a $10 million skills package.
Careers counsellors usually leave it too late to speak to students about their tertiary and career options because the majority have already settled on university by Year 11, according to Liverpool Girls High School relieving deputy principal Linda Jurcevic.
“There’s an idea the only way is university but that needs to stop,” Ms Jurcevic told The Sunday Telegraph.
“The biggest problem we’ve got is parents who tell their kids they have to go to university and they don’t understand the value of learning a trade.
“It’s all a business for the universities, they just want the numbers.
“If you expose the kids to trades at a younger age, they have options to pick a career that matches their strengths rather than being funnelled into university.”
One in three HSC students ‘can’t cope’ with exam stress
New languages to be taught in NSW schools
Students at Liverpool Girls High School who take vocational classes in Year 8 and 9 are encouraged to take a school-based apprenticeship in Year 10, 11 and 12 to apply what they’ve learned in the real world.
For example, students who study retail in Year 9 are taught skills such as dealing with difficult customers, merchandising and security and go on to work at McDonald’s in Year 10 with a guarantee of 10 hours of work a week.
Students leave school with Certificates and a foot on the career ladder.
“A Year 12 student of ours, Melissa Bonello, is currently sitting her HSC but she did a business services class and has just been promoted within the company that’s building the Metro,” Ms Jurcevic said.
“She’s sitting the HSC but she’s working too, she’s out there in the workforce already and doesn’t need to worry what will happen next year because her career path is already laid out.”
From next year a specialist Careers Immersion Team will target 24 schools throughout Southwest Sydney and the north coast — suburbs with high youth unemployment — where they will broker training and job opportunities for students and develop industry partnerships with local schools.
“The program is aimed at making sure students pick the subjects at school that will put them on the right career pathway,” Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said.
“At the heart of these pilot initiatives is the government’s desire to improve career advice, increase school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and help our most disadvantaged and disengaged students further their education.”