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Saigonchildren project delivers career guidance to 10,000 students to enhance the quality of human resources in Vietnam

date_range2018-06-20

June 18th, 2018, at the hall of Ly Thanh Tong High School held a final workshop of Project “Career counselling and orientation for secondary students in district 08” to summarise its 3-year implementation. The event was attended by the representative of the District 8 People’s Committee, Education and Training Department, the school board, teachers, parents and students.

(The final workshop was held at Ly Thanh Tong School, Dist.8)

Career counselling and career education is considered one of the most important topics in Vietnam because of the positive impact it has on salaries and growth, yet availability of career guidance is still insufficient and inconsistent. Most Vietnamese parents do not want their children to join a vocational school, instead they prefer their children to earn a college degree and pursue a popular job that pays well immediately. The students are often under pressure when it comes to choosing a career and tend to choose a job that they can get easily, not necessarily something about which they are passionate. This can lead to negative consequences for students, such as not being able to find a job which offer a long-term career, or even being fired from their job because they are not self-motivated to work to the best of their ability.

Saigonchildren and the People’s Committee of District 8 recognised the importance of career counselling for teenagers in Vietnam, particularly, the demand from in high school students. This led to the pilot project “Career counselling and orientation for secondary students in district 08” from 2015 to 2018.

The programme was based the curriculum on career counselling by the international training organisation VVOB, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). The curriculum is sustainable, can ensure the achievement of economic objectives, and is closely linked to the knowledge and skill of MOET.

After the pilot, the programme continues to support all schools with a package of Vietnamese-language training guides and teaching tools, including: training documents, vocational dictionary, and career orientation forms. Saigonchildren has also invited professors and specialists to offer model lessons and produce a DVD for schools, as well as making video resources available online.

On 18th June 2018saigonchildren organised a final workshop of Project “Career counselling and orientation for secondary students in district 08” to summarize its 3-year implementation. The event was attended by the representative of the District 8 People’s Committee, Education and Training Department, the school board, teachers, parents and students. Mr. Damien Roberts – Executive of Saigonchildren shared “It has been proven through many years of research around the world, that students who receive this kind training are more likely to get a job, more likely to receive a higher salary, and more likely to have a job that they enjoy – as well as being able to better provide for themselves and their family”.

(Mr. Damien Roberts shared in the workshop)

The achievements of this one vocational project are:

131 teachers having been trained to deliver career counselling;

10468 secondary students having been given career counselling;

976 parents having been counselled in order to best support their children.

The students who chose to join vocational schools increased from 5.15% in the academic year of 2014-2015 to 17.6% (2015-2016) and 20.8% (2016-2017). This is a huge shift and one that has already begun to enhance the local labour market, deliver greater salaries, and boost economic growth.

In the next few years, saigonchildren will continue to deliver this programme in other areas to help students identify the career path they wish to follow.

Mr. Le Thanh Nguyen, teacher of Chanh Hung secondary school shared in the workshop “During the career counselling, sometimes we are demotivated because we worried that our continuous efforts had not brought any tangible results. Then one day, my former student called me and thanked me for guiding him to the right path. He said “without your motivation, I might become a street kid now”. His sharing touched me greatly and inspired me a lot.”

(Mr. Nguyen – teacher of Chanh Hung secondary school)

(Mr. Nguyen and his student, Dung) 

Read more about Dung’s story on Thanh Nien Newspaper

 

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