Career CounsellingMETHODOLOGY OF SCHOOL GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT25 AUGUST 2015

Subject choices (grade 8-9)

1. Why teach on subject choice?Many of our learners get confused when they get to the high school level, firstly because the environment has changed and so are the subjects to learn. They face problems with the many subjects that they get introduced to and all the new sorts of things. So that is the PROBLEM. This is why I chose to address this and assist learners to be better at their own education. Studies show that learners often chose wrong subjects because of the following reasons:

Reasons why learners choose wrong subjects:

1. Peer pressure 2. Lack of information 3. Influence they get at home 4. Influence from the teachers 5. The school structure (what is available to them) AND THAT IS WHY WE HERE TODAY.

How do we solve the problem?

Because there are many spheres involved in the learner’s life, we need to address those people and give them clearance on how to actually help the learners. These other spheres are: parents and teachers.

Teachers responsibility:Teachers play a vital role in what learners turn to be and what learners aspire to be in future, this is because teachers spend more time with these learners (a day to day interaction) and they know them more than parents. They know their abilities, skills, knowledge level and interest and their motivation. So what should teachers do?

Continuation …

Teachers should ensure that learners chose the right subjects that suits the learners’ capability and skills, they should advice leaners looking at their end year reports of grade 9. For example if a learner is not good in natural science and mathematics while in grade 8 and 9, the teacher can advise the learner to go to the other streams rather than the science stream.

Teachers have the influence and can change these learners because learners do listen to them. So if teachers do this, we can have a generation that is happy with their school life and their future careers

Subject streams that teachers and learners should know:

We have four different streams that teachers and learners should know about. These all four streams accommodate for different learners’ ability, interest, values, skills, personality and understanding.

The science stream It includes subjects as: Physical Science, Mathematics, Life sciences, and Geography. This stream requires leaners to be good in their natural science, mathematics and a little part in history while they are still in their grade 8 and 9.

Continuation…

The commerce streamIt includes subjects as: Economics, Accounting, Business Management, mathematics literacy and or Tourist. This stream requires learners to be good in their EMS and their mathematics while they are still in grade 8 and 9. The general streamIt includes subjects as History, Geography, Life science, Tourism, Agriculture, and mathematics or mathematics literacy. Basically this is a mixture of subjects that a learner thinks they can handle and pass well. It gives the freedom of choice.This stream does not specifically needs certain master of anything, if you master a variety of subjects in grade 8 and 9, then you can chose any of your interested subjects.

Continuation…

The art stream Firstly learners need to know that this stream is not catered for in every

school, it is only some of the school that offers it. It includes every type of art one would like to do, form visual art to

musical art; it has a variety of subjects depending on what a learner wants to major on.

This stream requires learners to be very artistic and creative; if learners master their arts and culture in grade 8 and 9 then they are the right candidates for the stream.

• Parent’s responsibility:

Parents play a very important role in the learners’ subject choice, this is because learners hear from their parents and take orders from them in most cases. Parents have their own dreams and wishes for their children, which at most is different from what the learner can do and want. So we plead with parent to not choose for learners on what they should be, but support their abilities and encourage them on what they are good at. For example some parents want their children to be doctors because they maybe also doctors, but problem will be if the learner is not good in science; that way a learner fails in her/his schooling. So we urge parents to advice and accept learners as they are with their abilities and skills.

What parents must know: Multiple intelligent by Howard Gardner

Firstly Howard Gardner speaks about multiple intelligences and how they are all of vital importance to the world. He says they all contribute to the world and if we lack one it would not fully function.

So what are we saying? All learners are different and function in the different way, so when choosing their subjects, parents should let learners be what they want to be and add value to the world with their intelligences.

Howard Gardner of Harvard has identified seven distinct intelligences. This theory has emerged from recent cognitive research and "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways," according to Gardner (1991).

Demonstration

Conclusion

Now what are we saying with all this? Let learners be what they want to be and choose what they can be able

to do. No peer preasure, no family influence or school problems.

Let us be the light to the learners!!

Introduction

The broad topic of our group is career counselling. And my sub-topic is minimum requirements. These minimum requirements I will be talking about are those that the learners have to take note of in terms of applying to the universities. As our broad topic is concerned, my target audience is the grade 10-12 learners. A lot of learners are lost or rather confused when it comes to going to the universities and applying for a certain course. They tend to think that anyone can be accepted regardless their matric results

Intro Continuation

As teachers we constantly remind them on how important it is to get good grade because if one does not have good grades then it becomes a problem when it comes to applying to the universities as they themselves have their own way of calculating the APS scores. To give you an understanding of what it means by APS, I will explain the abbreviation and give you guys examples of how different universities calculate their APS scores for one to qualify and apply in that particular university.

APS Abbreviation

A lot of learners tend to ignore the fact that the various universities use the APS in order for one to be accepted in a particular course. This APS stands for:

A – Admission P - Points S – Scores To start with. I will start with NMMU (The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan

University).

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

There are various universities out there that one can go and apply to, however I will be focusing on one university because of time, and that is Nelson Mandela Metropolitan university

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is a South African tertiary education institution with its main administration in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth

According to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, . If one takes more than 7 subjects, they will have to select the 7 best subjects to calculate the APS. If one’s APS does not meet the required admission score, but fall with the testing band, one will automatically referred for testing.

Nmmu Minimum Requirements

This table refers to the minimum entry requirements and explains how well one need to do in other school subjects to meet the minimum entry requirements for each type of qualification

Qualification Minimum Entry Requirement

Higher certificate Pass on the NCS

Diploma Pass NCS with, an achievement rating of 3 (40-49)

Bachelor Degree Pass NCS with an achievement rating of 4 (50-59)

   

APS Calculations

The table and information below explain on how one can calculate their APS

NCS Level NCS% APS APS%

 7654321

 80-100%70-79%60-69%50-59%40-49%30-39%0-29%

87654320         

90-100%80-89%70-79%60-69%50-59%40-49%30-39%0-29%

Example

To enroll for the B.com (Accounting for Chartered Accountants). You need an Admission point score (APS) of at least 38 as well as 4 subjects from the designated list and a pass in Mathematics on at least level 5 (60-69).

Matric Subjects

NSC% Level APS points Allocated

English 70% 6 6African language

80% 7 7

MathematicsAccountingLife OrientationPhysical sciencesLife Sciences

6955607481

55567

55567

Example Continuation

According to the table above, this student has met the minimum admission requirements for the B.com (Accountancy for Chartered Accountants).

Conclusion

These various universities have different ways of calculating their APS. University of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand to name the few normally divide the life orientation mark by 2 and take the divided mark. But as Nmmu is concerned, they do not divide their life orientation by 2. therefore I urge you boys and girls that when you reach the stage of applying, you make a brief research about these universities.

Reference List

http://archivedpublicwebsite.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=15182&subid=15182