Give Early Career Guidance To Students Educators Told
By Fei Phoon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Budding career guidance teachers have been advised to instill career consciousness in school students from an early age.

Hjh Roslin PDIS Hj Johari, facilitator for the last day of the Ministry of Education's first Career Services Course and Workshop 2007, said that most children are naturally expected to contemplate their ambitions at around age 11, and therefore career counselling should be provided from first admission into lower secondary school.

"By the time they reach upper secondary, there is very little time left to ensure that they made the right choices," she said.

Since 2005 there have already been a few experiments with career guidance programmes for Form One students in a handful of schools.

Hjh Roslin added that having individuals decide on a career to pursue would do much to reflect their knowledge of the career in question, as well as their character and motivation for the choice.

She also reminded her audience that students' career choices were often the result of parental influence, which sometimes fails to take into account their abilities.

"The role of a career guidance teacher in a secondary school is considerably heavier as compared to that of a teacher working with Sixth Form students, she said of responsibilities to better inform students of opportunities and instill in them some degree of independence and pragmatism when assessing their own potential.

"It may be tough to tell them the truth about themselves, but they need to be realistic about their own abilities, and find a balance amongst all aspects which suits them best," she added.

"The duty of an educator to guide students is a great one, and it must be taken seriously so no student gets left behind."

Her presentation, entitled 'Career Selection Amongst Students', ended the five-day workshop, which was attended by 25 government schools from all districts, including Temburong. Invited speakers for the workshop included Dr Ee Ah Meng, head of the Career Resource Centre, and two lecturers from the Department of Educational Psychology at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, namely Chanseagran Suppiah and Dr Zuldfli Mohd Rasid.

Officials for the event said that they received an overwhelming response from the schools, and that many of them were very co - operative about receiving support towards constructing more focus for their career guidance programmes.

There are plans to follow up the event within the next few months.

The event was closed with a certificate-awarding ceremony, graced by the guest of honour and official advisor for the programme, Aishah Muhd Husain, as well as other senior representatives from the Ministry of Education. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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