Information for parents, family and whanau
Make the most of career events and your school
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Find out what's happening
Being involved with what is happening at your child’s school enables you to support your child with their career decision making. The more you know about the events, the more prepared you can be and the more value you can get out of them.
Tip
Find out the names of people in the following positions at your school:
- subject teachers
- deans
- whānau teachers
- careers advisers
- guidance staff.
To find out what’s happening you can:
- look on the school website – take time to browse the school website as it will have crucial information such as the names and subject areas of the staff, an events, calendar, the curriculum handbooks, and newsletters
- read the curriculum handbook – this will have information on the subjects offered
- make contact with the school – arrange an appointment for you and your child to see the careers adviser.
Keeping yourself informed does not take long and it can really make a
difference in supporting your child in their decision making.
Find out about what career related activities could be happening in your school
“The best thing you can do for your child is to keep in regular contact with whānau/form teachers. You can do this by phone or email.”
Lester Rivers, Careers Adviser, Kamo High School
Make the most of career events
The events in your school will be advertised in advance, so this gives you plenty of time to prepare.
Career expos
- Careers expos are useful for gaining information
Career expos are events that bring together universities, training providers, ITOs, polytechnics, the forces and sometimes employers. They usually occur between May and August and provide an opportunity for you and your child to gather information on possible career options.
Generally, schools provide transport to expos during school hours, however, parents are also welcome to attend, either during the day or in the evening.
As a parent there are useful steps you can take to assist your child before and after attending a career expo:
- Have a list of questions to take to the expo (see below for examples).
- Suggest that your child spend time on the Career Services website beforehand. There’s a range of tools that they can use to find out about the types of work that may interest them.
- Your school will take your child to the expos, but it is a good idea if you go along as well.
- When at the expo, visit the Career Services stand and attend any of the industry workshops that may interest your child.
After the expo, there are a number of things you and your child could do:
- Make an appointment to see the careers adviser.
- Talk to the dean about subject choices for the coming year.
- Visit an employer for the day.
- Talk to the Gateway co-ordinator about doing work experience.
- Talk to people working in the industry that your child is interested in.
Questions your child can ask at careers expos
- What subjects do I need to take next year if I want to get into .....?
- How much will the course cost? What does this include?
- What are the entry requirements?
- Who is the (specific) ITO co-ordinator in this district?
- Can I study the course part time? Can I switch to part-time study during the course?
- Can I do this course by distance learning?
- Do you have open days?
- How long do I have to withdraw from the course once I've enrolled, and what happens to my course fee?
- When is the closing date for applications?
- How will the work be assessed? What are the requirements for passing?
- Can I cross credit my achieved credits to another type of training provider, such as transferring polytech credits to university credits?
Find out if there is a careers expo happening near you
Helping your kids make decisions – what can you do?
Read about the Gateway programme
Find out about the STAR programme
Subject information evenings, careers evenings and report evenings
When schools hold evening events, you may often feel rushed as there may be a number of parents who are waiting for staff time. Go prepared!
- Go to career events prepared
- Check out the school events calendar ahead of time.
- Make sure you know the names of the staff you want to see.
- Go with a list of questions and write down the answers.
- Encourage your child to go along with you and let them know beforehand what you want to talk about. Make sure there are no surprises.
- Ask the staff what resources are available to you and your child
- If you did not reach the outcome you would have liked, make an appointment to see the dean at another time.
- If you feel as though you didn’t have enough time, ask for a further appointment.
- If you don’t feel comfortable visiting your child’s school, or English is your second language, ask a friend to go along with you for support. Another option is to make an appointment to speak to the careers adviser alone at another time.
Questions to ask at parent/teacher interviews
- What are my child's strengths?
- What areas do we need to focus on?
- Is my child on track and what can I do to keep him/her on track?
- Is there anything I need to know about my child's interaction with his/her friends?
- How does my child get along with his/her friends?
Make the most of career resources
In addition to being able to make an appointment with the school careers adviser, your child may be able to hunt out a variety of career resources at school. There might be:
- a dedicated careers area or student support location
- a corner of the library dedicated to career resources
- a classroom with career resources.
In the careers department your child may find:
- information on tertiary providers, industries, scholarships, apprenticeships and trade training options
- posters, brochures and other resources
- a computer giving students access to the Internet to produce their CVs and cover letters, and explore information on the Career Services website.
It’s a good idea to encourage your child to become familiar with the support services so they become comfortable with the staff and the environment. It then becomes yet another aspect of their school life, so that when they do require help, they won’t feel nervous about asking.
