YOUTH CENTRE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 271, 12 August 1938, Page 8

YOUTH CENTRE

Vocational Guidance Work

In Wellington

The suite of offices in the Civic Chambers, lower Cuba Street, recently occupied by the traffic department of the Wellington City Corporation lias been taken over by the Education Department as a Youth Centre and Bureau of Vocational Guidance. This is a subdepartment of the Education Department, whose work will be to guide youths into fitting channels of employment. It is not a placement bureau, for it only deals with boys up to the age of IS, but, in view of the objects to be served, it should relieve the placement bureau to some extent.

Up till quite recently boys leaving school or college and keen to earn money took the first thing that came along'. While this often proved to be the stepping-stone for higher things, it probably just as often was the equivalent to taking the wrong turning in life. It was a haphazard, hit-or-miss manner for a boy to begin his working life. The Youth Centre promises something a little more definite. For the centre, when a boy comes along for guidance, has not only a full report of his scholastic attainments, but also the headmaster’s estimation of his character, gained through the teachers after observation extending over a number of years. Then there may be information about his home environment and his natural bent. On top of that there is a figure which represents his registration number in the Otis intelligence test. Armed with all this information, the officers of the department know pretty well the subject they are dealing with, and are able to give the necessary guidance. The Youth Centre is not very well known yet. But steps are being taken to see that every boy leaving. School oi college will know all about it, whether he or his parents choose to take advantage of it or not. The present time is said to be the slackest of the year, yet this week has seen quite a stream of boys pass through the office, and receive advice likely to set their feet upon the right path. The busiest time will be when the schools and colleges adjourn for the long vacation in mld-December.