Career practice in secondary schools

In Aotearoa New Zealand we tend to start to provide structures for the transition from secondary school student to the post-secondary stage of life at the beginning of year 11 (or age 15). While research tends to show that such an approach may well be too late for some ākonga (Gottfredson, 1981), there are a set of programmes which help to smooth those paths which do not necessarily lead straight into higher education, including Gateway, STAR, and Trades Academies.

While these programmes may not cover everything, they tend to get most transitions roughly right, and allow schools some flexibility in working with their particular constituents.

• Gateway allows senior ākonga to transition from school into work, while continuing to work towards school qualifications. Their school NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) and workplace learning is assessed in their approved workplace. Gateway programmes have a formal agreement (e.g. an individual learning plan) between the school, the student and the workplace (TEC, 2022)
• STAR, or Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource, is a funding pool for school boards so they have flexible funding for courses to better meet their specific students’ needs, and smooth transitions into higher education, training or employment, or to support ākonga to explore a range of career pathways. This is for students who don't really know what their next steps should be: students who know their uni/polytechnic path will apply; likely tradespeople enrol in Trades Academy; students who know where they want to work will have a Gateway agreement. STAR is funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, 2024a)
• Trades Academy is a close to full time (25-30 hours/week) hybrid secondary/tertiary partnership programme which allows ākonga to explore a range of trades and technology learning opportunities. Students need to be enrolled in school, and are likely to gain work experience, and may earn NCEA credits from participating. It is designed to staircase students safely out of school and into a trade which will suit them. Like STAR, it is funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, 2024b).

Most secondary schools have a small - and incredibly dedicated - career team who work across a broad range of regional organisations and providers to deliver these programmes (and others) to meet the needs of their ākonga. For example, a student may explore a year-long level 3 Trades Academy programme for 40+ credits alongside a short online no academic credit babysitters’ course (STAR).

Secondary school career professionals will have a pretty substantial set of contacts, ranging from locally-based training providers, to national institutions; regionally-based SMEs to corporate multi-nationals; experts who can assist and advise on cadetships, apprenticeships and other bonded agreements; brokers for international exchanges; university and polytechnic enrolment teams; BOT members; Industry Training Organisation (ITO), MOE and TEC funding advisers; down to people who can advise on the newest of new local start-ups.

It is a very important job which covers a huge amount of ground. Respect!

Sam

References:

Gottfredson, L. S. (1981). Circumscription and compromise: A developmental theory of occupational aspirations. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(6), 545-579. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.28.6.545

MOE. (2024a). Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR). Ministry of Education. https://www.education.govt.nz/school/funding-and-financials/resourcing/star/

MOE. (2024b). Trades academies. Ministry of Education. https://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/supporting-transitions/trades-academies/

TEC. (2022, October 3). Gateway funding. Tertiary Education Commission. https://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/funding-and-performance/funding/fund-finder/gateway/