Developing self esteem

Tereora College is taking a practical approach to education.
Based on an example assistant principal and head of curriculum Tania Morgan observed in Singapore, Tereroa College initiated a Vocational Pathway Course for the new school year.
Fifteen Fifth Form students – 10 boys and five girls – are participating in the Year 11 course that is designed to develop self-esteem together with usable achievements that will help those who don’t go on to university to better fit into the country’s workforce.
“The purpose of the course is to provide our students with opportunities that they may not get in the academic stream of school,” said Morgan. “They do all the hands-on, practical stuff. At the moment, they’re doing carpentry so, of course, they’re using all the mathematic skills we would want in a real-life context.”
The participating students were chosen at the end of the last school year.
“We sat down with some of the subject teachers and the deans and we identified the students that we thought would best suit the programme,” said Morgan. “They will go along the vocational pathway instead of the academic pathway.”
The students were apprehensive at first, Morgan noted, as would be expected with any new experience, but they’ve adapted to the mixture of numeracy, literacy and practical skill-building to the point where their feedback has been very positive.
The carpentry module was conducted this week by Angaroa Williams in a workshop on the grounds of the Department of National Human Resources Development. Future course work will include the likes of tourism, horticulture, computing skills, recreational P.E. and cooking.
“The whole idea of the course is to get our students out into the workforce and staying here on the island,” said Morgan. “We’re preparing them for the workforce, making sure that they’re retained here on the island, and having those skills that go with that. That’s what we’re aiming for.”

By John Ireland

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