Youth Transitions - Fact Sheet

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Aug 30 2005 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Youth Transitions - Fact Sheet

Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 9:27 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

The Shared Goal

In recent years, there has been a groundswell of interest at a local, regional, and national level in improving outcomes for young people. This interest resulted in the Government and the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs developing a shared goal in 2002 that “by 2007, all 15-19 year olds will be engaged in appropriate education, training, work or other options which will lead to long term economic independence and well-being”.

Youth Transitions Service

Labour established community-run Youth Transition Services in ten regions around the country to coordinate existing services to ensure young people don't fall through the cracks after leaving school. This includes career training, job seeking advice, information on educational opportunities and customised support for school leavers who need it.

Youth Transitions Services are the “shop fronts” for a range of government and local organisations that work face to face with young people to help them identify appropriate work or training opportunities and to put them in touch with employers and training providers.

Youth Transitions Services work with young people, helping them to identify appropriate work or training opportunities and to put them in touch with employers and training providers. They also work with businesses, education providers, government agencies, local government and community groups to coordinate the various services available to young people.

Funding of $9 million a year has already been provided for the Youth Transition Service, which is already being established in areas covering half our country’s 15-19 year olds. Labour is now committed to extending Youth Transition Services into every region in the country. Over time this will double the cost of the policy.

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Five Youth Transitions Services were launched between late April and the beginning of July 2005 in Whangarei, Waitakere, Rotorua, New Plymouth and Porirua. They are already actively working with 561 young people across the five regions, and to date they have moved 236 young people into further education, training or work.

Services are now being established in the Far North, Manukau, Hamilton City, Gisborne district and the Hutt Valley.

Modern Apprenticeships

Labour introduced Modern Apprenticeships soon after we became the government to increase the participation of young people (aged 16 to 21) in formal industry training and to reintroduce the concept of apprenticeships pathways to employers and young people. Modern Apprenticeships provides a support function (a co-ordinator) for Modern Apprentices and their employers.

Modern Apprenticeships qualifications typically take 3-4 years to complete. In 1999 there were no modern apprenticeships compared to 7761 as at 31 March 2005. Modern Apprenticeships are available across key industries, including the electrical, building and plumbing industries.

Gateway

Gateway provides senior students (years 11-13) with a range of structured learning opportunities in workplaces. Students achieve credits in the workplace, which contribute to qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework. Gateway provides the opportunity to make progress in gaining a national qualification and helps students to better understand the relevance of such skills and their classroom learning.

Gateway is free for students. Gateway funding is provided to schools for the costs associated with organising workplace learning for school students. The total funding allocated to schools in 2005 for Gateway is $9.0 million. The total number of Gateway schools in 2005 is 179. Approximate number of students that will participate in Gateway in 2005 is 5,749.

Young Apprenticeships

Young Apprenticeships will sit alongside Gateway and provide opportunities for students in their senior secondary school years to spend an extended period of time participating both on-the-job and in the school environment in training that will lead them towards a future apprenticeship.

Credits and experience will be developed that will contribute towards an apprenticeship qualification. Young Apprentices differ from Gateway students because their placements are of longer duration and they are actually employed as temporary employees of the workplaces in which they are training, and are paid a wage for their labour. Labour is proposing to introduce a pilot Young Apprentice scheme during our next term of government.

Designing Careers

At 75 schools around New Zealand, hundreds of high school students are preparing individual Learning and Career Plans. These plans help the students think about their skills, values, interests and aspirations, and to set goals to help them achieve what they want from life.

These plans are part of the Designing Careers programme, piloted in the 75 selected schools this year to help young people make successful transitions. The programme is aimed mainly at year 10 students, but year 11–13 students at risk of not making successful transitions are also taking part.

STAR The Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR) programme funds schools to give students experience of work or tertiary-level education and training. The funding is used for a wide range of study options, ranging from academic courses to industry training and general courses on topics such as leadership and study skills. STAR is targeted at year 11–13 students (for longer courses) and year 9 and 10 students (for shorter, taster courses).

YOUTH TRANSITIONS Forward. Together.

STAR has been operating since 1996, and in 2004 Labour established STAR coordinators in colleges of education.

In-Transit

An important part of the participation goal is successful youth transitions for those in transit between school and work. To assist with this a Youth Transitions In-Transit website has been established and is now running at www.intransit.govt.nz.

The website is an information resource for young people and the people that help guide them to point them in the right direction for career and education advice. It has been designed to attract and connect with young people, and to help them think about their future steps and take the right options.

The site brings together in one place all the services and programmes provided by a number of agencies to engage young people in a successful transition from school to work, training or study. It provides clear pathways with supporting information and link with other agencies’ sites for further help. The site was launched in August 2005.

ENDS

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