Group to 'help kids get into good jobs'

They are well below the national average when it comes to gaining university entrance, but Horowhenua kids are pretty good at turning up for school.

The challenge for new community group, Education Horowhenua, is to find a way to get the most out of the kids who stay in school and get them into good jobs.

In 2008, 71 per cent of school leavers in Horowhenua stayed until their final year of school, not far behind the national average of 74.4 per cent. But of those who stayed in 2008, 28 per cent achieved enough NCEA credits to be accepted into university, down from 31 per cent the year before, and well below the national average of 43.6 per cent.

As of January this year, 69 of Horowhenua's 16- to 19-year-olds were on the unemployment benefit, up from 22 the year before. A further 44 were on the domestic purposes benefit.

Horowhenua College principal Brenda Burns came up with the idea for Education Horowhenua.

The idea is to have a forum of education service providers, businesses, council, iwi groups and government agencies who work together to help boost education levels in the region.

Education was not just a school's problem or responsibility, Ms Burns said. "We need all the various sectors to talk to each other so we are working in the same direction for the kids in this region.

"We have to be more creative than what we have offered in the past, we need to find subjects that help with their career, to keep them more engaged," she said.

The decile three college is offering classes such as creative catering, automotive engineering and business studies.

The key was to develop relationships between schools and businesses, finding out the skills that employers were looking for, letting students see the different career options and building programmes in schools to suit that, Ms Burns said.

Waiopehu College principal Barry Petherick said getting local businesses to give students work experience would be the best way the group could help.

"In a community like ours, more students are likely to go on to employment than university."

The decile two school has about 110 year 13 students, about 30 of which he is confident will go on to university study.

- © Fairfax NZ News