A grounding in industry

By MARK STORY

The growing number of academically gifted school-leavers favouring "overalls" over the university bleaches dispels the fallacy that trades are for drop-outs.

At least that's the conclusion reached by Stewart Thompson, technology teacher at Howick College, after helping to move the school's curriculum closer to industry requirements than hard-core academia.

Thompson claims the high school curriculum's gravitation towards university-based careers was the by-product of a government decision in the early 1990s to repeal the Apprenticeships Act.

He argues that the subsequent phasing-out of high school technical workshops effectively disenfranchised around 30 per cent of students who neither attend university nor other tertiary institutions.

To ensure these students - most of whom under-achieve academically - didn't just fall out of the system after leaving school, Thompson established an Industrial Pathways initiative back in the late 1990s. He's convinced that by re-establishing technology workshops and forging new partnerships with industry, all students can make more informed career choices.

With the aid of industry participation, Thompson is managing to convince students that most trades now require a much greater skill-base and technical know-how.

Growing awareness of the skills now required within certain trades, and opportunities for career development, have resulted in attendance at technology workshops by students well above "the bottom of the academic barrel". Student numbers attending the college's design technology workshop have risen from 12 in 2000 to seven full-size classes last year.

So how does the Industrial Pathways programme work? To debunk outdated perceptions about certain trades and industries, the college introduced industry-aligned technology workshops offering credits towards NCEA level and (ITO) industry training-approved apprenticeships. During last year's automotive course, Volvo (NZ) presented students with career-plan options and spelled out the necessary academic requirements.

Out of the 36 students attending the college's automotive class, 25 were offered fulltime apprenticeships during or after the programme. This year the electrical training company, ETCO, has eight Howick College school-leavers on the modern apprenticeship programme ( launched four years ago).

Had this modern apprenticeship programme not been available, Thompson suspects these students would have drifted on to university without any clear career plan.

Of the three former Howick College school-leavers doing apprenticeships in light fabrication this year (with bulk-handling equipment manufacturer Fresco Systems), at least one plans to complete an engineering degree later.

This is one industry, argues engineering manager Ray Greene where experience comes before formal learning.

"I wouldn't hire anyone straight from university who didn't have a grounding in this industry first," he says.

In an attempt to convince other high schools to align their technology training to industry standards, Thompson ran a series of seminars from Whangarei to Christchurch. Since then he's witnessed a growing number of high schools switch from technology programmes into industry standard courses.

For example, there are now 80 schools throughout New Zealand offering furniture workshops.

There are also moves afoot by the building and construction ITO to establish a new NCEA-accredited national certificate for school-leavers planning to enter these associated industries.

Andy West, chairman with the Tertiary Education Commission, believes that under the modern apprenticeship programme the persona that trades are for "thickos" has given way to a new respect. While entry criteria hasn't changed (fifth form English, science and maths), ETCO general manager Peter Rushworth says electrical apprenticeships now attract more academically gifted students. "Apprentices get paid $8 an hour from the day they're placed with a host company. As well as being provided with tools and safety gear, they're also paid to qualify to electrical engineering (level IV) over the next three and a half years," says Rushworth.

Based on his estimates, the difference between what apprentices earn during that time, compared to the cost and time spent attending university, is around $70,000.

"We have apprentices finishing their training going from $11 to $20 an hour. University graduates would typically start on a much lower salary," he adds.

Based on Thompson's experience, too many school-leavers enrol in university courses at the last minute. He estimates around 60 per cent lack well-structured career plans once they graduate.

"Teachers need to align courses to market needs. Now that the NCEA is embracing industry unit standards, they've finally got this opportunity," says Thompson.

"We want to ensure those students who do go on to university know why they're there."