By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY, 10 Jul 2014
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As an education beat reporter who meets students regularly, I would often ask them about their aspirations. The younger ones would say: “Mummy asked me to find a job that earns a lot of money.” Others would shrug their shoulders and smile sheepishly.
Like many, I once thought that is a phase every one goes through before one finds his or her sweet spot in life.
Like many, I once thought that is a phase every one goes through before one finds his or her sweet spot in life.
But after attending a dialogue session between students and members of the Applied Study in Polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education Review (ASPIRE) committee in January, I felt more guideposts could be provided to help students navigate their paths. Industry players have raised concerns over young people not knowing what they want, resulting in some following trends blindly. Some students also say that they know their career preferences only much later, during tertiary education, but by then, it may be too late for them to change course. A recent study trip to Switzerland with the ASPIRE committee provided further proof of the need to provide career guidance to students from young to empower them to make informed choices.
Switzerland’s 26 cantons (districts) have at least one career centre each and it receives children as young as 13 years old. Teachers organise visits to the centres and share their thoughts on various occupations in class. Concurrently, career counsellors visit schools to meet each child. Longer counselling sessions — with the inclusion of psychometric tests — can also be arranged for free at the nearest career centre. At the career centre in Bern city, half of its approximately 5,000 visitors last year were below 20 years old.
Swiss career counsellor Liselotte Stricker noted: “Students come to career centres to learn about their likes and dislikes. They have their favourite occupation, but they will also find out if their wishes are realistic.”
Other counsellors say they work with students through their secondary school years as passions evolve with time.Singaporean Georgina Zoss-Koh, who is married to a Swiss and resides in Zurich, shared how her two sons benefitted from early career guidance. Both boys, now age 18 and 16, took psychometric tests at their local career centre to assess their strengths and preferences as well as spoke to counsellors on advancement options. Swiss students in secondary school will have a rough idea of the job nature and where their interests lie, she said.
TAPPING EXISTING STRENGTHS
Singapore is not starting from scratch on this. There are six career centres under the Singapore Workforce Development Agency islandwide, providing adults with advice on continual education and job matching.
The tertiary institutes also have career offices offering counselling and internships with companies. In schools, the Ministry of Education incorporated career guidance lessons into secondary schools this year, while an online portal (ecareers.sg) is available for students to explore their interests through self-assessment tests, among other things.
Nevertheless, from conversations with students and educators, the missing element seems to be the human touch. There is a need for counsellors to help students make sense of psychometric test results and advise them on their options.
Singapore teachers are laden with teaching and other administrative duties, resulting in career guidance inadvertently placed on the back burner.
As such, there is a need for trained personnel to administer psychometric tests and evaluate findings for a younger clientele. These counsellors also have to be aware of pathways in the education system to give advice accordingly.
We can extend the services of existing career centres to a younger crowd. Their locations in the heartlands make them accessible, while tie-ups with companies could help students secure internships in various industries. Students can also receive insights on labour market trends through data collated by these career centres. For psychometric tests, we can ride on existing resources such as MOE’s ecareers.sg. We can also consider how the Swiss caters to various needs, using simpler pen-and-paper questionnaires or flashcards.
CONVINCING PARENTS
Early career guidance can also help parents play a supporting role in their children’s passions.
Ms Stricker said counselling sessions give students an avenue to share their thoughts confidentially. But when parents hold a different opinion, there could be joint counselling sessions.
She even recounted counselling an entire family, including the grandfather. The parents wanted the academic path while the grandfather, a craftsman, preferred the vocational path. After several sessions, the family accepted the child’s decision to pursue an apprenticeship.
For the Swiss, another outcome from their early career guidance system is greater societal acceptance for vocational education.
Parents become more aware of advancement prospects in skilled industries after visiting career centres with their children.
It is normal for Singaporeans parents to be concerned about the prospects in certain jobs or their children having short-lived interests. Counsellors can reassure these parents by providing information on the labour market and mapping out progression opportunities.
Using scientific results from psychometric tests can also convince parents of their child’s inclinations.
BRIDGES FOR CURRENT LOT
BRIDGES FOR CURRENT LOT
How about those already in tertiary institutions who are pursuing courses outside their career interests? Some of them enrolled in these courses without knowing their preferred career choice.
I have also met students who were not aware of prerequisites for their preferred courses and were left with few options later on. For these students, help could come in the form of bridging modules so they could make an easier transition to a new course. This could be considered for certain industries that are facing manpower shortage, such as healthcare or early childhood. If science is required for health sciences courses, for example, there could be preparatory classes.
Bearing in mind the need for a critical mass for these classes, the three Institute of Technical Education campuses can collaborate to offer lessons. The five polytechnics can also work together on this.
When students’ strengths are identified and nurtured, many will go on to succeed in their respective fields.
We can definitely do more to help them play to their strengths and achieve their full potential.
Ng Jing Yng is a senior reporter at TODAY who covers the education beat.
*The ASPIRE committee, which is looking to revamp poly and ITE education, will be giving its recommendations later this year.