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Establishing a SATs program
When deciding to establish, extend or reinvigorate your school's school-based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs) program, there are a number of ideas that could be considered as you formulate new approaches.
Some suggestions are:
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Research what past students are doing after they leave your school to help work out how you can best prepare students for life beyond school. You could do a quick call around to students from last year or look at your school's results from the Next Step survey. Your principal should have access to your individual school results.
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Have a consistent SATs contact person at the school to make it easy for employers and partners to make contact about the school's SATs program. Ideally this person should not have a full teaching load so they are easily contactable.
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Find out where the SATs funding from the department goes in your school - this is one of the most effective ways to build a program. For example, some schools use the funding to employ a teacher-aide to help coordinate the administration of the SATs program. Others reduce the workload of the VET coordinator to allow more time to coordinate the SATs program. Each school's circumstances are different.
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Ensure that SAT options are routinely considered as part of the SET planning process.
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Establish a database of students who are interested in SATs so that students can be easily identified when vacancies arise.
Marketing and communication
A key strategy to ensuring a successful school-based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs) program is having a communication plan to get the word out.
Communicating to parents, students and employers about SATs should be the focus of your campaign. However, don't underestimate the importance of fostering an environment where the whole school is committed to supporting SATs.
Here are some ideas:
- Ensure the SATs program is well publicised across the school so teachers understand the benefits of SATs: how they work, and the potential impact when students are absent from class.
- Get your colleagues on-side so they can help in championing SATs in your school.
- Communicate a consistent message about your SATs program and use the school's existing tools to reach each of your target audiences. Think about promoting via tools such as:
- school prospectus
- newsletters
- brochures
- noticeboards
- website.
- Develop a SATs page for your school's website. Your page could discuss the options available to your students and link to this website's School-based section for more information.
- Verbal communication is one of the most powerful tools for conveying a positive message about SATs. Talk about SATs at staff meetings, discuss SATs at parent-teacher nights and talk about the program with local employers. By educating your colleagues and community about the value of SATs, they can be selling the story as well.
- Give parents access to information about SATs. Parents have a major influence on young people's career decisions and parental support is essential to enable students to successfully complete a SAT.
Getting students interested
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Discuss a broad range of careers with your students so they are informed about what is available in your local area. Expand their horizons - after all, not everyone can be a hairdresser!
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Consider establishing a 'SAT of the Year' award at your school's award night.
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Encourage students who are participating in SATs to talk with younger students about their experiences. Or, invite some past students back for a chat.
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Invite apprentices or trainees into your school to talk with students about their decision to enter an apprenticeship or traineeship. Ask them to provide an interactive demonstration of their skills.
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Arrange for interested students to participate in the Try a Trade program where they can have a go at skill and trade areas. For more information about upcoming events visit Worldskills Australia.
- Promote SAT vacancies through noticeboards and school newsletters.
- Many schools find that organising work placements before students sign up to a SAT helps the students to understand the nature of the work and develop a commitment to their SAT. Employers benefit as well by having a chance to assess students as future employees.
This page was last updated at 16-March-2011