DEVELOPMENT OF A VALUABLE SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23985, 28 June 1943, Page 4

DEVELOPMENT OF A VALUABLE SERVICE

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

For nearly 20 years vocational guidance work has been carried on in New Zealand, and. as a result, every year more children leave school to take up the career for which they are fitted, and in which they are likely to be happiest and most successful. Yet there are still hundreds of people who do not make use of, and perhaps do not know about, this service which goes on in their midst. . . Vocational guidance m Christchurch beean with a department set up by the Y.M.C.A. in 1926. A few years later the work was done; for the first time, inside a school. This was the Technical College, where, on one or two days of the week, a member of the staff was released from teaching so that he cpuld help boys about to leave school to make plans for their future. The next step was taken during the depression by a group of Christchurch people who were interested in children, and especially in children who were just setting out to earn a living. They thought that it would be a great benefit if the work which was done at the Technical College could be extended to children from all schools. The Education Department agreed, and the office at tne Y.M.C.A. was given a .bigger staff, so that it could remain open all the year round and give advice to many more children. During these years plans for vocational guidance for girls had also been made This service began at the Y.W.C.A. and its history followed the same lines as that of guidance among boys although starting several years lat Up to this time vocational guidance had been undertaken unofficially, with the help of private citizens. But in 1937 when the present Prime Minister was' Minister of Education, it was deeded to establish it as a Government service. Two vocational guidance officers, experts who. had studied the work from the begmnmg, were appointed in Christchurch. The Youth Centre, as it was called, was opened in 1938 and placed under the Education Department and tne section of the Labour Department which was afterwards included in the National Service Department. Recently it was transferred to the Education Department alone, and its name was changed to Vocational Guidance Centre. Methods

The technique used by vocational advisers has been developed after years of study and experience. An adviser has at his command at lsast three sources • of reports. intervie#s, and “intelligence tests, which have been worked out during recent years by psychologists to measure “intelligence,” as distinct from knowledge gained by a child at school. Information is also given by parents, and, if necessary, the child is medically examined. , , ' , Reports are supplied by the schools. In the four main cities all post-primary and intermediate schools have teachers who are known as careers advisers, and in many primary schools there are teachers who do this work unoffi* dally. Before an interview is arranged a vocational report, giving details of intelligence, special abilities, interests and temperament, is sent to the centre by the school. The boy or gin is then interviewed' by an officer of the centre, who is able, from answers to questions, appearance and behaviour, to form an accurate idea of what he or she can do. Finally an intelligence test may be arranged at the Educational Laboratory at Canterbury University College, Some of these tests are designed to give an' indication of general intelligence, others to reveal special aptitudes such as manual dexterity, musical ability, or fitness for clerical work. They are done very thoroughly, five or six hours sometimes being spent in testing and reporting on one child, • Between this section of the University and the Vocational Quid-

(Specially written for "The Press" by Joan Whitcombe.)

ance Centre there is close co-opera-tion and the tests, taken in conjunction with other information, are looked upon as most Valuable. When these investigations are finished the adviser is ready to give advice The boy or girl may not be advised to take up any particular pos*fc tion, but is told for what type of ■, he or she is best suited. At the sail time a description is given of conditions in the type of profession or trade,., which has been suggested, because « vocational adviser must study not only young people, but also occupations. So that they may know of openings for new workers in the professional and industrial 1 world, the officers of the Christchurch Centre have the help of two advisory committees, composed of men and women who are familiar with various professions and trades in the city. The Christchurch Centre is the only one in which these have been set up. Value of Vocational Guidance It would be difficult to illustrate the value of vocational guidance with figures or statistics, because of various . circumstances and influences which affect the lives and the careers of different persons in different ways and in war time, when military and in-, dustrial nGGds lead to changes whichf would not be necessary in peace time, to rely on statistics is almost impos-.' Si * But there is a second reason why It is hard to summarise its achievements and place them on record. Good vocational guidance is so dependent on good education that educational and voca-; . tional guidance are best described as two aspects of the same thing. Therefore when vocational guidance is given to someone who has been badly educated (in the sense that he has been educated along lines which are contrary to his natural abilities), the adviser is handicapped from the beginning. It sometimes happens, for instance, that a hoy who would only sue- ' ceed In work of a mechanical kind is sent to a school which gives an academic education, where he struggles to pass examinations in Latin and French, because his parents wish him to become a doctor. In such cases, by the time the . boy comes for advice, it is often too late for him to be trained in the work . which he could do "well, and the ad- ' viser must be content to suggest some occupation which will only be a sec-ond-best choice. Experts agree that the ideal scheme would be for vocational guidance to begin in the primary schools. . But if the centre is sometimes hampered, that is not to say that it does • not do good work. Every year more ' young persons, come for advice and ;, every year a larger number are placed in congenial positions. Among them are many who come, not from State' r" schools, but from private schools where vocational work is done unofficially. ’ ’ Most of those who come follow the ad- Y ; ; vice given, and in these cases "follow- ; up” reports are usually very satiafactory. In 1942 the Christchurch Centre--placed 534 boys and 612 girls in posltions which are classed as permanent, .v' The number of girls is larger because . , the centre deals with boys only up to the age of 18, but girls up to 20. Vocational guidance is important to ’ the employee because he is both happier and more efficient when doing', congenial work, and to the employer because he finds a suitable person to do • it. Finally, it is important from a national point of view. If a large number of persons take up occupations v? which they later abandon, there is a huge waste of time and energy, which ■ causes a fall in production. When this : o, happens the employee loses time in -: learning a job for which he is not-fitted, while the employer loses time in hav- 11 *; ing to train a successor. Vocational,: guidance in N6w Zealand has al*i «r<l ready achieved valuable results? as it develops, its work will become even more important and useful.