New workplace savvy school students

1. New workplace savvy school students Erica Smith Charles Sturt University

2. Body of research • School students’ learning from their paid and unpaid work (fieldwork 2000) with Annette Green & Ros Brennan Kemmis CSU and Steve Keirl & Sue Erickson, Uni of SA • Learning and training from school-based new apprenticeships (fieldwork 2001) with Lou Wilson, Adelaide Uni • The development of employability skills in novice workers through employment (fieldwork 2002) with Paul Comyn, PhD student UTS • How workplace experiences while at school affect school leavers’ pathways (fieldwork 2004) with Annette Green & Brian Hemmings, CSU All funded through NREC/NVETRE - NCVER

4. Teenagers at work • 60% of years 10 to 12 students have part-time work (Smith & Green , 2001) • Most teenagers go to work straight after school rather than to university or full-time TAFE • Most university and TAFE students also work part-time

5. Engagement with workplaces • Work experience • Part-time work • VET in schools • Other (volunteer/voluntary, sporting, parents’ work etc) • School enterprises

6. Work experience • The Cinderella of workplace experiences • Important career sampling role • Wide range of industry areas • Opportunity can be squandered

7. VET in schools • Rapid growth: approx 40% of Year 11 and 12 students are now doing VET programs • Generally less academically-inclined students • More common in government schools • Now a mainstream option instead of a pioneering activity. • In the process of ‘shifting gear’ from a development phase when the enthusiasm of individuals carried it along, to becoming a normal part of the school curriculum.

8. School-based New Apprenticeships • Have grown phenomenally; 7639 commenced in 2002. • Most students’ experiences of SBNAs is positive • Concentrated in the same industries as ordinary part-time student jobs, although not to the same extent • SBNAs often work few hours • Some quality problems with off the job training, and some evidence of poor linkage between off the job training and work • A few students see SBNAs as a ‘training course’ or a ‘program’ rather than a job

9. Part-time work

10. Employers’ reasons for hiring novice workers • Low cost • Enthusiasm • Mouldability • Technology skills/up to date knowledge • New ideas • Community obligations • Require low skilled labour force • Tradition & industry obligations • Physical fitness • Operating hours • Staff development for existing staff

11. Positive outcomes of VIS and SBNAs • Seen as more rigorous than work experience and employers generally prefer them; • Can aid retention of students including (but not only) students at risk; • Less-academic students find that they validate their practical skills and generally increase their confidence; • They give access to a wider range of industries than part-time work; • Allow students who would find it difficult to access paid part-time work on their own to experience workplaces and thus improve their chances of finding work when they leave school; • Can encourage students to enter industries which are unpopular with school-leavers and have severe skills shortages

12. Follow-up study • Participants in first two projects: most left school 2001 and 2002 • Survey (92 so far) and telephone interviews (12 so far)

13. Preliminary findings • All except five finished Year 12 • One-third of all continued with school-time part-time job for more than 2 years and almost half for more than one year • Finding alternative paths to uni eg via TAFE qualifications • At least half now have VET qualifications • Very diverse experiences

14. SBNAs • SBNAs less likely to do work experience • SBNAs very favourable about their SBNA • SBNAs more likely to be in full-time work or study than others • High rate of change of career plans in the first year after school

15. If I hadn’t had workplace contact… • Work experience gave me a fixed standard or gauge to aim for by working with professionals, rather than just knowing that I had to be better than I was. • I wanted to do graphic design but during the work experience I decided it didn’t suit me. It was good to know this as I nearly did it at uni. • It would have made it difficult for me as I wouldn’t have had a job to fall back on when I left uni. I would probably have stayed at uni in that course which wouldn’t have been good and I’d still have been living at home. • Some people have chosen nursing and did not do work experience in that area at school. They have found the course a culture shock and some have left the program.

16. …contd • I probably wouldn’t have gone to uni. • The school based traineeship was an eye-opener and showed me a different field. I’d liken to get a job in a place like that and you need a science degree. • If I hadn’t had a traineeship in hospitality I would have done childcare, and I wouldn’t be happy with that now so am very glad I did the traineeship • Riviera mostly get their people through SBNA’s, so if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have got my apprenticeship after school. BUT…. • I suppose I might have put more into my school studies if I hadn’t been working so much. Maybe I’d have got into teaching.

17. Implications for VET • Importance of the part-time job • Development of employability skills • Awareness of VET sector • Familiarity with intermediary bodies such as GTOs • SBNAs may not fix skill shortages