When my daughter was in high school, she participated in an internship where she received a course credit for her part-time employment as a nursery attendant at the local fitness gym. Was she aiming for a career in early childhood education? No. Health and fitness? Not that either. Did the school build a relationship with the employer for future internships for students who may want a career in those fields? No again.
In fact, no connections existed between what my daughter was studying at school and how she earned credit for her work experience. It was simply about putting in the time.
At last month’s Emerging Issues forum, I had the opportunity to participate in table discussions with prominent industry leaders, higher education professionals and a representative of the Small Business Administration. We talked about the need to improve connections between industry and education, to enhance career pathways for students and improve work-based learning opportunities for both students and teachers. We agreed that internship experiences like my daughter’s aren’t sufficient for today’s students — or for their future employers.
It’s time to move beyond the cliché that interns are there to get coffee and make copies.
The deeper question we wrestled with is this: how can we connect our students to more careers and better opportunities, particularly in communities that are struggling? One of the speakers at the event — 17-year-old entrepreneur Jaylen Bledsoe — put it another way: “They are not exposed to what they can really do. They are exposed only to what’s in front of them. How do we teach students the skills everyone needs?”
Suggestions during my table discussions included a range of ideas: tax incentives for businesses that provide work-based learning opportunities for students, virtual job shadowing for students in rural areas, paid externships that embed teachers in local companies.
Increasing the number and the quality of relationships between business and industry will serve both sides well. To truly craft an effective and sustainable response, educators and business leaders must come together — not just once a year at the forum, but throughout the school year and beyond. As schools and businesses work to connect, consider these questions:
- What does a high-quality student internship or teacher externship look like?
- Why is the student or teacher there — what is the purpose?
- What can the business gain from this experience?
Adrienne Fornes is a career and college ready coach with NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning. Prior to her work as a college liaison with the Rural Innovative Schools initiative, she taught middle school and high school science in North Carolina where she became a mentor, clinical teacher, and curriculum guide writer. Adrienne graduated from Youngstown State University in Ohio with a bachelor of arts in geography for geographic information systems. She also holds a master of arts in teaching-science education and a master of school administration and curriculum and instruction from East Carolina University.
