Engaging Employers in Vocational Learning

NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS DIRECTORATE

November 2005

ENGAGING EMPLOYERS IN VOCATIONAL LEARNING

“Fifty ideas that offer a menu of options to employers”

HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT

Who is it for!!

This document has been written for school staff who wish to further develop links between employers and their school. Whether you are located in a rural or urban area, the document offers key personnel within a school a list of ideas that they can put to potential employer partners.

Employers maybe keen to make a contribution to vocational learning and the successful transitions of young people, yet they may not be able to offer more placements. However they maybe keen to consider other means of becoming involved. Here is a menu of options for a school to put to local employers from the private, public and voluntary sectors of the economy.

Whether a school staff member is a VET coordinator, careers advisor, pathways mentor, subject leader, head of year etc, this resource will help you to formulate your approaches to local employers. It may also be a useful resource, as your school seeks to shape its own “Adopt a School” project.

So please use this document by

taking a speed read of the fifty ideas – maybe invite relevant colleagues to do the same
tick the ones that appeal
think of employers who maybe interested in those favoured (ticked) ideas
talk over these ideas with potential partners and seek their feedback/input.

INTRODUCTION

This list of activities provides secondary schools and local employers with a broad range of opportunities to work together and develop vocational learning across the academic and vocational curriculum.

These fifty ideas supplement “the placement” which remains the most common manifestation of education-industry collaboration. There is increasing competition for quality work placements and there is a need to develop additional vehicles of collaboration which broaden the choice for both employers and young people.

At the very heart of preparing this resource is a desire to integrate vocational learning into the school curriculum so that all secondary students can discover the relevance of their classroom learning to participation in the world of work and in community life. DET wishes to encourage all sectors of the economy (business, public agencies and voluntary sector organisations) to support the core business of schools which is learning and more specifically, to further develop vocational learning across the curriculum.

The fifty ideas have been compiled by reflecting upon creative practice in education-industry links across OECD member nations. DET has also taken the opportunity to document certain ideas that readily connect with the expertise and motivations of employers from the knowledge based economy. They place high value upon the capacity of their work force to be creative, to manage and prioritize information and to be active team members who can work without close supervision, yet take the initiative and problem solve across functional boundaries.

PRINCIPLES UNDERPINNING THIS LIST

Recognition that firms and organisations from all three sectors of the economy can play a vital role in developing vocational learning with schools (private, public and voluntary sectors).
Firms/organisations can choose to collaborate with schools as a separate and individual entity, and/or to make their contributions in networks and clusters for example through service clubs, business supply chains, local Chambers and/or Local Community Partnerships (LCPs).
Many employers and their staff are also parents and relatives of young people; citizens who have a personal interest in contributing to the learning of students and their successful transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Many employers have important business reasons for working with schools eg responding to skill shortages, developing the future work force, building their community reputation etc.
An acceptance of the growing maturity and progression of young people as they move through their transition from child to adult. Partnerships can encourage students to take increasing responsibility, even leadership for their own vocational learning activity as they approach adulthood.
Recognising the importance of the supervised work placement, yet acknowledging the need to diversify models of employer engagement that reflect the realities of an increasingly flexible labour market that requires enterprising and more self managed workers who can design and manage projects of work.
A commitment to vocational learning for all young people (universal) yet an appreciation of the need to differentiate levels of support to those students who are considered to be at risk of “leaving learning” early.
That the necessary cooperation between schools and employers can be best resourced by an effective partnership structure,which facilitates collaboration, serves a shared vision to develop young people yet respects the needs and aspirations of both schools and employers.

VOCATIONAL LEARNING

Vocational learning is about the development of living, learning and earning skills and capabilities. It seeks to support the growth of young people from a dependent child to an interdependent adult. Students are learning about the concepts of vocation (calling and purpose in life) and work (paid and voluntary). The domain of vocational learning is the integration of knowledge, skills and understanding into the school curriculum which are equally relevant to young people developing their

Active Citizenship
Employability
Lifelong learning.

In more specific terms, these generic skills and capacities that are so transferable between personal and working life include

Communication
Self Management
Initiative and Enterprise
Learning
Teamwork
Planning and Organising
Problem Solving
Technology
Cross-Cultural Understanding.

Vocational learning includes a range of activities provided in the school curriculum for all students. They are

Career Education – advice, information, planning
Enterprise Education/Learning
Work and Community Based Learning
Development of employment related skills in all subject areas
Support in transition through and from school.

