More Realistic Career Guidelines
By Fei Phoon

Bandar Seri Begawan -Career guidance programmes in Bruneian schools look set to motivate students by providing a more interactive, "realistic" platform for guiding them towards their ambitions.

Regular feedback collection and high-profile career days and camps were amongst the most frequently heard suggestions proffered by the teachers present at the fourth day of the Career Services Course and Workshop 2007.

This was in response to guidelines proposed by the event's main facilitator, Dr Zulkifli Mohd Rasid, a lecturer in Educational Psychology at the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE), Universiti Brunei Darussalam. The latter chose to emphasise on helping students develop better awareness of available career opportunities by exposing them as much as possible to "reality" and work environments in general. An even distribution of exposure to various fields classified by their nature was encouraged.

He said that students need to be conscious of alternative educational and vocational possibilities, and should not be permitted to impose limitations on their own interests and capacity for achievements based on gender stereotypes widely associated with certain fields, such as nursing, midwifery and technical engineering. He also said that students should be made to comprehend that the quality of their communication skills is a significant determinant in the type of job they are deemed most suitable for. Knowledge of techniques for conflict resolution, for example, could help develop their exchanges with adults and their peers.

The session, entitled "Planning Career Programmes for Schools", is part of a five-day series of workshops under the Ministry of Education's revitalised counselling and career guidance programme. The 60 government school teachers in attendance were asked to independently research and structure goal-driven plans for career guidance in the schools where they are employed. They were also expected to produce a viable framework for reporting progress at intervals to the Department of Schools under the Ministry of Education.

Hjh Roslin PDIS Hj Johari, joint secretary of the event, said, At the end of the workshop the most popular suggestions from the teachers will be taken into consideration by the ministry before we can reach a conclusion (on a standardised system)." She has been invited to lead the last day of the workshop, themed "Career Selection Amongst Students", which has been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at the Civil Services Institute. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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