How to Use Certifications to Prepare Students for the Workplace
For secondary school understudies who intend to enter the labor force after graduation, getting an industry certificate sets them up to enter a lucrative, popular field like assembling, money, development, or medical care.
A candidate’s certification demonstrates to an employer that they have attained certain knowledge and skills by passing an aligned test. At least 28 states took action in 2019 to encourage Career Technical Education (CTE) courses to use credentials that are recognized by the industry.
Almost every career field offers certification opportunities. Certification in food handling and safety can be earned by students who want to work in the food industry. Certifications in programming languages are available to students interested in careers in computer science. Students can benefit from all certification courses with careful planning.
Developing Courses
Since choices about course contributions and certificate programs are frequently made at a locale level, instructors genuinely should work with their region or state divisions to make course contributions and course groupings that can prompt certificate.
Determine which programs might be the most beneficial to students by looking at the region’s current labor market data. Choosing which programs might be most beneficial to students can be made easier by looking over and evaluating the data from the state.
Get in touch with local businesses to learn more about the area’s workforce requirements. Are there particular abilities that prospective employees are looking for? What criteria do they use to evaluate applicants? Teachers will be able to better tailor their instruction to meet the needs of the real world if they acquire an understanding of employer motivations.
Consider the possible course sequencing for a high school student’s schedule and devote time to it. A student who wants to earn a welding certificate, for instance, might enroll in Intro to Welding in the ninth grade and continue through a series of classes until they complete a workplace practicum in the 12th grade. Understanding the certification test can assist in the development of useful instruction for earlier coursework because it is the culmination of many courses.
Research the strategies of accreditation programs, including enrolling understudies, handling installments, and guaranteeing that educators have met any vital necessities to delegate the tests. State officials or industry organizations can provide information and assistance in the absence of a CTE coordinator in the district.
Promoting the advantages
At the start of the year, it’s critical to get students excited about how certifications can improve their job prospects. Listing a credential that is directly related to their future career interests can increase their opportunities as juniors and seniors begin creating their resumes and college applications.
Invite former students to speak to the class as guest speakers to discuss how industry certifications helped them achieve their goals. Ask students to conduct research on the career field and create a list of questions for the speaker prior to the visit. Graduated class can offer understanding on what they needed to review to get their affirmations and what obstructions they confronted. Additionally, they may be able to provide useful information regarding the actual experience of the job search process.
Students’ interest in career paths and available certifications can be piqued by local employers who can assist them in directly connecting their education to real-world employment. Invite a local employer to discuss their interviewing, resume review, and candidate recruitment processes. A restaurant owner might talk about how students can get into the business, and a manufacturing manager might talk about the particular skills that his plant needs.
Overview understudies early on to see what fields interest them. Students should be tasked with compiling a summary of their research into the field’s job opportunities, wages, and qualifications. The speaker’s and the audience’s experiences will be enhanced by preparation and research. Combine the appearance of the guest speaker with a lesson on resume writing or interviewing techniques to introduce writing and presentation skills.
Integrate standards into classroom activities.
Plan your objectives around the standards and abilities covered by the certification tests. By incorporating the topics into her regular classes, one teacher at my school helped her students prepare for the Entrepreneurship and Small Business certification exam this year. She started by analyzing the training affirmation tests.
Focusing on vocabulary is one way to incorporate the test-acquired skills into the classroom. Create a list of relevant industry terms and use classwork or a word wall to introduce them. Students can benefit from quick, frequent assessments, such as weekly quizzes, that help them retain the language necessary for certification.
A standard should be introduced at the beginning of a lesson. It is essential to make connections between the work and the standards that will be tested, particularly for a hands-on course. At focuses all through a class, request that understudies delay and return to the distinguished norm. Ask students to make connections between the standard and the work they are doing in class. Students will be able to better understand concepts if they take frequent breaks to discuss the skills they are working on.
A course’s helpful guide can also be found in practice exams. After the students have taken the test, have them look over their results in groups to figure out what they need to learn more about. Similarly that packing the prior night doesn’t deal with a school test, understudies ought to deal with the abilities the entire year paving the way to the test. Teachers can assist in laying out the monthly topics that will be covered in class, as homework, and as independent study.
In a time when the work market requests profoundly gifted specialists like never before, getting an industry certification prior to leaving secondary school can separate understudies and set them up for the 21st-century labor force.