In practical terms, Vocational Learning is about involving students in real situations/tasks that reinforce the relevance of their learning in the classroom to their employment, learning and citizenship goals. Students are supported to explore values, research options and choose pathways and to develop an understanding of their role in the world around them. In this sense, vocational learning is very much about supporting young people to make effective transitions from school to, the world of work, lifelong learning and community life.

THE FIFTY IDEAS

Approach an employer to offer a key learning area or subject eg Science and Technology or Maths, access to a piece of machinery or a manufacturing process or a customer service mechanism, that could be used to illustrate the relevance and application of a study topic to the world of work eg an agricultural implement that reveals the laws of physics and the principles of maths.
Ask an employer to host a class visit to the workplace that enables the students to observe the importance placed upon communication (verbal, IT etc) skills. This could provide students with information/insights into the relevance of generic skills that could be a topic/assignment for their subject eg English, Human Society.
Appreciate that as a sponsor of a local sporting team (football, netball etc), a firm could host a class visit to the sporting club and help students to learn about the value of teamwork to achieving goals. The firm/organisation could discuss with the students the relevance of those same qualities to the world of work.
Request an employer to host an “industry tour” for a class which enables the students to learn about how that organisation works. With the teacher, the employer could develop a quiz and question/answer session which challenges the students to reflect upon their visit and prepare a presentation to each other (back at school).
Sound out an employer to offer a student/small team of students a work observation in which they can shadow an individual employee and record the generic skills that they use in their daily routine. Perhaps their findings could be written up in an English essay.
Request a business to become a resource for the schools “Australian Business Week” – as a source of information, a respondent to team presentations.
Make overtures to certain employers to work with a subject teacher to develop a curriculum resource or lesson(s) outline that will enhance the students learning for example, how certain school based “chemical experiments” can be seen to be directly relevant to the manufacturing process and to solving associated problems.
Invite employees of local employer partners to visit your school and coach a class in a certain skill that is important in the workplace eg reviewing, taking feedback, planning, problem solving.
Commit the firm/organisation to certain staff visiting the school and talking about their career – the requirements, the necessary qualifications or helpful pathways.
Request that local employers participate in the school’s mock-interview program; perhaps a local service club could coordinate the contributions of their various members.
Ask employers to promote to their staff (and their partners/relatives) the opportunity to join a school mentoring program. Ask them to use the networks of their staff to encourage participation – this could also mean engaging trade unions in the process.
Request local employers to provide your school with a small number of real challenges (within their workplace) that a team of students could tackle as an assignment eg a mini-version of the E-Teams model. Ask them to be prepared to support any subsequent student team who wishes to tackle that challenge,orthey may simply give the problem/challenge to a classroom teacher to use in the classroom – as a simulation or small group exercise that enhances curriculum.
Sound out local employers to see whether they can identify a challenge facing their organisation that is of direct relevance to young people and that can utilise their expertise,for example how to attract and retain young employees, how to improve their induction of new young staff, how to develop the quality of their in-house apprenticeship scheme, how to improve the quality of their work experience programs. When such a challenge is offered to the school,the young people could also make a presentation to that firm/organisation about how they could be tackled, Media Studies, English, Human Society,Science and Technology, and Industry and Enterprise subject areas may all have an interest in such a concept.
Seek out an employer to work with your school (eg Maths, Society and Environment) to develop a financial management/economic literacy lesson outline (especially if that firm/organisation is in the finance sector). This can help “bring alive” the importance of such skills to the students. This may also lead to student (team) project work about the opportunities and challenges with respect to money planning and management.
Ask employers to participate in an end of year review of the students’ “Employment Related Skills logbook” and discuss with the students how they can use the evidence contained (i.e. student skills achieved inside and outside curriculum) in a future job interview and more generally for their own career development. Your school should be able to twin employees with a student who has an interest in the same or similar career as that employee.
Encourage your current employerpartners to contact other employers and enthuse them to become involved with the school or Local Community Partnership. An effective procedure for recruiting employers to school partnerships is by word of mouth (through those employer networks eg service clubs, supply chain, clusters etc).
Whenever possible, ask your current partners to provide the school with a work placement and encourage their suppliers/customers to do the same. The placement remains the cornerstone of education-industry collaboration.
Sound out relevant firms to make available their trainees/apprentices to participate in a “briefing session” where they can develop brief presentations to school students about their experience and the advantages/disadvantages of taking this vocational pathway. Young people listen to young people and their trainees/apprentices will develop valuable communication/presentation skills. They may also generate some useful ideas and feedback for the “in-house” training operation of that company (this idea maybe relevant to school based, VET students and post-school apprentices).
