Question 23
I am a Career Counselor with a 4 school service area. My question is
- how do the school districts propose to plan, develop and initiate all
inclusive student School-to-Work programs without qualified (career) personnel
to work with their student populations? Seems just as School-to-Work has
come into being the school districts have cut back on staff trained to work
with this very important program. I can list at least 15 schools in my area
that have hired "technicians" or classified staff to man career
and college centers in high schools. Any ideas on how to get districts to
re-allocate funds for qualified people?
STW Wizard Strategies
Strategy 1
I think there are two realities at work here...
1) There is MUCH work to be done to effectively prepare communities to
implement STW experiences for all learners, and the management/coordination
of those experiences cannot be left to one or two people. In other words,
it can't just be one or two people's "job." Rather, conceivably
ALL personnel may need to be charged with "shepherding" learners
so they have equal opportunity to participate in STW activities. For example,
each homeroom teacher might coordinate the experiences of 20 learners, in
a variety of areas, rather than assign one individual to "manage"
the experiences of 400 learners.
2) "Changing the way we do business" will not happen overnight...
there will be districts that won't appreciate the potential power of the
above scenario, and will want to continue within the modes of operation
they're accustomed to. Those districts may want to call on their business
communities to ask them to "lobby" on behalf of the notion to
commit salary dollars to one or two positions as mentioned in the question.
It's likely, however, that members of the business community would rather
support a heightened utilization of business connections. (Obviously, if
a greater number of educators are involved in making/monitoring STW placements
for their learners, there will be an increased appreciation, across the
board, or what "business" expects from the education systems we're
creating here.)
I think communities will need to create "clearinghouses" whereby
individuals are charged with making massive connections with the business
community (identifying potential hosts for shadow, interns and mentors;
sites that will conduct tours and give classroom talks, etc.) will "feed"
that information into the education system so the individual educators ("shepherds,"
from the example in #1 above) can coordinate the STW experiences with the
learners and their parents.
I, like others, am anxious to see how communities come to terms with
this -- no doubt, they're much smarter as teams than any of us as individuals!!!
Strategy 2
Multi-sector School-To-Work Partnerships with Business and Educator members
are having an influence on system changes that are developing career counseling
programs. Active partnerships are the key to change.
Strategy 3
My ideas (I'll not pretend they are answers.) come from my perspective
as a vocational rehabilitation practitioner for the Minnesota Vocational
Rehabilitation agency.
For School-To-Work to succeed all school staff need to become involved.
I believe we are encouraging a systems change that requires the investment
of all involved. This requires a commitment from a levels of policy development/implementation.
At the same time, career/guidance counselors can provide leadership and
direction to school-to-work.
In Minnesota, the Legislative Roundtable on Vocational Technical Education
(1997) recommends that the legislature "establish, fund, and require
statewide benchmarks for student to licensed school guidance counselor ratios
of 200:1 in high schools, 350:1 in middle schools, and 400:1 in elementary
schools by the end of school year 2005-06." The
Roundtable recognized that a student to counselor ratio of 900:1 (current
MN high school) does not allow for adequate counselor involvement in school-to-work
activities.
As a career counselor you may want to direct some energy to facilitating
commitment and involvement to STW activities by all staff. Encourage them
to relate their curricula to STW.
Strategy 4
There has been legislation proposed to reduce the case loads of school
counselors so that they can spend more time with career planning. I also
have heard of local STW groups seeking assistance from the employer sector
for funds and professionals to enhance the programs. Cross training seems
to be in the plans also. Funds have been set aside for this. There are best
practice grant moneys available too.
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