Increasingly we read about students leav-
ing school without qualifications, and this must be of concern to all New Zealanders.
For many secondary schools now the sixth form is the largest year. The increase in the school leaving age, employment difficulties and the inability to obtain an unemployment benefit has meant that schools have many students with no desire to pursue an academic career and who lack life and work skills.
While most secondary schools offer varied programme of unit standards, sixth form certificate subjects, and transition programmes for these students, many become drifters, moving from one subject to another without clear sense of purpose or fulfilment.
The NZIM Enterprise Certificate in Management.
NZIM has launched qualification to give school students coherent and worthwhile option for their sixth and seventh form years.
The Enterprise Certificate in Management develops skills, knowledge and confidence in students who wish to enter the workforce, as well as forming the basis for further study in business and management.
It provides consistent framework for students studying other vocational or work-based options. It also recognises mainstream business, management and computing courses. And it leads to nationally recognised qualification.
Schools have choice of 17 papers, many of which may be obtained through cross-credit from traditional school subjects, and the others being funded through the Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR) funding.
The Enterprise Certificate introduces students to the world of business and enterprise.
A flexible qualification
The programme is unique in its ability to meet the requirements of secondary schools and the demands of students and staff. Students may undertake the papers in any order, and may complete them through polytechnics and private training establishments if they leave school. They may cross-credit passes from bursary and other programmes in English, economics, accounting, computing and mathematics, and may receive credit for relevant unit standards.
Schools may use the services of tertiary providers and The Open Polytechnic if they do not have resources to teach the programmes themselves. For instance small area schools may put their students onto distance learning with The Open Polytechnic, or may purchase the open learning materials and supervise the programme themselves.
Within the qualification itself there is considerable variety and flexibility. Each paper consists of outcomes and learning criteria that are interpreted according to the experience and maturity of the students. Schools may combine papers in different ways and develop assessment tasks that test outcomes of several papers at once.
The Enterprise Research
Project
As an essential part of the new qualification each student needs to participate in setting up the management of an enterprise. Working in teams, students undertake market analysis, work out product or service to sell, develop processes of marketing, administration, production, and management. They need to produce business plans and annual statements.
This programme is an example of the experiential and practical nature of the qualification. Students are expected to observe workplaces, undertake work experience, create simulated workplaces and undertake role-plays, which provide practical applications of the concepts presented in the course.
The Enterprise New Zealand Trust
The Enterprise New Zealand Trust already operates successful programmes through secondary schools. The Youth Enterprise Scheme (YES) has involved teams of sixth and seventh formers competing for awards for enterprises that they set up and operate as an extracurricular activity. In 1989 more than 600 teams entered the competitions.
NZIM has entered partnership with the Trust. This will enable students of the YES programme to gain the compulsory Enterprise Research Project for the Certificate. In addition graduates of the Trust’s Pathways to Financial Literacy programme gain paper towards the Certificate. The Financial Literacy programme is currently being taught in more than 200 schools.
The cooperative model
Cooperation and collaboration are key words in the new Government’s education policy.
The Enterprise Certificate qualification is an example of how cooperation and collaboration can be successfully applied to secondary courses. NZIM already offers certificate, diploma and advanced diploma courses through polytechnics and private training providers in New Zealand. Students gaining the Enterprise Certificate receive nationally recognised qualification that leads into higher qualifications at other institutions or within the workplace.
There are many other ways in which public and private sector collaboration is maintained. The Enterprise New Zealand Trust relies on considerable private sector sponsorship, and successful completion of the Certificate programme also requires work experience and observations.
Benefits for students
Students are the main beneficiaries. They graduate from the programme with clear understanding of employment and workplace practice, and with the skills to make their way in the world of work.
Not only that! They gain qualification that is widely recognised throughout New Zealand. With more than 10,000 student paper registrations each year, the Certificate in Management is the main first level management qualification in the country, and is recognised as national programme for funding and student loan purposes. Students who have such qualification have head start into further education or employment. They can leave school with their heads high in the knowledge that for them their senior school years have produced programme full of involvement and interest, and worthwhile qualification at the end.
