School and Industry Projects Forum
November 7th 2008
On Friday the 7th of November Western LCP showcased a wide range of School and Industry projects and activities
that have either been run in the Western Region or are avaialble to be run in the future. This page contains links to the
electronic presentations delivered on the day and information pertaining to each project.
We hope that you will find it useful and we look forward to taking up some of these ideas with you in 2009.
Please find attached the forum booklet presented to attendees providing a summary of each project.
Listed below are the presenters by Organisation and Project Topic. Click on the presenter's name to link
to their presentation. Also a summary of the discussion by each project has been transcribed to provide additional detail.
Presenter Organsiation Project or Program Tim Burke Australia Cares Schools First Linda Whitaker Wyndham City Council Careers in council - DVD Competition Kathy Hicks and Greta Bajada St Columba's College Fitted for Work Greg Young Western Local Community Partnership BIG W & Horn of Africa students Enid Stein Heathdale Christian College Partnerships in Middle and Senior Years Judith Graham Careers in Manufacturing Careers in Manufacturing John Roberts NCI Packaging Careers in Manufacturing Debra Farrelly Telstra Telstra Market Academy Andrew Horgan RMIT Our Local World of Work Keyda Mc Nama Kangan Batman TAFE Health and Community Service Careers website Richard Pierse Future Force Training and Recruitment Transport and Logistics Schools and Industry Projects Forum - Event Summary
The MC for the event was, Alan Neild, Operations Manager AgFAB Engineering and also Deputy Chair of the WWLinc Board of Management. AgFab has long been involved with support in the transitions of young people in the west and Alan was able to speak from experience when he advised the attendees to make sure to spend some time to match students and employers for work experience, work placement and other activities.
Western LCP’s EO Colleen Bergin in her opening address stressed that with over 2,000 young people in the west not at school, work or TAFE, the task to design and create interesting activities that engage young people while they are still at school is one that is growing in importance. Colleen pointed out that by sharing and adapting our ideas and projects we strengthen our ability to provide for the range of students we are now encouraging to complete secondary school: improving their opportunities to achieve successful transitions.
Click on link to read transcripts of the following presentations:
Australia Cares – Schools First
Wyndham City Council – Careers in council – DVD Competition
St. Columba’s College – Fitted for Work
Western Local Community Partnership – Big W & Horn of Africa students
Heathdale Christian College – Industry Partnerships in middle and senior years
CIM – Careers in Manufacturing program
NCI Packaging – Careers in Manufacturing program
Telstra – Telstra Marketing Academy
RMIT – Our Local World of Work project
Kangan Batman TAFE – The Health & Community Services Website
Future Force Training & Recruitment – Transport & Logistics
Australia Cares – Schools First
Tim Burke from Australia Cares, a project partner with the National Australia Bank (NAB), had some very exciting and practical news for school and industry project partnerships. Tim spoke about a new initiative for 2009, Schools First, which is about bringing together students, teachers, parents and community members, to support each other and help improve student outcomes. Schools First aims to recognize excellence in school and community partnerships across Australia and comes with a prize pool of $5 million every year for three years.
This national awards program will provide:
- Financial recognition of success in establishing effective school-community partnerships
- Financial support to build stronger school-community partnerships.
In support of the awards and their objective, Schools First will also:
- Provide regional workshops to support schools and communities to form or strengthen partnerships and prepare submissions for an award
- Showcase successful partnerships as a means of inspiring other school communities
- Assist in developing a "knowledge bank" of resources on which school communities can draw
The awards are open to all Australian primary and secondary schools. There are 60+ regional awards, eight State/Territory awards, and one national award.
Although this initiative was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister it is not a government program. The partners in Schools First are: the National Australia Bank, providing the Community Investment Program; Australia Cares, responsible for project management and workshop facilitation; Australian Council for Educational Research who are involved with research, award criteria, and judging; and the Foundation for Young Australians who will provide expertise in school-community partnerships, and workshop design.
Information about Schools First will be sent out to 10,000 schools across Australia but if you want to get ahead of the competition and register for updates visit www.schoolsfirst.edu.au . Tim Burke can be contacted via info@schoolsfirst.edu.au .
Wyndham City Council – Careers in council – DVD Competition
During 2008 Wyndham City Council partnered with The Grange College and Point Cook Senior Secondary College to run a mutually beneficial project, and Linda Whitaker, a Human Resources Consultant with the council, joined the forum to share the council’s perspective on the activity. As described in the forum’s program, the project focused on students using their multimedia skills to create a DVD that showed the range of career opportunities with the council. In a nutshell, the council is in competition for a skilled workforce and needs to encourage people to seek employment with them and, just as importantly, the council needs to retain them.
The idea for the DVD was one that Western LCP Project Officer, Boyd Maplestone, brought to the discussion table when a project with schools was first being considered by the council. Boyd himself had heard of the concept from a staff member of the Shepparton LCP, Careers Connection, who told him of the successful partnership of Ardmona/SPC with their local schools and the creation of a DVD that showcased employment opportunities within the company and addressed the company’s recruitment concerns.
