The Employment and Training Corporation seeks to assist young people to make a positive school-to-work transition through initiatives aimed to strengthen their standing in the labour market, ETC chairman Sandra Sladden told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Asked to comment on reports published in The Malta Independent on Sunday over two successive weeks, in which the lack of preparation for employment was highlighted, Dr Sladden said that all young job seekers are referred to job-search and job-skills activities to improve their chance of getting a job.

Two weeks ago, The Malta Independent on Sunday quoted STC Training School CEO Patrick Pullicino and the school’s business development and operations manager Mandy Mifsud as saying that for many students their first work experience comes as a shock because they are not well prepared.

Last week, Malta Employers’ Association director general Joseph Farrugia said that preparing university students for employment should be enhanced by having lectures given by people with experience in industry, in addition to the ones who teach them only theory.

Dr Sladden said that the Apprenticeship Scheme is a prime example of ETC’s endeavour to help young people acquire “working” skills. Through such a scheme, a young person can choose from a wide range of jobs, taking theoretical tuition at MCAST as well as on-the-job training organised by the ETC.

For a number of years, the ETC has run a Basic Employment Training programme, where young people leaving school who do not intend furthering their studies follow a 10-week programme of basic and work-related skills. The ETC has also implemented the Job Experience Scheme for young people, whereby young jobseekers can be placed with an employer for 12 weeks, and are granted an allowance, while they gain a first work experience that contributes to their CV.

Around two thirds of these young people are kept on by the employer who provided the placement, Dr Sladden said.

The ETC’s Employment Aid programme also offers a subsidy equivalent to half the wage to employers recruiting (among other groups) young school leavers who have not worked for two years after completing their education. Furthermore, all young job seekers can benefit from the range of employment services and training courses offered by the corporation. The ETC is in the process of finalising an EU-funded project specifically for young people.

Dr Sladden said that the school-to-work transition of young people, including graduates, has become more challenging than ever. Starting work is an important juncture in a young person’s life. From a situation where, at school, the youngster is mostly among his peers and meet quite clearly defined expectations, going into work opens up many new horizons and challenges.

It has become a truism to say that the nature of work has changed over the past decade or so. Trends such as globalisation, and a rise in higher-skilled services have meant that work, today, is for many people much more intense, complex and faster than ever before.

It may be the case that whereas in earlier times, work was more routine and young people would take up a job and find experienced, established persons to mentor them, today this type of supported induction is less available, as older employees are themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of change, Dr Sladden said.

Work requires the development of psycho-social capacities, particularly openness to learning and a willingness to take initiative that may not have been fully developed. The ETC would prefer not to generalise about young people being spoilt – very many are not, Dr Sladden said, in reference to comments by Mr Pullicino and Ms Mifsud that young people today “find everything ready” and believe “the world owes them a living”. On the contrary, Dr Sladden continued, they play an active part in the civic and voluntary sectors of our society and, through their ideals and their energy, make a very valuable contribution.

However, it also appears to be true that a certain segment of young people have become passive and have lost the sense of their place in their world and the ways in which they could have a positive effect on society. There may be many and varied reasons for this, but even where it is the case, the ETC believes in the power of second chances.

The corporation has seen many cases of young people who have left school without qualifications but who have, through sheer determination, made up for lost time, whether through further study or doing their best to learn on the job.

The ETC does agree that exposure to tutors who have experience of industry in the Maltese context would definitely enrich the students’ knowledge base and help prepare them for work. Work experience, even of a limited duration such as summer jobs, is often indispensable, as it helps youngsters to develop proper work habits and enriching their CV.

The question as to whether or not university actually prepares ‘good workers’ is a tricky one – as this is not the principal aim of the university, which is to educate in a broad sense, Dr Sladden said. However, a number of university courses do have practical placements, which are clearly intended to enrich the student’s experience and to enhance his or her eventual employability.

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