As the bulge of baby boomers advanced into retirement, the ageing population would need young people to make the right career and higher education choices.
Gisborne social sector trials manager Leslynne Jackson talked about the trials that involved across-the-board services such as police, justice, education and social development with the aim of improving outcomes for 18 to 20-year-olds. Targets include truancy reduction, youth offending and drug and alcohol harm.
Funders want to see a whole community employment strategy aimed at developing futures for this region’s youth, she said.
One of the speakers at the forum, Gisborne Pak’n Save owner-operator Ewan Atherton, is a strong believer in giving youth a chance.
“We have almost fallen into developing a graduation programme. Pak’nSave here is pretty innovative on this front.”
Supermarket internshipTwo young men who had attended university for a year but found it was not for them had since taken up an internship at the supermarket. One now planned to become an owner-operator himself.
Mr Atherton was willing to help but stipulated both men complete their university degree in retail while working at the supermarket.
Pak’n Save paid their university fees.
“I expect them to do their best and sometimes that is hard,” said Mr Atherton.
They had to balance full-time roles at the supermarket with full-time study requirements.
“This can be difficult with 50 hours per week at the store, then extra study at home.”
Ms Holland said the Pak’n Save model showed education, training and employment did not have to be compartmentalised.
“I am keen to encourage employers in this region to take up internship programmes.”
Another speaker, EIT Tairawhiti campus manager Doug Wilcox, said in a school-leaver survey of students’ career preferences, the armed forces — which had previously been first choice — had been displaced by the aggregated trades since 2012.
That difference increased this year from 1 or 2 percent to 7.8 percent. Aggregated trades included building and construction, plumbing, automotive, carpentry and electrical work.
Significant contributors to the local economy, such as viticulture and transport/logistics, sat at the lower end of the career choice scale.
Intentions after leaving schoolAsked what they want to do when they leave school, 15 percent of students in the survey had a job arranged, 29.7 percent wanted employment, 27.6 percent said neither (job arranged or wanting employment) and 27.8 said they wanted a gap year.
Targeting Year 13 students was too late, said Mr Wilcox. Students started to make career choices around Years 9 and 10.
Ministry of Education director of education Marilyn Scott talked about the communities of learning.
Under the early-intervention initiative, communities set shared goals based on information about their students’ educational needs and worked together to achieve them.
Communities of learning have been established across some Gisborne schools.
In her Eastland Community Trust (ECT)/Core education update, Lara Meyer talked about the trust’s future-development plan for Gisborne’s secondary education sector.
ECT’s Creating the Future project was focused on increasing the quantity and quality of educational choices for people and groups here.
Matapuna Training Centre chief executive Jodie Cook delivered a tertiary group update.
Youth guarantee providers including Gisborne Development, EIT, Matapuna Training Centre, and the design school worked with 16 to 19-year-olds who had left school or were disengaged from secondary education and not in employment. The Government said there was some overlap and the organisations could work together more effectively, she said.
New Zealand Defence Force recruiter Staff Sergeant Nathan Olsen said the NZDF had changed its recruitment focus, with recruiters now interacting with students in physical activities.
There was a big push to recruit more women with an aim of 30 percent in the next three years.
“Women learn faster and are more professional,” he said.
Armed forces careers included nursing, IT and medicine and it was free to study.
