Stewardship organisation – Youth Employability Aotearoa (YEA) – Emma Godwin + Careers and Transitions Education (CATE) – Leigh Gray

Small and medium employers often want to work with schools but are not sure where to start or have tried once and found it hard to keep going.
Different calendars, language, and expectations can make it difficult to turn goodwill into a clear plan that works for both sides.
The Inspiring the Next Generation Starter Kit is designed for those employers.
It offers simple, practical guidance to help you connect with schools, engage with students, and build a future talent pipeline into vocational careers.
Developed with ConCOVE Tūhura, ThinkPlace, and a wide range of sector stakeholders, the Starter Kit brings together insight from educators, employers, and people who sit between both worlds.
The kit has two main parts:

  • Part 1 explains the gap between school and work from a young person’s point of view, and why employer involvement matters

  • Part 2 sets out five clear steps to successful engagement:

    • Step 1: Finding your best entry point

    • Step 2: Starting well with schools

    • Step 3: Getting to “yes”

    • Step 4: Making it happen

    • Step 5: Engaging well with students

Across these steps you will find:

  • Guidance on how schools work and what they need from employers

  • Tips to shape a realistic offer that fits your business size and capacity

  • Conversations starters and planning prompts

  • Practical tools such as an engagement activity planner, workplace readiness checklist, and simple partnership agreement templates

Employers can read the whole kit or go straight to the step that matches where they are now.
For VET stakeholders and industry, this Starter Kit supports more consistent, high-quality school engagement, and helps young people see real pathways into trade and technical careers.

Inspring the next generation PDF (Size: 501 KB | Modified: 14/11/2025)

Inspring the next generation Powerpoint (Size: 2 MB | Modified: 14/11/2025)