28 June 2001 Media Statement

Tracking secondary school leavers career options

Data from approximately 2,000 Christchurch and Porirua secondary school leavers will be collected in a pilot Destinations and Tracking project, Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said today.

The aim of the pilot Destinations and Tracking project is to develop and trial a tracking model, which will collect data on school leavers destinations.

This data would be used within schools to enhance their career education programmes, help to identify possible tools and approach that may be used with young people. It will provide information to a wider range of agencies that work with school leavers who have not entered ongoing training or employment. In addition information collected on school leaver destinations will contribute to wider Government policy in this area.

The pilot project will be conducted over a year. It will begin by gathering intended destinations data from secondary pupils in four Porirua and up to fourteen Christchurch secondary schools at the end of the year. The data will then be matched against actual destinations early in the New Year.

The pilot is based on the original proposal made in response to a request from the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs. The Mayors Taskforce is committed to the goal of no young person being out of training or the workforce by 2005.

“The pilot Destinations and Tracking project will contribute to the goal of ensuring that all young people up to the age of 18 who leave school enter appropriate work, education or training with a view to no young people falling out of the system post school,” Steve Maharey said.

The pilot Destinations and Tracking project will start in July and will be undertaken by Career Services in partnership with Skill New Zealand.

ENDS

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