clap@JC conference 2024
Good transition from school to work: Unlocking talents for hopeful future
Opening Ceremony
Keynote 1: What is the future of education to support students navigating in the unknown future?
Abstract:
How well are schools in Hong Kong preparing young people for their future lives? Andreas Schleicher presents the results from the OECD’s 2022 round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in relation to the student wellbeing and career development of students in Hong Kong. Andreas will delve into the results pertaining to students’ global growth mindset, resilience in the face of failure, perspectives on life satisfaction, as well as the roles played by various actors in the ecosystem to facilitate good transitions from school to work, ultimately promoting students’ well-being and maximizing their talents.
Speaker: Andreas SCHLEICHER
Plenary 1: The evolution of “Future of Work” and talents in the changing world
The post-COVID world has transformed the “Future of Work,” impacting diverse career paths. Technological advancements and emerging sectors such as AI, big data, green economy, sustainability, and healthcare have accelerated these changes. The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report 2023” predicts a quarter of jobs to change in the next five years, with 6 in 10 workers requiring training by 2027. However, current training opportunities are only accessible to half of employees. The average tenure of the youth cohort has dropped to 18 months, as stated in JobsDB’s Report 2023.
In the future, there will be expanded pathways to careers, emphasizing soft skills or employability skills over hard skills. It is essential to identify the necessary skills for navigating the future job market and support young people in developing these skills within educational settings. The education sector must remain relevant and adapt swiftly to meet evolving market needs. A panel discussion aims to consolidate insights from various reports and engage stakeholders, including educators and business sectors, to collectively build a talent pipeline, establish reskilling pathways, and facilitate a smooth transition for young people into future jobs.
Speakers: Diana CESAR, Bill LEE, Hayly LEUNG
Moderator: Jeremy FOX
Plenary 2: Opening up possibilities: How does Vocational Education and Training (VET) promote multiple pathways?
In this session, speakers will delve into strategies for enhancing talent matching and equipping youth for a rapidly evolving job market. By exploring exemplary VET initiatives, the session aims to shed light on the importance of providing multiple pathways for students, enabling them to make informed choices about their future careers. With the support of CLAP@JC initiative, attendees will gain valuable insights into the benefits of well-designed CLAP-TECH and CLAP-TECH -STAR initiative, together with tri-partial collaboration among Schools, Tertiary Institution and Business Sectors, empowering young individuals to effectively navigate career options and achieve a meaningful life through diverse pathways.
Speakers: Albert CHAU, Alan CHEUNG, Esmond LEE
Moderator: Anthony MANN
Plenary 3: How to promote equitable and successful school-to-work transitions for disadvantaged youth?
The global labor market has shifted from manufacturing to service sectors due to economic globalization and advanced technology, resulting in a highly competitive job market. This transition has made it challenging for young people, especially NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), to find employment. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation, particularly for low-paid workers and vulnerable groups. As a result, youth employment rates in over half of OECD countries are still below pre-crisis levels. To address these challenges, international collaboration is crucial to understand NEET profiles and identify effective career and life development (CLD) practices that can help them transition from school to work. This collaboration will provide insights for policy and service improvements, leading to innovative measures to support NEET globally. The plenary session will use longitudinal data from Canada, South Korea, and Hong Kong to explore key profile and good CLD practice for NEET.
Speakers: Véronique Dupéré, May LEE, Bong Joo LEE
Moderator: Steven NGAI
Keynote 2: How to facilitate good transitions with CLD benchmarks?
Esteemed speakers in this session will illuminate the holistic approach required to facilitate effective transitions, drawing upon evidence and insights derived from local and global data. They will demonstrate how implementing the Career and Life Development (“CLD”) benchmark empowers comprehensive and systemic interventions, providing invaluable support to individuals including students, disadvantaged youth and Not in Education, Employment and Trainings (“NEETs”) throughout their unique career and life journeys. The session offers valuable insights and practical strategies for implementing the CLD benchmark and addressing the pain points in career guidance provision on a global scale.
Speakers: Ryan GIBSON, Anthony MANN, Steven NGAI, Stephen YIP
Moderator: Jeremy FOX
Plenary 4: Prepare early: connecting education and employers in support of emerging job roles
This session brings together educators and employers who will share their insights on inspiring students with aspirations while simultaneously benefiting the business sector through early intervention in talent pipeline development. In an era of rapidly evolving job roles, it is crucial to bridge the gap between education and the needs of the industry. The session will explore strategies employed by the educators and employers to establish connections and inspire students to explore more possibilities. By cultivating a strong talent pipeline, both students and industries can thrive in an ever-changing professional landscape.
Speakers: Brian CHENG, Jonathan CHOY, Jack NG
Moderator: Nick CHAMBERS
Keynote 3: Empowering youth to thrive
This keynote session delves into the pivotal role parents play in the career and life development of young individuals, with a specific focus on Chinese societies. This session aims to empower parents and enablers to actively support their children’s growth while also encouraging their own career exploration and mindset transformation. Dr. Chan highlights the importance of synchronized efforts between parents and children, emphasizing a shift from dictation to direction, subjection to support, and the provision of a nurturing environment. Speakers will share their personal journeys of transformation, which were shaped by exposure to diverse experiences and real-life workplace encounters during the “Take a CLAP Year/Day” initiative.
