Picton High School Vocational Education and Training teacher Vanessa Harrison says work placement and classroom learning help her students start to build a foundation for success in their careers.
Ms Harrison has a background in Business Studies, Economics and Commerce and worked in private industry before turning to teaching.
She says she loves teaching Business Services because it’s just what students need when they reach the stage where they need to start thinking about jobs and careers.
“Business Services is a good HSC course providing students with a solid grounding in level entry office skills,’’ says Ms Harrison.
“It gives them a good insight into what they have to do in the workplace.’’
But Ms Harrison says that another good building block for students is work placement.
“The essential and mandatory one week’s Work Placement with industry reinforces what the students are learning in the classroom,’’ she says.
“Last year almost all of my Business Services class were offered either casual or part-time positions,” Ms Harrison said.
One student, Kayla Abela, recently commenced a traineeship with MG My Gateway and is hosted by Wollondilly Shire Council, having successfully completed her work placement at LJ Hooker Camden and Earth Civil Picton, where she received glowing feedback from both employers.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“My Work Placement definitely helped me decide on what I wanted to do,’’ Kayla said.[/social_quote]
“I have always been interested in Business Administration so I took the Business Services course. “It was a good course and you get a certificate out of it on completion.
“I was so happy to get the job at Wollondilly Shire Council.
“I am a Trainee in Employee Relations, where there is plenty of variety and I’m learning a lot.
“I even help out in Payroll, which is giving me great experience.
“My goal is to further my career in Human Resources.”
Ms Harrison’s current class will undertake Work Placement next term.
Year 11 student Katrina Weeks is excited at the prospect: “This course and the Work Placement will, hopefully, get me into the workforce early,’’ says Katrina.
“I want to be either a Flight Attendant or Personal Assistant so I can’t wait to be placed into the workforce to assess how I’m going.”
Another student, Alyssia Grant, chose Business Services to learn some new skills that would help her in the workplace.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“I hope to go to university to study nursing but if that doesn’t work out, I can always fall back on my Business Services experience”, Alyssia said.[/social_quote]
The Work Placement is managed by MWLP – Linking Youth, which has been operating in the Macarthur region for more than 20 years.
MWLP – Linking Youth recently expanded into the Canterbury, Bankstown and Inner South West Sydney regions.
This year they will place around 6,800 students into workplaces.
♦ Any businesses interested in taking on students can contact the MWLP Work Placement Team on 4625 1863 or email trudi.haycock@mwlp.com.au
