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Homework Assignment: Learn to be Employable |
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BY SARAH LINSTEIN
 Picture this: students operating a school store, handling the accounts and inventory.
Students coming to school early to work a coffee and latté machine, and selling the fresh-brewed results to tired teachers and fellow students.
With an ideal school curriculum, students get their first taste of the work world while still in the comforting confines of the classroom.
But should school be in the business of teaching students how to step out of class and achieve as an employee?
Definitely, says Katherine Mackwood, president of the Yukon Teachers' Association. “From the get-go we want to prepare students for happy, successful and productive lives, and that includes entering the work world,” she says.
The Yukon school curriculum is based on British Columbia’s and both attempt to focus on academic and applied academics. Mackwood explains that the Yukon curriculum tries to achieve the best of both worlds: strong academics for those inclined, as well as practical trade programs for students in applied academics.
School programs are designed to give students the necessary tools to succeed in life, and today that includes an increased focus on trade programs. “We are looking at enhancing our trades classes in order to fulfil job requirements and send out students who have work experience,” says Mackwood.
Despite the obvious need for students to enter the workplace with desirable skills, it can be a struggle to have trades included in a curriculum, and even accepted by parents of students.
There has been an emphasis for students to solely seek out college instead of considering other alternatives.
“Parents still have the mindset that ‘my kid is going to college’ when their kid may have other valuable skill sets and options,” says Dan Curtis, president of Skills Yukon. Because universities do not formally accept students taking applied academics, and colleges are reluctant, a divide exists between learning theory in the classroom and applying it in a practical setting.
Curtis mentions the need to improve acceptance of trades and technology within the school curriculum and at the college level as well. Both Curtis and Mackwood agree that if you give students an opportunity for hands-on practical learning, as well as class-based education; they take that knowledge and achieve great things.
“I taught years of various grades, and we had business classes, kids running a school store successfully and students working at Yukon Tire and the High Country Inn. I think blending practice with traditional academia is ideal and educators have been doing this for years,” says Mackwood of her experience within the school system.
Instilling students with a goal for life-long learning, good communication and a sense of creativity is the goal of the school system. These are goals that an employer would find valuable, adds Mackwood.
Academia and professional careers are a goal many students strive for, but Mackwood and Curtis want to emphasize that the school system has a responsibility to open doors for all students wishing to explore less-traditional careers.
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Northwestel