VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Evening Star, Issue 21138, 25 June 1932, Page 3

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

EXECUTIVE’S ANNUAL REPORT The first annual report of the executive of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Committee states Several meetings of the committee and executive have been held during the year to discuss the iuaiiv [Jl'OblfilHß connected with vocational guidance, and to hear addresses on the subject. As a result it was early found that little practical work could bo accomplished, or direct contact made with boys and girls and employers, until such time as an organiser could he appointed. To make this possible it _ was decided to. request contributions from the organisations represented on the committee. On Juno 9, 1931, the executive was able to report that the sum of £l3O had been promised for this purpose. It was agreed to call tor applications for a part-time officer, at an annual salary of £IOO. Thirty-seven applications were received for the position, and Mr T. Conly, A.M.I. Mech. E., was appointed, and commenced his duties on August 17. The directors of the Y.M.C.A. kindly consented to provide for Mr Conly an office in their building in Moray place, also use of telephone, and assistance in typewriting, etc., and for executive and committee meetings, a room free of charge. The duties of the officer were carefully prepared by the executive tea-part-time service only, but Air Conly by his enthusiastic interest lias added to these a great amount of voluntary work, which has been much appreciated hv us. TRo officer attends the office on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9, and again on Thursday and Friday from 4 to 5. Much time is also taken up with visiting and interviewing employers, flu l officer's duties also entail a close contact with the high schools, public schools, and technical School. Mr Conly's talks to senior classes in the schools and also to several public bodies interested m outwork. have been most- helpful and instructive, and have greatly helped to create an interest in our work. A card system has been adopted, on which the records of boys passing through the sixth standard, in Duuedin district, is filled in by the headmasters of primary schools. It is planned that those of these young people who later come to ns lor aca ice and employment will he further recorded on the same cards, fheir progress to adult years will he set out, and those cards should he valuable cv idenco of the justness or otherwise of our methods. Concerning young people calling at the office a very full record is made of all facts which will help the officer to determine a suitable vocational career. Such information is available to employers seeking junior labour, and already has proved veiy valuable, as shown by (inns who have in some cases filled a second, or even a third, vacancy from our register. Iho interviewing of parents seeking advice re vocations for their boys and girls is proving a most important and valuable service. The increasing number coming to him for help and guidance indicates the great necessity there is tor such an officer in our midst. In spite of the difficult times your officer has been able to place seventy in suitable positions between August and June, and there are strong reasons for believing that his visits to firms have been instrumental to the engagement of other hoys and girls by the I methods of selection for which this coinmine- stands. We have given some thought -,o tlie disquieting fact that the majority of youths so placed in work are under sixteen years of age. The reasons which have induced employers to prefer the more youthful of two

applicants ai'e well known, and this is not the place to discuss them; but your committee would urge that there lies now upon every community the pressing duty of finding some way of escape from a system that denies to youths over seventeen almost every- chance of finding work. The placing of bo.vs on farms has occupied the attention of the committee throughout the year. In conjunction with tlie Farmers’ Union a scheme was proposed and submitted for approval to the Government, but so far wo have been unable to obtain flic Government’s promise of a subsidy of 10s per week per boy, which is essential to the scheme. The members of the Farmers’ Union were willing to take boys into their homes and train them in general farming, and also to supervise generally their welfare. We regret exceedingly that our efforts so far to place suitable boys on farms have been unsuccessful.

Wc have repeatedly urged upon Ministers that it is to employment on the land and not in the towns that many of our youths must finally go; that a training scheme which leads to a personal bond between farmer and cadet, and which provides responsible oversight of both parties, is one not to be lightly cast aside; and that any Government that levies a tax on youths under twenty-one has a clear duty to provide some unemployment benefit for them ; but, speaking quite frankly, wo have achieved nothing in this direction, and wo find the tone of the Government’s replies distinctly discouraging. This question, we feel sure, should be taken up publicly and forcefully. After careful study of the Vocational Guidance Movement and our experience of its possibilities for useful and much-needed service in our midst, wc strongly recommend (1) a more systematic survey of the demand for and the supply of employment for youths. Wo have 290 names on onr books, but these represent only a fraction of the 900 or so who in normal years annually pass to some occupation. At such a time as the present it is important to know what has become of every youth who is not in work. We recommend some form of systematic registration. (2) The provision of centres of supervised activity for youths under twenty-one for whom further full-time schooling is not desirable. Wc suggest that this work be commenced at once; that public meetings of unemployed youths bo called; voluntary helpers enrolled; assistance sought from institutions at which suitable training can be given. The necessary discipline will arise easily in connection with a policy of granting assistance, and in particular recommendation for employment only to those youths whoso attendance and conduct arc entirely satisfactory. (3) Making the appointment of the vocational officer full time, to give expression to the increased activities as recommended above.