KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of students who would rather learn how to weld than study Macbeth needed better opportunities to learn trades while at school, National Party leader John Key said yesterday.
He said technology training in schools was in crisis, pointing to a scarcity of teachers and a lack of resources and funding as reasons.
Mr Key told the Employers and Manufacturers Association in Auckland that schools were being forced to cancel or reduce their delivery of trades and industry training.
In many cases, it was not seen as a vital part of the curriculum; there was a shortage of technology teachers and such courses were perceived as expensive and difficult to provide.
Mr Key said National wanted to improve access to technology training for two reasons: to address the shortage of skilled workers and the fact many high schools were failing to connect with teenagers.
About 4000 students a year were leaving school before the official leaving age; one in five had left by 16 and two in five by 17.
More than one in 10 had no formal achievement record for their time at school and a "horrifying" 53 per cent of Maori boys left school without obtaining NCEA level one.
"Many of these unqualified school leavers end up becoming another negative statistic, alienated from education and not equipped for skilled work," Mr Key said.
"Some might one day want to do an apprenticeship but won't have the reading and writing skills to start it.
"We need to do a better job of exposing students early on to some of the hands-on industries that might fire up their appetite for education, be it building, horticulture, farming or plumbing."
Mr Key said National would ensure the technology curriculum put appropriate emphasis on the importance of hands-on, practical learning opportunities.
The steps National would take included:
* Working with teachers and industry to increase the pool of people able to take trades and technology classes.
* Encouraging business and industry to help provide schools with resources for trades training.
* Giving schools more flexibility to offer their students trades and industry training outside their school gates.
* Piloting a school-based apprenticeships scheme, similar to one run successfully in Australia.
Mr Key said industry was crying out for more skilled workers, while schools and teachers were hunting for ways to keep students engaged.
"But if schools are to do better in this area, they'll need more than the backing of a future Government, they'll need the backing of their communities and the backing of industry as well," he said.
"Let's work together to put trades and industry training back into our schools."
- NZPA