Encourage employers to take an additional step by supporting their apprentices/traineesto making presentations to not only school students but also to the parents of school students about the value of trade pathways or even to school staff about the importance of these “workplace learning” pathways (as distinct from/complementing the traditional academic route). This can help your colleagues to more fully appreciate the value of vocational education and applied learning.
Work with local employers to recognize the contributions of all their staff who are working with school – ask employers to help staff reflect upon what they have achieved and learnt through their involvement and then to give credit in the appraisal process. Your school may create a joint award scheme with local employers for staff who volunteer to work with schools – recognition and praise is an important reward mechanism.
Ask local employers to participate in a “teacher in industry” program, allowing a school teacher to observe their organisation and also offer an opportunity for one of their staff to observe one of your colleagues. To make such programs “reciprocal” will build mutual trust and understanding and generate shared learning.
Ask local employers (through their networks eg Chamber, service clubs, small business club) to become a source of information for student directed career education projects. Students form teams, decide upon a pathway that they wish to investigate, visit relevant firms and providers, and then relate that information to their peers (eg Transition Teams). Visits can occur at a convenient time and have a minimal disruption effect upon normal business operations. Young people are learning about the world of work whilst developing their enterprising skills.
As a particular firm/agency becomes more involved with your school, and develops a deeper relationship with career advisors in schools, you may decide to invite them to participate in an end-of-year review with your Guidance Team. Such a review could also shape developments for the next school year and act as an advocate to your school leadership about the importance of careers education and vocational learning.
If a firm/organisation has global links i.e. is part of a multi-national company and/or has global supplier/customer chains, they can offer schools a great deal. Schools can become part of international networks which can share teaching and learning opportunities (electronically) for example human society projects, especially if they can link-up with an overseas school referred to you by those employers.
Seek out employers who will support students to carry out an environmental or social/economic audit of the school, the firm or community. Employers from both the community and business sector maybe keen to assist student teams in planning, implementing and evaluating the audit. Local media could disseminate the findings.
If your school has a relationship with a particular sector of business (eg manufacturing), that firm may help establish/sponsor a mobile Science and Technology caravan that can enable classes to have a “hands-on” experience and then work on follow-up assignments (as planned by teachers) that enhance the Science and Technology curriculum.
Arrange a forum with certain local employers about the relevance and value of generic and enterprising skills both in the workplace and in community life. Ask the employers to discuss with your colleagues how they can make a contribution to the development of these qualities and seek their support for cultural change programs that aim to achieve that goal (within your school).
Your school may decide to run its own “quality circle” program, inviting students to identify challenges and develop ideas for action that will improve teaching and learning eg how to make the resource centre more accessible, how to structure homework etc. A cluster of firms/organisations that use quality circles and similar team structures of quality improvement could support both such a program and reinforce the efforts of the school leaders who are seeking to change the culture and promote more active participation of young people in the future of your school.
Ask a business/organisation to sign-up to be an “Enterprise-Mate” for any student team undertaking a community based or school improvement project. Local employers can offer a team access to expertise and facilities as well as to general support and encouragement.
Approach a company or cluster of employers to sponsor an enterprise education facility within a school – a room that is dedicated to student team project meetings, a room that has certain common services eg phone, computer, fax i.e. a mini-incubator. Such a room symbolizes the importance placed by school and employers on students taking responsibility for their own project work.
Firms in the “communications/IT” sector may have an interest in an enterprise education facility for it could feature a “School to Work” information booth for students. Students could take responsibility for setting up displays and establishing a “computer facility” which could link them to certain “careers education” resources eg text, phone, website etc.
VET students and School Based Apprentices can be encouraged to participate in a team project whilst they are undertaking their placements. For example Hospitality trainees placed at a number of enterprises could work together to organise a community project that enables them to apply their vocational skills eg organise a lunch for senior citizens. This would integrate enterprise learning into the vocational curriculum. Your school maybe keen to ask certain host employers associated with a Group Training Organisation to develop such a concept.
Ask the local chamber or service club to issue a “Community or Business Challenge” to your school. Invite students (perhaps from a particular key learning area and/or year group) to participate in a project challenge as part of their curriculum

eg design a stadium for a local sporting club