Building on skills for tomorrow's workforce

Subjects needed at work feature in a course for pupils not bound for the sixth form, writes PAT BASKETT.

Todd Reeves and Claire Butterworth would have left school this year but for the opportunity to work towards the National Certificate of Employment Skills at Pukekohe High School.

The teenagers are among 20 students who were invited to join a pilot scheme for those with little interest in working towards Sixth Form Certificate.

The certificate in employment skills is recognised by the National Qualifications Framework and requires students to acquire 60 unit-standard credits in a wide range of areas, including literacy, numeracy, communications and computing skills.

They also work on problem-solving, health and safety in the workplace and interpreting basic graphs and tables.

Unit standards are levels of achievement that can be attained from the fifth form through to tertiary level in academic and vocational subjects.

More than 460 national certificates and diplomas are registered on the National Qualifications Framework.

This was set up in 1991 in response to the widely recognised need for qualifications to better meet evolving demands of education and workplace training.

In 1993, the unit-standards programme was widened to include school subjects to establish a "seamless" education system which reduced the separation of school from tertiary education and academic from vocational learning.

Unit standards are different from exams in that they are internally assessed.

They offer greater flexibility than many traditional qualifications because students are not bound to complete a specific course.

Unit standards measure competency, which may be reached at any time.

Pukekohe High School's transition teacher, Sue Lewis, says her school serves a large district "and the certificate in employment skills provides a core qualification which is both relevant and realistic for a number of secondary students."

The course she runs requires students to spend four days a week at school and one day at work experience.

Todd Reeves wants to work on his father's dairy farm next year and is spending his work-experience time learning how other farmers do things.

Claire Butterworth uses the opportunity to help out at Puni Primary School. She is also doing an Open Polytechnic course in early childhood education.

Unit standards are controversial in some secondary schools that consider them more suited to vocational subjects because the system has no means of rewarding excellence -- students either pass or fail and can persist until the standard is reached.

Teachers have also baulked at the complicated and time-consuming marking procedures.

A Government white paper on the issue is expected this month.