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With final exam time and the end of the school year looming, the Government has launched "Career Education and Guidance in New Zealand" - a new guide aimed at helping teachers and schools to provide practical and comprehensive career information and advice for secondary students.
This comes as many students are deciding what they are going to do next year.
A key goal for our Government is to ensure all our young people are successful school leavers and get a chance to make a valuable contribution to both the economy and society as a whole.
A smooth transition from secondary school to further education and employment is incredibly important for this, and careers education plays a big role here too.
Giving young people up-to-date information, advice and guidance helps them make positive and effective career decisions by matching their individual skills, knowledge and attitudes to the best opportunities available in work and further education.
The ultimate goal of career education and guidance is to assist students in making positive career decisions throughout their lives.
The people working in the career education field play a vital role in ensuring all today's students can make the most of their opportunities and I am sure this publication will help them greatly with their work.
Career Education and Guidance in New Zealand will be distributed this term to all schools with students from years 7.
As well as looking at students' needs, planning and professional development, the guide contains a series of useful suggestions for how teachers can successfully integrate career education into other parts of the curriculum to make more of an impact - for example interviewing scientists about their work, or visiting a relevant workplace, as part of the science curriculum.
Funding of $860,000 is also being provided for related professional development.
Careers Services provides careers advice on behalf of the Government through: KiwiCareers, a comprehensive source of careers, labour market and training information, 16 Career Centres (0800 109 901) providing face-to-face information and advice, and CareerPoint (0800 222 733), an 0800 contact centre designed to increase access to quality, impartial career information and advice.
While on the subject of training and career choices, the Modern Apprenticeships programme is to get a $600,000 cash boost so it can keep up with higher than expected growth this financial year.
New funding worth $650,000 was provided in the 2003 Budget, for 2003/2004 financial year. However trainee numbers have grown rapidly with the June target of 5000 Modern Apprentices being achieved by March 2003. By June this year there were actually 5739 Modern Apprenticeships.
The additional funding will help meet the high demand for the programme by supporting another 500 new Modern Apprenticeships.
The Modern Apprenticeships programme has been a huge success with employers and young people. Employers solve their skill shortages by helping to train tomorrow's skilled workforce and apprentices get a valuable career opportunity to learn on the job and get a recognised qualification at the end of it.
Modern Apprenticeships are now available in 28 industries including agriculture, boatbuilding, food processing and tourism and are available to a young people aged 16 to 21 years old.
By next June, it is expected that there will be a total of 6500 Modern Apprenticeships in place. Funding already allocated in the 2003 Budget for 2004/05 and 2005/06 will support the achievement of 7500 Modern Apprenticeships by June 2006.
For more information visit www.modern-apprenticeships.govt.nz.
Amendments strengthening the main legislation covering genetic modification (GM) have come into effect.
The changes to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996 are designed to underpin the Government's overall policy of proceeding with caution with GM while preserving opportunities for different systems of production.
That includes keeping our options open for organic agriculture, conventional farming and integrated pest management so that they can each contribute in their own way to the overall benefit of New Zealand.
The Government put the moratorium in place on applications specifically so that legislation could be strengthened and improved. Now that is done, there is no need for that moratorium to remain.
The independent agency responsible for decision making about genetic modification is also well-resourced and has the processes in place to effectively carry out its role.
Central to the amended act is a new category of conditional release.
This will allow ERMA to attach controls on a case-by-case basis to any approval to release new organisms. ERMA will be able to specify where and how organisms are used.
The amended Act also includes enforcement procedures to ensure people using GMOs do not breach any conditions imposed as part of approval, with significant penalties for anyone who does break the law.
An individual can be fined $500,000. Companies are liable for fines of $10 million, or three times the value of any commercial gain from the breach, or 10% of the turnover of the company involved (including subsidiaries), whichever is the greater amount.
A strict liability regime introduced under the Act also allows anyone harmed as a result of a breach of the law to seek compensation without having to prove the harm was caused by someone else's negligence.
Anyone proposing to release a GMO has to apply to ERMA and go through a rigorous assessment process, which includes public submissions. An approval will only be given if a proposal meets stringent minimum standards designed to protect health, safety and the environment, and if the benefits of a GMO outweigh any adverse effects, including the economic effects.
The Ministry for the Environment has produced a brochure outlining the changes in the law relating to genetic modification.
As well, ERMA is holding a national roadshow next month (November 4-21 2003) to explain how the legislation will work in practice for managing genetic modification in New Zealand.
For copies of MfE brochure contact: Ministry for the Environment, PO Box 10362, Wellington or publications@mfe.govt.nz.
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