A very warm welcome to the second national Agribusiness conference for secondary schools. We are very excited to be hosting this event at St Paul's Collegiate School and John McGlashan College in Dunedin and promise you a programme that will be innovative, challenging and educational, as we look to promote Agribusiness in New Zealand schools.
In 2018 all New Zealand schools will be able to offer Agribusiness in their senior curriculum. The Ministry of Primary Industries are forecasting the need for 45,000 graduates across the Agribusiness sector by 2025, so if your school is looking for a subject that offers you a key point of difference in your region, that will open up potentially exciting school/business links and partnerships, and provide career opportunities and pathways for your students, then attend the conference and learn more about Agribusiness.
These two-day conferences are aimed at HOD’s and teachers of senior sciences, technology and commerce. The purpose is to learn more about teaching an Agribusiness programme of learning in your school using the new Agribusiness achievement standards that have been developed at NCEA levels 2 and 3. These new standards were trialled by NZQA in ten schools around the country in 2017 and are endorsed by leaders across the New Zealand Agribusiness sector including principal partners in this initiative – DairyNZ and Beef+Lamb NZ.
We have developed a highly academic Agribusiness programme that will help meet the industry’s long term needs to develop highly skilled and motivated young people, required for a sustainable future of the primary sector. Interest is high in this innovative integrated programme that targets bright, academic, tertiary capable students with strengths in sciences and/or commerce subjects.
Kerry Allen – Agribusiness Curriculum Project Director