Those of you with Yr 10 students are probably in a state of stress as your child goes off to their exams during the month of November.
Some of you will already know that you have a child who is struggling at school and who seems to have disengaged from the education process.
Please know that ALL is not LOST!
Let's look at this scenario and see what options are available.
Option 1:
One of the options you may like to look at is changing your child's schooling from a school based education to a TAFE based education. This will enable the student to complete their HSC and get valuable practical skills as well. Some students find the more self directed learning environment of TAFE a better option than school. Check out your state's local TAFE for details.
Option 2:
If your child is intent on leaving school you might like to look at an apprenticeship (usually 4 years) or a traineeship (usually 2 years) in an industry that interests your child.
In an apprenticeship or traineeship some work is completed at 'school' i.e. TAFE or a Registered Training Organisation and the rest of the time is spent in the workplace. In some cases the training is done completely on site with assessments conducted throughout the time of the apprenticeship or traineeship. Apprentices receive a training wage which increases annually as they complete each year successfully. Some industries have also introduced a fast track learning system for those who wish to be qualified in less time than the apprenticeship model. For information on this check out the industry association in the industry of choice.
The general public have a very misguided idea of what is takes to be a tradesman. This is because of an old fashioned attitude that suggests you need to be more intelligent in academic pursuits than the more practical trades.
Today's world is much more complex that this set of beliefs holds. Most trades people are also very successful business people. They had gone on to further study in business (often at university level) and are required to have a good understanding of technology in as much as it impacts on their particular skills set.
Thus a trades person requires technical, theoretical and practical skills. The mode of learning is applied rather than theoretical.
This suits many young men and women who have energy to burn and who find concentrated thinking without action a difficult form of learning.
Your child is not a failure or less than a more academic student - he or she simply have different strengths.
During my time as a career adviser I have seen over and over the impact of choosing a learning environment that suits a person's strengths - they simply bloom.
They become engaged, thinking, active and excel in their fields of endeavour and most importantly - they love what they are doing.
What more would you as a parent want for your child than that?
There is a lot of information available about apprenticeships and traineeships.
A good site to begin is: http://www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au/
Option 3:
Your child may engage better at school if s/he is more stimulated at home. By this I mean working part time.
If your child has not yet got a part time jo then now is the time to get one.
While you may not need to have your child working it is a really good developmental time for students to learn about the working environment.
Research has shown that students that rely on their parents for an allowance and their needs often lack the skills and attitudes necessary to survive in the world and make a good employee, or business owner later.
Letting your son or daughter get a part time job helps them discover
self esteem
initiative
prioritising work and friends
negotiating
self management
time management
money management
loyalty as it refers to work
team skills
respnsibility
maturity
And guess what?
Most of these attributes are what employers are looking for in students once they have finished there training and are ready for full time work in the work force - these are the basis of employability skills that you hear banded around in the media.
Till next time
Melody
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