VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4564, 3 November 1937, Page 8

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

1 FOR BOYS, PARENTS AND EMPLOYERS. Apropros of the discussion on vocational guidance in New Zealand, it is interesting to note the views of Mr S. J. Woolven, Careers Master at Brighton Grammar School, and one of the speakers at the recent Youth Congress, at University College, Southampton. "We careers masters," he said in

the course of his remarks "are without a tradition or any real precedent on which to base our methods.

"Such a lack is really a good thing for those who form the link between ordered and quiet school life and the restive changing outside world, for we have been forced to formulate our own fundamentals. "Most important among those fundamentals are," said Mr Woolven:"1. That we should, t 0 the best of our ability, advise the boy on a career in which he shall find the greatest happiness. - -■;•.

"2. That we should realise that we have three duties—to the boy, to the employer (or, generally, the community) and to the school "3. That we should in all our work omit sentimentality of any kind "Though this sounds so obvious, it is of great importance. As an example, take the case of a man who is > say, a doctor with a son whom he wishes to follow in his footsteps. The boy is very keen, but has none of the requisite qualities. Here you will find that the desires of the boy and his parents are forces which have to be countered with reason. "4. That, since we are dealing .so often in human values, we must make caution, but caution with vision, one of our major virtues." Mr Woolven said his work fell roughly into two sections: — "1. Advising boys, their parents, and their headmaster on the adoption of a particular career, and "2. Acting as an employment agency "Independent opinions of his character. "Conditions of home life. "Financial position of family. "Having tabulated the details it remains to see how far desires and preferences can dovetail with the facts of qualities and character. "It should be made sure that the position is not a blind-alley one, and, secondly, that the boy sent to the employer is likely to be somewhere near the employer's expectation."