Rachel Dalgleish (left) practice manager, MCI and Associates, Chris Edsall, regional manager Downers and the Tararua Alliance, Roly Ellis, Tararua District mayor, Brendan Poole, production manager Alliance meat processors and Lee Bettles, chief executive of Scanpower.
Rachel Dalgleish (left) practice manager, MCI and Associates, Chris Edsall, regional manager Downers and the Tararua Alliance, Roly Ellis, Tararua District mayor, Brendan Poole, production manager Alliance meat processors and Lee Bettles, chief executive of Scanpower.
We need businesses on side to help educate our young people for the future, Tararua District mayor Roly Ellis says.
Mr Ellis was speaking at the vocational pathways community partnership meeting in Dannevirke, which was attended by more than 30 community, business and education leaders, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Education.
"Without the help of businesses we're completely knackered," Mr Ellis said.
Lisa Sims, senior adviser with the youth guarantee and trades academies.
"Government has given us an opportunity to really prepare our young people for the world beyond school so our shared aim is to work together in a community partnership to ensure our young people gain appropriate qualifications, are retained in school and formal education longer and are successfully transitioned into further education, training and employment."
Malcolm Bell, principal adviser of the youth guarantee scheme with the Ministry of Education, was the MC for the workshop and Mr Ellis said he was "like a breath of fresh air".
Malcolm Bell, principal adviser of the youth guarantee scheme with the Ministry of Education, speaking at the vocational pathways community partnership workshop in Dannevirke.
"For the first time I feel we can break the silo mentality to help with youth employment and I want to see everyone try their hardest to get kids educated to get into the workforce," he said. "There's no X-factor, what really matters is the right attitude."
Tina Sims, senior adviser with the youth guarantee and trades academies, has overall responsibility for 23 trade academies and four mini academies across New Zealand.
The former principal of Awatapu College in Palmerston North and a former Tararua College teacher, she said the goal was to have 85 per cent of young people achieving NCEA Level 2 by 2017. Currently the number stands at 81 per cent.
"In New Zealand only 30 per cent of school leavers go to university and just two in five will complete a degree in four years and one in five won't complete a degree at all," she said.
"Nationally, our schools do a great job preparing young people for tertiary study, particularly university. There is recognition nationally that we have to do better to prepare the 70 per cent of Year 9 intakes into secondary schools who don't go on to tertiary study."
Mrs Sims said it was critical employers are involved in the process and a panel which included Lee Bettles, chief executive of Scanpower, Chris Edsall, regional manager Downers and the Tararua Alliance, Brendan Poole, production manager Alliance meat processors and Rachel Dalgleish, practice manager, MCI and Associates, were unanimous that attitude was one of the most sought-after attributes in an employee.
Goodwill aplentyBackground work by the Ministry in the district over the last couple of months has shown there is a lot of goodwill between the schools and the local employers, with employers keen to be involved in the initiative.
"There's a big push to solve the problem of kids who just leave school and sit on the couch," Mr Bell said.
Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce vice chairwoman, Susan Berry, said the opportunities are there.
"The doors are open," she said.
"As well as ensuring young people in the district are ready to take up the pipeline growth of employment in Tararua, businesses realise they have a wider responsibility to prepare young people - often their own young people - for life beyond Tararua."
However, while Mr Ellis said the ideal would be for young people to come back to Tararua and raise their families, we have to recognise this community can only offer so much.
"The reality is many of our young will go away for further education and employment and it is our job to ensure they are well prepared for this," he said.
Making plansThe meeting agreed to form a Youth Guarantee Community Partnership, which will be the 42nd to be established throughout the country.
A set of actions are to be set before meeting again on September 3.
These include a subgroup to come up with a vision statement for the next meeting to agree to, which will enable the partnership to set achievable goals and a clear action plan for the future.
Another subgroup, made up of major local employers, has undertaken to develop a structured programme of short training courses aimed at helping students transition from school to the workplace, while enhancing their employability.
The programme will be based on NCEA achievement standards and delivered in a partnership between schools and employers.
