Schools, business help each other

By VICKI JAYNE

What business does business have in schools? And what can students teach company employees?

The answer in both cases is quite a lot - as testified by participants in the 200 or so business/education partnerships brokered by the Partners New Zealand Trust in recent years.

These have involved computer-literate youngsters demystifying software subtleties for their perplexed elders, technology students designing furniture for a workplace creche, graphics students working on bike safety campaigns, or media students compiling company newsletters.

Such relationships are based on mutual benefit, says trustee and former Minolta chief executive Peter O'Sullivan.

"It has to be a win-win situation. The business gets something of value; the youngsters apply their learning to a real-life situation.

"If students see a purpose and outcome in what they're learning, it gives the whole process a real lift."

Specific projects emerge once business and schools find out about each other's needs and resources.

After familiarisation, which includes site visits, a project team comes up with activities that fit the school's curriculum and help the business.

For instance, technology students at St Dominic's College made an activity table for the creche at Henderson's Big Fresh supermarket. It included features based on their survey of preschooler needs.

The store is now working on other projects with students at Henderson High School, including a market survey on organic produce buying.

New Zealand Post employees received one-on-one computer training through their relationships with Mana College in Porirua and Parkway College in Wainuiomata.

Both students and postal staff gained in confidence from the exercise, said NZ Post spokeswoman Ruth King.

"For students it was an opportunity to plan two- to three-hour tutoring sessions and to deliver knowledge to adults in a business setting.

"All those being tutored saw students gain maturity in the process."

Partners NZ national facilitator Elizabeth Deuchrass can rattle off dozens of similar examples from around the country.

"There's a whole set of tasks businesses have to do to survive and thrive, but they also have a whole other set they'd love to get on to if they only had the time or resources.

"These are the ones that school pupils can have access to. Youngsters are very good at thinking outside the square, coming up with some completely fresh ideas."

These can range from primary school artwork for The Warehouse to senior-level market research design for WestpacTrust.

The Onehunga branch of the National Bank used imaginative artwork created by students at its partner school, Mangere Bridge, to promote its involvement with Daffodil Day fundraising for child cancer.

A Wairarapa jetboat firm gained new graphics courtesy of its school partners, as did the Toast Martinborough wine and food festival.

Such partnerships could be seen as part of a wider move to link areas of expertise or endeavour that have been isolated from one another.

Initiatives such as cluster groups, business incubators, preferred supplier networks, or business alliances are all about the gains that spring from unblocking the flow of resources and ideas.

Similar benefits can bounce across the business-school divide.

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development believes the whole community gains from enhancing education experiences.

It has recently published a booklet outlining "visions for successful business and school partnerships" that includes work being carried out by Partners NZ.

Guidelines for forming partnerships include such objectives as providing "a hand up rather than a handout," a focus on less advantaged schools, ongoing commitment rather than one-off programmes, strengthening school-business links to help illuminate future career paths, and involving company staff in a learning exchange.

Business benefits include community goodwill, more support from various stakeholders, increased market knowledge, enhanced employee attraction/retention, and the competitive benefits of being based in a better-educated, socially healthier, clean, green New Zealand.

There are various types of partnership, including governance (assistance to school boards), mentoring (helping students reach full potential), education enhancements (through projects such as Kiwi Can or Books in Schools), vocational (projects in areas of mutual benefit), scholarships, or sponsorships.

Some companies are involved in more than one type.

Sony NZ, for instance, has some scholarships, is involved with Project K (outdoor training), is putting staff through training for mentoring, and has just started a partnership process with Long Bay College.

"It's all part of our focus on youth development and seeing ourselves as a good corporate citizen," says Sony management assistant Clare Thompson.

Elizabeth Deuchrass started Partners NZ in Dunedin over five years ago. But in the past three years, it has picked up steam with a grant that has allowed six local coordinators to be appointed.

Based on the power of networking, its success had not depended on having a lot of money thrown its way, says Mr O'Sullivan.

"The trouble is that people sit in their separate silos and don't talk to one another. Even primary and secondary schools could be better linked."

In her travels around New Zealand, Elizabeth Deuchrass is constantly being told by businesses that they cannot access the skills they need.

"The reality is that if we're to achieve as a country, we need to have kids switched on to learning at an early age.

"It helps if they can see the purpose of that learning and how it can be applied in a real-life context."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz

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