EC2 - September 2014 EC2 - September 2014 | Page 5

5

TERTIARY

Trades and apprenticeships are a key
focus of the Teacher’s Workchoice Day,
which was launched last year. Trades
are an increasingly important sector as
technology facilitates new opportunities;
the day offered educators the chance to
engage with experts in a range of industries that are set to be growth areas.
Kenny Knight is a chemistry, physics
and junior science teacher from MacLeans
College in Auckland. He recently arrived
in New Zealand from Scotland, and felt
Teacher’s Workchoice Day would be a good
way to develop a further understanding of
the work environment in the country.
He says the day gave him some good
information with which to further his
current knowledge. “The presentations
really reinforced to me that employers
want well-rounded employees who can
fit into the environment straight away,”
he says. “So many students can’t see past

“There’s a distinct gap
between what employers want
and what educators think they
want, and young people are
paying the price. We need to
get both parties on the same
page to help today’s youth
become work-ready.”
– Amanda Wheeler CEO Workchoice Trust
exams, but it’s so important that they are
also prepared to fit into a workplace.”
Knight says that he was also very interested in a talk by Welby Ings, a professor
of graphic design at Auckland University
of Technology.
“He was talking about the importance of ‘disobedient thinking’. By this
he means people who don’t fit in the box
when it comes to school. He challenged
the ideas around students who do things
a little differently, and said such diversity
should be celebrated and encouraged –
that different ways of thinking shouldn’t
be discounted.”
He says that Teacher’s Workchoice Day
gave him a good insight into the issues
facing school leavers, and the expectation of employers. “For subject teachers
who have been teaching for their whole
career it’s great to know what’s expected
by employers of school leavers. I think
everyone was very happy with what they
learned on the day.”
A range of industries were represented
at the two events, including engineering, telecommunications and advertising. Anton Pienaar, who is a working and
development partner at Vodafone, says
having the opportunity to meet those who
educate future employees is invaluable.

“Vodafone is passionate about supporting young people into industry,” he says.
“We need diversity of age, gender, and ethnicity in our business and it’s very important to us to target recent school leavers.”
Vodafone set up an apprenticeship
scheme in 2012, and Teacher’s Workchoice Day gave representatives the
chance to get in front of teachers from a
range of schools and present information
about the scheme.
“We have recently taken on our second
i