Is it necessary to do the career orientation for secondary school students?

Our world today is constantly growing and changing every minute on the path of cultural and economic integration. This development has created a huge demand for human resources with useful skills in Vietnam.

Even though Vietnam is known as a country with abundant labor resources of hard-working and enthusiastic people, the lack of skilled workers is still remaining an unresolved issue.

According to some assessments, this problem is caused by an insufficiency of career orientation for children at secondary and high school stage.

Lately, Vietnamese education system has started career-oriented subjects for students to experience and self-assess their career aspirations and orientations. They are provided with skills and preliminary knowledge related to occupations and careers.

However, many students are still showing their apathy towards this problem, which is of great concern to many parents for their children’s future. As a result, some of them wondered if career orientation for secondary school students is necessary or not.

The answer is “YES”. In other countries such as Canada, the career orientation for children is very common in junior high schools.

There are many programs and environments for the young people to try, work and practice a wide range of job positions depending on their interests and personalities as well as to participate in highly practical courses that accompany academic programs.

Students therefore will be equipped with many skills and life experiences, so that they can adapt themselves to any living environment. With those interesting lessons without heavy theories, it encourages children’s creativity and good behaviors.

Gradually, it will be easy for them to find out what they are good at and truly want to do in their own future; in other words, their choice for future career will not be distracted or affected by any external factors.

It also explains why kids from other countries often tend to be more independent than those in Vietnam and are capable of handling situations although their theory foundation is not really good.

“So what should I do to help my kids?”

In general, there are many methods to solve this problem such as:

Vocational/High School

Most parents wish their children to be able to complete the education program as smoothly as possible, so further study and orientation decisions after high school and vocational school will ensure they are on the right track with the career trends of the times.

For example which industries have more career opportunities, which industries have high salaries, which industries are easy to find jobs, etc.

Overseas Summer Camp:

In recent years, summer camp programs are getting the attention of many students and parents in shaping future development.

An international summer camp which is a short-term course in summer vacation will give students the opportunity to perfect themselves, improve their foreign language and social skills as well as learn how to live and work well in a group.

Students will spend time exploring another country to familiarize themselves with the international living style.

Summer camp also can be considered a rewarding trip from parents to their children after a school year, an opportunity to take part in extracurricular activities and visit famous beautiful landmarks in the world.

What are the advantages of a summer camp?

• Foreign languages skills improvement
• Communication skills practice, new culture exploration
• Independent living skills improvement 
• Dream achievement 
• Preparation for a long-term overseas study

Summer camp will be a good opportunity for students to try to live, study and experience like a true international student in a short period of time, which will create in their mind a clear and proper orientation for future study plan. 

During the trip, students will be able live with a host family, study at an international school and make friends with many other people from different countries.

In addition, this time also gives students a chance to gain more knowledge and get prepared for their studying abroad in the future. Moreover, the summer camp can be seen as a test helping the parents to decide on how they should invest for their children’s long-term study.

For students, summer camp will definitely become a memorable experience in their life. Many students participate in this program as a way to get more practical information before coming to the decisions of studying abroad in other countries.