Wyndham City Council is very happy with the outcome of the competition: a DVD that shows the whole range of employment opportunities from horticulture to nursing, to planning and designing. They were also impressed with the “terrific calibre of entries” and plan to run it in 2009. In fact planning for the 2009 competition is underway with the guidelines now being sent out to schools. A package containing the competition brief, photographs, music and timelines can be requested from Candice Carroll-Topp on 9742 8101.
St. Columba’s College – Fitted for Work
St Columba’s College VCAL student’s relationship with Fitted for Work germinated as an idea when their teacher Kathy Hicks read a newspaper article about the not-for-profit organization. After an investigation of the Fitted for Work website both the students and their teacher knew they were onto something that could incorporate the schools focus on social justice issues, the personal and professional development components of the VCAL, student preparation for entering the workforce, and the girls interest in clothes.
The final project included:
- A visit to the Fitted for Work showroom in the City
- A clothing drive for suitable garments
- Collection and sorting of the donated items
- A request to local businesses to come on board with support
- A fashion parade of the garments
- Donation of the clothing and the money raised by a raffle at the fashion parade, to Fitted for Work.
The outcomes for the project were far greater than originally expected and comprised:
- A connection with Fitted for Work that will be maintained,
- A raised profile for the VCAL program within the school and local community,
- Increased student understanding of social issues,
- Improved student confidence and self esteem,
- An improvement in networking and communication skills of students
- A greater understanding of how to prepare to join the workforce
- The offer by attendees at the fashion parade and the local community for work placement opportunities for the school’s students
- Extra donations of new items from Local businesses such as handbags and accessories
- Receiving the VCAL Team Excellence Award at the Western Youth Futures Schools and Industry Awards
The school hopes to continue to support and work with Fitted for Work next year with plans for a Handbag drive high on the list of options.
Western Local Community Partnership – Big W & Horn of Africa students
Western LCP Project Officer Greg Young gave the forum the background on how Big W’s desire to support young people from the Horn of Africa community matched up with the dreams of young people being supported in an after school program at the Migrant Resources Centre North West(MRCNW). Apparently a business forum, mastermind by a previous Western LCP Project Officer Dave Collett, was the impetus for Big W to ask ‘what it could do?’ It just so happened that in another part of Brimbank, MRCNW, who was tailoring its program to its participants needs, asked its Horn of Africa youth ‘what do you want to know’. When the over whelming response from the group was ‘how to get a part time job’ it was just a matter of time before David recognized he had a partnership in the making.
What followed included Big W and the centre working together to give these young people extra help to prepare for an experience in the workplace and exposure to a potential employer. Activities included:
- resume preparation, interview skills & personal presentation activities;
- getting familiar with Big W’s forms and tests in advance of a visit to Big W;
- briefings on what students needed to bring to training at the store;
- A briefing to Big W recruitment staff on students’ backgrounds and skills;
- group interviews at the store and tests on such things as reading labels;
- Formal applications for work experience;
- A second visit to the store to cover a formal induction, where students view videos on OH&S, and covering customer service issues, the store lay-out and a roster for students
- Work experience for 12 Horn of Africa young people
Outcomes of the project:
- 12 students got their first taste of what it is like to be a worker working with a buddy during their work experience;
- five students have been identified as being suitable to be employed by the store at a later date; and
- the BIG W staff got exposure to a group of young people they had had little contact with before.
This project was seen by the Sunshine store Management as a pilot that could possibly be promoted to other stores across metropolitan Melbourne.
Heathdale Christian College – Industry Partnerships in middle and senior years
Enid Stein from Heathdale Christian College, who has had many years building her relationships with businesses and employers in the school’s local area provided the forum with an overview of how she supports career and transition development at her school.
- Year 8 - Careers Day includes tours of Orica, Alex Recycling, Sunshine Harvester, William Adams, Claytons Group, John Beevers, Werribee Hospital and various TAFE and Uni sites.
- Year 9 - Real Game includes industry guest speakers from Elly Lukas, Matchworks, WISE Employment and the Tax Office
- Year 10 - Mock Interviews utilizing the relationships that have been developed with business people
- Year 10 - Australian Business Week (ABW) computer simulated program where students are expected to live the roles of a business, wearing business clothes and taking on an employee/staff role. Also includes mentoring by business people.
- ABW LEEP project 2007 pilot developing business partnerships with South West Training, Claytons Group, Coffee Pot/Catering group and Oracle
- Souvlaki Hut, Smart Connections and Bendigo Group Training for integrated and non-integrated ASbA’s
Benefits of these relationships
- Real life experiences for students
- Ongoing mutual support – Work Placements/Experience, future employees, marketing control group e.g. students checking careers brochure for Claytons Group and giving their feedback
- Real work is completed by students
Enid finished with a word about the major considerations they take into account when contemplating the development of a relationship with business. The school asks ‘What do we offer?’ and ‘How will business benefit?” She advised that teachers choose their students and the joint ventures carefully to make sure they are successful, and this takes time & patience.
