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Mike Waddell
Otago Polytechnic is using the region's "hometown
advantage" - its strong existing educational networks - to
ensure young people can be slotted into places on the
Government's new Youth Guarantee scheme.
Funding for the 84 Otago Polytechnic places on the scheme was
only confirmed in November.
Staff will begin interviewing applicants next month.
Despite the haste required, there was buy-in from all sectors
of the educational community to make the scheme work,
marketing, communication and customer relations general
manager Mike Waddell said.
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Marc Doesburg
Contacts being tapped included secondary-school principals,
private training providers such as the Methodist Mission's
Approach employment and training programmes, the Malcam Trust
and the (Dunedin) Mayor's Taskforce for Jobs group.
"That is our hometown advantage, I think; that we all work
closely together already and are doing so again now. We
realise we have to work collaboratively so young people who
fit the criteria have a high chance of engaging with the
programme and getting a successful outcome."
Click photo to enlarge
Philip Craigie
Otago Polytechnic's Youth Guarantee students will be
under the care of staff member Marc Doesburg, who runs the
foundation studies department.
Adding a new group of students would not be difficult, he
said, as the department already catered for about 170
full-time equivalent students annually, ranging in age from
16 to 45.
Most were refugees and migrants wanting to learn English,
young people wanting a start in tertiary education, or adults
returning to education after a period away.
The department already placed a strong emphasis on a range of
skills such as literacy, numeracy, study skills, critical
analysis, problem-solving, work experience, interview skills
and self-development, and that would flow through to the
Youth Guarantee students, Mr Doesburg said.
Youth Guarantee applicants would be interviewed in person so
tailored courses could be organised for them.
If no polytechnic course was suitable, they would be referred
to other educational providers to ensure they remained in
education or training, he said.
It was expected some of the Youth Guarantee students would be
enrolled in standard programmes such as cookery, business
administration, horticulture and automotive engineering,
while others would be placed in general or trades
introductory study programmes.
All learning would be "very practical, very hands-on, very
project based", Mr Waddell said.
Provided they stayed the course, Youth Guarantee students
would gain the qualification they had enrolled in, he said.
"They will go out with a record of achievement and learning.
They will have started something and have completed
something. They will have shown they are reliable and that
they can undertake a commitment. So this is not just about
the academic side; it is also about soft-skills development."
The scheme had the support of the Otago Secondary Principals
Association, president Philip Craigie said.
It was "not rocket science and not a totally new idea", he
said, but he expected it would benefit a few pupils from
every Dunedin and Central Otago secondary school.
"We've got to into this in a positive way . . . We realise it
might help some disaffected young people who might otherwise
fall out of education."
Youth Guarantee scheme
- Government funding for spaces at polytechnics for 16- and
17-year-olds who have not succeeded in the secondary school
system.
- Students may still be at school, or have recently left
school.
- Students must not have achieved NCEA level 2 qualification.
- 2000 places nationally next year; 84 at Otago Polytechnic.
- Otago planning for up to 54 students at Dunedin campus and
30 at Cromwell.
- Intakes planned for February and March, and possibly
mid-year.
