Education provider supports Pacific youth into skilled jobs

A Pacific provider is using a community approach to support youth into work, apprenticeships or tertiary study.

Oceania Careers Academy is part of the Fono, a Pacific health provider with centres across Auckland.

Marketing manager Frank Koloi says at these clinics they're able to pinpoint youth who may be disengaged from learning, and put them on a different path.

"When a family comes to the clinic to see the GP and the GP finds out that there's a 16 or 17 year old at home who's not at school who has been working on and off - and some of our young people have gone out to work to try and help support the family - so what we're doing through our educational arm is to help our families and their young people to get them into skilled employment.”

Oceania Careers Academy is based in Māngere, working with youth aged 15-26 who are disengaged from learning or employment. The academy offers free courses which help youth achieve NCEA and provide pathways into the health and construction sectors.

Attendance numbers have been skewed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but 2019 Term one figures put regular attendance of Pacific students at 47.6%, compared to a national average of 72.8%.

Speaking to Susnation Seta on PMN Cook Islands, Koloi says getting an education can be the foundation towards higher education and higher wages.

“Some of the social problems and some of the health problems that we face are simply because we don't have enough money coming into our homes.

“Our household income is still among the lowest in the country, our average income for Pasifika is only $23,000 a year, and that's mainly because we're working in the unskilled labour force.”