Speakers: CHAN Ting Sam, LO Chi Hing, Jessica MO, Iris NG
Moderator: TO Siu-ming
Workshop 1: CLD as an overarching framework for youth policy within agencies
Abstract:
In this session, three groups of collaborating agencies demonstrated how CLD has become one of their service priority and framework. From school social work, ICYSCs, YOTs to young mother service, collaborating agencies emphasized in how service coordination and inter-disciplinary collaboration take place in for the sake of the special target groups (STGs), including school drop-outs, high-risk youth and teenage mother. Three groups of speakers will share their practice wisdom in how breaking the silos within agency, including strong leadership, clear policy and vision, restructuring service mode, and designing new tools and programmes, turns out to be a crucial factor in channeling resources and effort in helping STGs.
Workshop 2A: Effective CLD intervention to promote personal growth and mental health: How to integrate mental wellness elements in to CLD journey through group work
Abstract:
Ten youth service NGOs in Wong Tai Sin made a joint effort in promoting mental wellness throughout CLD journey to young people. Using tools like Emotions Check-in Check-out and the VASK poll in Art Fair, they addressed emotional needs and promoted mental wellness. By integrating specific themes in the art process, they highlighted the connection between mental wellness and career & life development. Such collaboration created a supportive and comfortable environment for young people to explore their emotions, build resilience and acquire coping skills. By integrating mental wellness elements into CLD journey, the NGOs fostered both personal growth and mental wellness. Through their joint efforts, they empower young people to lead fulfilling lives and build a stronger, more resilient community.
Workshop 2B: Effective CLD intervention to promote social well-beings with young offenders
Abstract:
This workshop investigates effective career and life development (CLD) interventions aimed at promoting social well-being and mental wellness among young offenders. It examines the impact of CLD programs on the overall well-being of young offenders, focusing on interventions that address career and life development, mentorship, counseling, and community support. Additionally, explores the integration of mental wellness strategies within CLD interventions and nurtured to develop their core competencies so that they are capable of making preliminary career and life decisions, constructing positive career and life identities, and growing their aspirations. The review aims to provide insights into the design and implementation of comprehensive interventions that positively impact the social well-being and mental wellness of young offenders, ultimately contributing to successful reintegration into society.
Workshop 3: Providing quality CLD with whole-school approach
Abstract:
A stable Career and Life Development (CLD) policy, supported by a shared commitment among various stakeholders, is key to the success of CLD education.
This interactive workshop will explore strategies for implementing high-quality CLD education through a stable and visible school policy. It will also discuss how collaboration among class teachers, subject teachers, parents, and alumni can enhance career-related learning opportunities for students. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the speakers about developing consensus, encouraging teacher engagement, and best practices for collaborating with diverse stakeholders to support a multifaceted approach to CLD.
Workshop 4: Fostering positive values and attitudes among students through quality CLD provisions
Abstract:
This workshop explores how quality career and life development (CLD) provisions can foster positive values and attitudes among students. In this session, HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School will share good practices in promoting whole-school approach to engage students in career and life development through curriculum planning, group activities, and individual guidance.
Speakers would discuss the strategies and approaches including integrating career and life development into subject-based curriculum design and ways to guide students towards positive values and attitudes through group activities and personal counseling. This workshop would provide practical guidance ideas and successful case studies to empower educators, school administrators and the participants in promoting students’ career and life development education and cultivating a capable and morally upright younger generation.
Victor YEUNG
Workshop 5: Nurturing CLD leadership among young people from school to community
Abstract:
The Hong Kong Benchmarks of Career and Life Development (HKBM) fosters youths to take ownership of their CLD journey, emphasizing their active participation in shaping their own path. By involving youths in the design of their CLD journey, they have the opportunity to develop stronger sense of identity and enhance their navigational competencies, propelling them towards a fulfilling future.
To facilitate this process, CLD ambassadors collaborate with both schools and community settings to co-create activities that enable young individuals to explore a multitude of possibilities. Furthermore, this session aims to cultivate a shared perspective between peers, schools, enterprises, and the community, fostering a holistic support system that empowers youths to take ownership of their future endeavors.
Workshop 6: Critical Parental Support on the CLD Journey of Youth
Abstract:
“Parent Engagement and Support” is a unique benchmark added to Hong Kong Benchmarks for Career and Life Development (HKBM) after localized from world-class Gatsby Benchmarks. Good parental engagement with regular feedback collection are strong predictors of enabling youth to participate in CLD activities and subsequently made significant impact on youths’ career readiness and social affective well-beings.
In this session, speakers would share practical ideas and demonstration for methodology currently utilized to engage parents from schools’ Parent-Teacher Association, communities’ program and at-risk youth in Unusual Academy. Participants would learn how to strengthen parents’ roles as collaborative partnership for youth with diverse abilities and interests in navigating different pathways.
Workshop 7: Tailored CLD approaches for diverse youth groups
Abstract:
Career and life development programmes should be tailored based on the needs of each and every youth with addressing diversity and equality throughout.
In this session, speakers would share how school CLD tailor-made programme to broaden students’ understanding of careers, in order to facilitate students to break the stereotypical thinking in terms of gender, religious background, ethnicity, family background, etc. and maintain positive attitude and the momentum to adjust their career choices with reference to their needs and preferences. NGO representatives would also share the customized based on the needs of every youth for the needs of Special Target Groups e.g. Ethnic Minority, Special Educational Needs and addressing diversity and equality throughout.
Workshop 8: Linking business stakeholders to foster meaningful workplace exposure for youth
Abstract:
Youth should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers and employees about work, employment and the Values, Attitudes, Skills & Knowledge (VASK) that are valued in the workplace and community. The first-hand experiences of the workplace started from early school year are definitely helping youths to explore of career opportunities, expand their mindsets and networks,
In this session, speakers would share good practices in linking business stakeholders in curriculum for schools and in community service plans which providing meaningful encounter for youth to nurture youths’ career and life development.
CLAP@JC Youth Sharing Session
Youth Showcase
Youth Performance
