A unique Career Day offered at Loeriesfontein High School, provided learners with information and tools, expertly designed to help assess individual personalities, preferences and talents, as well as the skill needed for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century economy.
“With tertiary drop-out rates at almost 40% in South Africa, it is important to address the role that poor subject and study choices play in this statistic,” said Vanessa Fredericks, Economic Development Manager for Loeriesfontein Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm.
With a tertiary bursary programme now part of the education landscape in Loeriesfontein, providing vistas of possibilities beyond school, there is an impetus to motivate learners to aspire to careers fitting their talents and interests, and to plan for the requisite educational paths leading to these careers. And, although the school curriculum incorporates this topic in Life Orientation, the impact of these choices, and what they represent, is so crucial that a focussed intervention can play a positive role.
The intervention is aimed at assisting learners in finding relevant answers to questions that will enable a more appropriate career choice. Once a realistic career goal is in view, a series of other decisions are also easier to make, especially regarding subject choices and tertiary programmes.
“It is important for our learners to receive career guidance whilst they are still busy discovering their strengths, weaknesses and abilities in preparation for their futures, especially as the subject choices at our school are very limited and their exposure to career options are limited; so this programme enhances their knowledge and keeps them also motivated,” explained Mr. Klaaste, Principal at Loeriesfontein High School.
Learners are often frustrated when they discover in Grade 11 or 12 that their career choice is limited by the subjects they chose in Grade 10. Furthermore, Grade 12s are confronted with the daunting choice of what to do after school and how to prepare for the chosen career.
“We are pleased to play a role in helping these young people choose a career, as it is one of the most important decisions that they will ever make,” added Fredericks.
Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners of Loeriesfontein High School, also recently received textbooks, covering the full curriculum, from Loeriesfontein and Khobab Wind Farms. With the donation of around 500 books, learners will no longer need to share textbooks or spend unnecessary time photocopying pages.