CIM – Careers in Manufacturing program
Judith Graham representing the Careers in Manufacturing (CIM) project pointed out that although the manufacturing industry has undergone significant change in the last 20 years it is still a huge part of the Australian and Victorian economy. Manufacturing, she said, is an industry facing significant skill shortages, particularly in engineering; in fact contract workers are currently being recruited from the Philippines to bolster the workforce. Hence the development of the Careers in Manufacturing project that brings schools, community and industry together through classroom activities, tours and the Young Industry Ambassador (YIA) program.
Targeting the future workforce the YIA program focuses on the value of young people talking with other young people, sharing attitudes, values, and perspectives on life and work. There are 72 Youth Ambassadors available to visit schools or to host a tour within their workplace. CIM also has money available to fund a tour e.g. hire of a bus. (Contact your project officer for a list of Industries involved.)
NCI Packaging – Careers in Manufacturing program
Unfortunately, on the day Suttons Tools was unable to present their perspective on participating in the CIM project so John Roberts from NCI Packaging stepped in to fill the gap. John pointed out that a lot of attention is put into finding and training the right young person on staff to take on the role of Ambassador. John is very proud of his company’s representative saying he communicates well with his young audience, while at the same time presenting a good image of the industry.
John said that the benefits for his business are the opportunity to promote the industry, help students get a first hand view of the behind the scenes action, and show them the huge range of skilled opportunities available. Contact John_roberts@nci-packaging.com
Telstra – Telstra Marketing Academy
Telstra started the year with a plan to get its pilot Telstra Marketing Academy™ project up and running with Melbourne Metropolitan schools. By working with Regional Industry Career Advisers (RICAs) and Local Community Partnerships, (LCPs) it was able to get the word out and make contact with 150 schools, of which 37 showed interest in participating.
Debra Farrelly, representing Telstra, said the project includes a range of subject applications including Business Studies, ICT, Multimedia, English and VCAL classes and it is up to the school to find the best match. She then went on to briefly describe the project before showing the DVD of a Melton schools entry and handing around examples of students work that used the print media as their medium. (see forum booklet for a description of the project).
About 20 schools are in the State competition, which has a prize of 2 weeks Work Experience in the Telstra Marketing area for the winning team members. The program will be run again in 2009 and will be extended across Victoria with some modifications. In 2009 resource material will be provided online for teachers, an Australia wide competition will be included, and a substantial prize will be provided for schools and students. When the new brochures for 2009 become available LCP and RICAs will again be part of bringing schools on board.
RMIT – Our Local World of Work project
With a major focus on connecting schools with local businesses, the Our Local World of Work project, developed by RMIT’s Careers Connection has been running in the North for some time. It is a project highly suited to VCAL and VCE students and business and fits nicely inside the Australian Business Week program mentioned by Enid Stein. A curriculum package has been developed and includes a teacher’s manual and student’s workbook. The skills developed by students are: interviewing, note-taking, report writing, research and presentation skills.
Andrew Horgan, a Project Officer at Careers Connection said that in preparation for the activity Project Officers work with schools and source businesses for the project and brief them: pointing out the hesitance students might have and the encouragement they might need to feel comfortable in their interviewing role. Project Officers also brief students on what might happen when they go to the workplace. Teachers play an important role in matching a pair of students (a confident one with one who is not so confident) to an employer.
Some of the products or outcomes of the project are:
- A forum - Opening Doors, where all schools come together and do presentations. This day is hosted by students from one of the schools and is an opportunity for them to develop skills in the event management area.
- A breakfast forum at the end of the project at which employers, students and teachers are matched at the tables. Employers at these events have commented on how much the students have developed, saying the students are much freer about sharing something about themselves and talking about career options. Employers also said that some misconceptions about students were exposed and they were impressed with how students conduct themselves.
Kangan Batman TAFE – The Health & Community Services Website
The Health & Community Services Website was funded by Department of Human Services (DHS) and was developed by Kangan Batman TAFE. Keyda McNama, from Kangan Batman, reported that an information kit was sent to all schools in Aug/Sept and was addressed to the Careers Advisor.
The website development was supported by three focus schools, which were able to give direction on what appealed to students, such as what visuals and colors would be effective. It is a kit developed for students, teachers and employers and will be updated. Anticipated developments for the website include developing BEEBO links, links to guest speakers, and materials that support careers expos. A USB stick for off line use is to be developed and Keyda promised to keep us posted as to its release.
Future Force Training & Recruitment – Transport & Logistics
Our final speaker for the morning was Richard Pierse from Future Force Training & Recruitment, which is a Group Training Organization that has a focus on the Transport and Logistics (T&L) Industry. Richard’s company deals with consultancy & recruitment, apprenticeships and training in international trade and the import and export sector.
Richard reported that T&L is in the top 3 employers in Victoria, the Port of Melbourne is the largest container deployment depot in Australia, and T&L will double in next 15 years and quadruple by 2033.
Current employment intake includes almost 300 Yr 12 graduates from over 80 schools, and there are now more girls than boys coming through. The industries approach to attracting more interest in 2009 is to conduct facilities tours at ports and airports for educators so they can “feel and touch the industry”. They are also developing school materials for teachers and students. (see forum booklet for a description of the project)