Jodie and her colleague Karina have identified that a lack of soft skills can be a significant barrier to students’ learning and employability and as a result have embarked on a project with Ako Aotearoa to develop descriptors and progressions to support tutors to consistently integrate soft skills into their programmes. In their interactive workshop, they will share key aspects of their work to date including the development of a tool which enables students to self-reflect and evaluate their soft skills.
Jodie is a passionate educator with more than twenty year’s experience in the Early Childhood, Primary and Tertiary sectors. She is currently CEO of Matapuna Training Centre, a Gisborne PTE that offers foundation education to youth and adults. Prior to taking up the role five years ago, Jodie was working as an independent consultant to Boards of Trustees and she completed a number of statutory interventions in the Gisborne/East Coast area.
Karina Terekia has ten years’ experience as a tutor at Matapuna Training Centre. She has held a variety of roles that have included adult and youth programmes. Karina is currently teaching the Induction Youth Guarantee class at Matapuna Training Centre. Her students are usually aged 16 or 17 and none have achieved NCEA level 1. Karina embeds literacy and numeracy into engaging projects to ensure that all students leaving her class have achieved the minimum Literacy and Numeracy requirements to achieve NCEA level 1.