Mentoring programs for youth help school students to make good career choices

Avoid becoming a dropout by getting help to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.

GENERATION Z is encouraged not to wait until they start their careers to find a mentor to help guide them, as many struggle with their chosen path during tertiary study or not long after they finish their qualification.

Research by human skills development organisation Maxme reveals 65 per cent of university graduates doubt what they want to do for work and shift into other careers within seven years of entering the workforce.

It finds only 35 per cent of university graduates who have been in the workforce for seven years are doing what they intended, while 41 per cent had already shifted into a different industry.

Only 19 per cent of graduates are very satisfied in their current role.

Meanwhile, National Centre for Vocational Education Research data reveals just 56 per cent of apprentices and trainees who started their training in 2016 completed it.

But with a mentor to help them from as early as Year 9 in high school, they can be set on the right course for them.

Year 10 student Katherine Matthews says her mentor Ingrid McCarthy gave her a lot of insight into a career in astronomy.

A mentor can act as a role model for young people to pursue a career in a particular field – especially if they are a minority, such as a female in a male-dominated industry; provide information, encourage and dispel myths about what it is like to work in an occupation or sector; and raise aspirations.

Curious Minds mentor Ingrid McCarthy, chief operating officer at the ARC Centre for Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics in 3D, previously worked as a schoolteacher so well knows how mentoring can help young people realise and act on their potential.

Through the program, she has spent the past six months mentoring students, including Katherine Matthews from Melba Copeland Secondary College in Canberra.

“Lots of kids come in with a preconceived idea that (in astrophysics) they could be looking through a telescope, when it’s not really the case,” she says.

“They learned about my career, which is all over the shop and a nice example of a nonlinear career.”

Jointly delivered by The Australian Maths Trust and Australian Science Innovations, the Curious Minds program this year matched 128 girls in Years 9 and 10 with 88 female mentors from fields ranging from engineering and physics to medical practitioners and environmental scientists.

They completed six months of extension learning and mentoring online, with the aim to counter declining Year 12 enrolments in traditional sciences and mathematics.

Women account for only 29 per cent of the university-qualified STEM workforce, and 8 per cent of the vocationally qualified STEM workforce, with a lack of female role models being one of the key reasons girls are deterred from STEM careers.

The program is funded by the Education, Skills and Employment department, supported by the Australian National University and 3M.

McCarthy says the key to a good mentoring program is structure, such as setting regular meetings and discussion topics in advance.

“Every three weeks we’d have Zoom meetings and they give you things to do in each session,” she says.

“We talked about different industries; what they’re interested in, in terms of STEM careers; what experience they had and what they might be interested in doing.

“We talked about work experience and I gave them some tips or places where they could go.”

Curious Minds also includes working on a project related to their interest and the mentor’s field – in Matthews’ case, calculating the mass of dark matter in a galaxy – in which the mentor assists and guides them, giving them real-world experience and insight into the field.

“It gave her a good idea of the sorts of work that we do, and that the maths isn’t that hard,” McCarthy says.

Mentoring also can continue beyond the official program if participants wish.

Various organisations and industry groups provide mentoring programs for school students, and students can talk to their school’s subject teacher or career counsellor or do an online search to find available opportunities.

Katherine Matthews participated in the Curious Minds mentor program with Ingrid McCarthy from the ARC Centre for Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics in 3D.

KATHERINE’S STORY

Participating in a mentor program has affirmed to Katherine Matthews that a career in a science, technology, engineering and maths is the one for her.

The Year 10 student at Melba Copeland Secondary College in Canberra already loves “practically all things STEM” and took part in the program to get a better look at the jobs available, as well as interact with other girls interested in the subjects and women employed in the sector.

“After all of these experiences, I am now even more certain that I would absolutely love astronomy,” she says.

“In addition, the Curious Minds program has made me more interested in things like geology and engineering.

“So many options, they all seem great!”

She also received guidance that will help her immediately, including the school subjects she should select for next year.

“I enjoyed being able to talk to someone who worked in an area I was interested in,” she says.

“I do wish to stay in touch with Ingrid.

“She has been an absolutely amazing mentor, and she has taught me so much.

“Given she has so much experience in astronomy, I feel if I do keep to that career path she would be a great person to get more advice and information from.

“She could help clarify things I am researching and she could give me tips on how certain mathematical formulas work.”