Graduate Careers Australiaergo - Number 89 December 2002IT Skills Hub and Youth Careers EducationIn 2002 a new Enterprise and Career Education program, “I Can Make IT”, provides a refreshing and attractive view of employment in the Information Technology (IT) sector, and is a joint initiative of the IT Skills Hub and the Enterprise & Career Education Foundation. “I Can Make IT” aims to encourage young people to participate in the exciting industry that is IT.
Student Work Placement An important part of enterprise and career education is student work placement, which combines traditional classroom learning with hands-on workplace learning; this is achieved by providing placements for school students in appropriate IT workplaces. Work placement allows students to test their perceptions about IT careers against real role models. It provides them with an opportunity to see how a real-life IT company works and how they’ll be able to use the skills they develop. The mission of “I Can Make IT” is to make careers in IT accessible, exciting and desirable for young Australians between the ages of 15 and 25. It aims to break widely-held perceptions that IT careers only revolve around writing endless lines of computer code. 15 to 25 year-olds may be in the workforce already; they may be unemployed or underemployed.
Youth Hub Website The Youth Hub web-site is a vital part of the ‘I Can Make IT’ program, and provides career education information and other relevant content to students, teachers, parents and businesses interested in the ‘I Can Make IT’ program. ‘I Can Make IT’ also works in a careers education capacity with state governments, helping to bring to life projects like ‘What’s in IT for Me?’, a thirty minute television program targeting the careers education needs of secondary students and produced in partnership with the ICT Achievers Program, sponsored by the Victorian Government. Further information can be found at: http://youth.itskillshub.com.au
Tricia Silver |
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