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LIVE YOUR DREAMS - “Auckland Pacific Careers” launch builds vision for future

Date: November 12, 2010

On September 25th at Clover Park School in Otara nearly 100 Pacific senior secondary school students and their families got together to plan their futures. Hosted by Accelerating Aotearoa, Auckland Pacific Careers (APC) is a collaboration based approach to enhancing outcomes for Pacific peoples by supporting them to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to do well for themselves, their families and their communities.

The launch event forms the basis of what is a 3 phased engagement:

  • SIGN UP: Register to become part of a web based talent tracking system and link with education providers and employers. This system will profile student skills and experience to both employers and education providers to enable identification for job or scholarship offers, targeted training and career advice and professional networking opportunitie
  • TURN UP: Orientation day - an opportunity for talent and their families come along to find out what’s on offer, meet with tertiary training providers, businesses, successful Pacific role models and hear about opportunities.
  • FOLLOWUP: Access to an ongoing programme of workshops and seminars with a “whole of community” approach to helping families understand the education system and supporting youth into skilled work. Initial programmes will include mentoring


With Auckland the biggest Pacific city in the world the opportunity exists to utilise the talent potential of Auckland’s growing Pacific populations to create a vibrant dimension to Auckland’s compelling story.

By supporting Pacific youth to get skilled jobs by making study and career choices aligned with future job market needs, Auckland Pacific Careers (APC) is establishing a comprehensive approach for Pacific achievement – with the capability to track students at both individual and regional levels - that is inherently grounded within Pacific communities.

APC focuses on 3 strategic imperatives:

1. Linking education & well-being: The link between success in education and well-being of people, their families and communities, and New Zealand as a whole has been established; physical, mental and emotional well-being, as well as income, all increase at higher education levels.[1]

2. Getting the right education for skilled & high income jobs: Consistent with recent remarks in the media by MPIA’s CEO Dr. Colin Tukuitonga, analysis of responses from 69 Pacific secondary students from 14 schools across the Auckland Region[2] demonstrates there is a disconnect between school and higher education for Pacific students. Work must be done to ensure pathways are established for Pacific youth transition smoothly from school to tertiary education and on to work.

3. Working together to get results

In order to support Pacific peoples to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to do well for themselves, their families and their communities in a coordinated manner, a framework must be established to enable a connected and managed approach[3].

Partnering with Pacific communities
To ensure APC is connected to the Pacific communities it serves, a partnership has been established between the Pacific Islands Chamber of Commerce (PacificBiz[4]), Trades@School, the C-Me Mentoring Trust[5], Career Services, Taro Pages[6], Accelerating Aotearoa[7] and historically, Manukau City Council, Waitakere City Council, and Auckland City Council.

At a regional level the programme has further been presented to Council associated Pacific Boards and Committees along with other Pacific leaders across the region, to ensure the programme is clearly aligned with and supportive of priorities for Pacific peoples.

The partnership is further strengthened by ensuring that key central government agencies such as the Ministry of Pacific Islands Affairs, the Ministry for Social Development, the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders are provided with regular updates and opportunities to input.

 

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[1]Statistics New Zealand and Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (2010). Education and Pacific peoples in New Zealand

[2]Reference Appendix 2: Registration Data Analysis

[3] NZ Herald Friday Jun 25, 2010

[4] http://www.PacificBiz.org/

[5] http://www.initiative.org.nz/c-me-watch-me-go-0

[6] http://www.taropages.com/

[7]http://www.acceleratingaotearoa.co.nz/