Schools across the Caribbean including many in Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua and St. Lucia are including the CHOICES Career Awareness Programme for their students.
The students in these schools are also amongst the first to experience the new animated CHOICES presentation on “Choosing The Right Career; Matching Skills & Subjects” during which they do The Career Key Test and receive CHOICES Magazines.
In this new and updated presentation, videos and animated cartoons help the students to understand the importance of knowing their personality type – realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising or conventional – and also in identifying and developing their own skills and the pitfalls of not following a clear direction to their chosen path.
The CHOICES programme encourages secondary students to create a path towards success in their education, career and life through presentations such as “Get Ready for High School Success” (Forms 1 & 2), “Choosing Subjects & The Right Career” (Forms 2 & 3), “Prepare for Success in the Future World of Work” (Forms 4 – 6), “Get It Right – Resume, Cover Letter Writing & Interview Techniques” (graduating students) and “Leadership & Goal Setting” (all students).
Workshop evaluations have given excellent reviews in areas of usefulness of materials presented, used and supplied and overall effectiveness of the content. According to Mrs. Angela deFreitas, General Manager of CHOICES and workshop presenter, “Animation is the latest thing especially with young people of Generation Z. Using this means of transferring important information to them is really refreshing and makes them sit up and listen. They are loving it.”
Also included in the programme is teacher training on “Preparing Students for Success in the Future World of Work” and “Using The Career Key & CHOICES in the Career Decision Process” and parent workshops on “Help Your Child With Career Choice”. The most oft-heard comment from teachers and adults is, “I wish there was something like this when I was at school”.