YOUTH TRANSITION INNOVATIONS: "LINKING LEARNING TO LIFE"

My professional context includes helping youth to make the transition from school to work.
In the course of my work on a youth program, I came across this brief that highlighted innovative practises for making these transitions and I just loved the phrase used in brief:


"LINKING LEARNING TO LIFE"

I really like this phrasing.  I think that it points to a gap area that is important for those making transitions.  If we fail to ask questions of youth, while they are in the supportive communities that education creates, then how will they be prepared to make the giant leaps that are required when they graduate and the world doesn't provide them with pathways, learning outcomes or frames of inquiry that are needed to successfully transition?

This brief was intended to help those working with youth to engage in purposeful and positive work experiences to make the transition a positive step rather than a fearful leap.

In the brief there were a number of transitions considered for youth transition, including:

• Internships 
• Summer Jogs
• Youth Run Business/ Entrepreurship
• Service Projects
• Part Time Jobs
• Volunteerism 
• Pre-employment Programs
• Soft Skills Programs
• Work Training Programs

With each of these opportunities to link learning to life, I believe there is a process of inquiry that is needed so that the opportunity does not pass without the student tuning into the learning that has occurred, or what is noticed about what is needed for future learning.  This is why I love the idea of cooperative education.  Students who gain work experience and are guided through a reflection process are most likely to retain the learning that can lead in the direction of the most personally interesting and fulfilling direction.

One of the programs I worked in in the past was called the Futures Program.  It was a completely in-school program for the first 6 weeks, as a paid pre-employment experience.  This program was discontinued eventually, but ran for many, many years.  In the time that it was discontinued, the need still existed and many youth struggled greatly with making transitions from school to work.  Having a community that required inquiry and reflection had a great deal of value for the youth involved who simply didn't know, what they didn't know about career planning, the world of work and the expectations of adult life.  I am so encouraged to see these programs, however the funder decides to revise them, being reintroduced. In an uncertain world, transitions are hard.  It is a cold world to realize that in high school there was a supportive community, but then you are on your own.

Given that we don't know what jobs will be beyond the next few years, how can we prepare our youth to be competitive in a labour market that is yet to exist?
How can we stress the importance of doing work that is personally fulfilling and meaningful when we know that income and stability is like a more basic need?
How can youth become more innovative and personally connected to the labour market, beyond the programs listed above?  How can education innovate to provide even more meaningful options to "link learning to life"?