Obvious Ideas

1. School Career Guidance Counselling 2. University Career Development 3. Rotary Work Experience Opportunities 4. Rotary Exchange Student Programme 5. Take a Gap Year for life experience 6. Link with a Mentor 7. Attend Finishing School to learn life skills and social etiquette 8. Join an apprenticeship

Modified Obvious Ideas

1. Establish a Pensioner Expert Network to continue productivity. 2. Arrange a school exchange programme in local area each school offers a new speciality. 3. Structured (approved) Gap Year offering technical practical training Learn varied life skills through 4.community service 5.national military service 6.environmental service 7.No sell-by date for pensioners keep pensioners active to pass on skills and stimulate growth 8.Graduated and phased Retirement Programme from fulltime employment to fulltime mentorship to part-time consultancy.

Innocent Ideas (through the eyes of a 5 year old)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Show and Tell Take a child to work Day Create a Role Playing Game Produce an Educational Toy Use treats to create learning incentives Create When I Grow Up learning scenarios, Use puzzles to create learning opportunities. Role Change Kid becomes the teacher.

Well Funded Ideas (unlimited budget)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Hire a personal tutor / mentor Attend the best schools (networking) Attend the best university (networking) Unlimited overseas travel meeting career contacts Purchase the best equipment to enhance career Establish Mentor Institute to desseminate experience and knowledge Establish Centre for new career paths relating to sustainable and ecological futures. 8. Identify and develop new essential skills for a sustainable future that have not yet been provided.

No Money (no budget)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Create own learning opportunities Work for experience (trade off as a shadow worker) Prospective Work Scholarship Government Grant Apprenticeship Approach retired experts in the chosen discipline Volunteer Service (Operation Raleigh / Peace Corps) Establish a Community Knowledge Bank accessing the knowledge and experience of retired experts 9. Promote self-sufficiency initiatives using available local resources. 10. Pool the resources of other job seekers to create viable group opportunities. 11. Identify latent skills and talent and a common cause to start a revenue generating initiative.

Unusual Ideas
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Knowledge from extra-terrestrial beings and spaceships Hypnosis Suggestive Learning Past Life Regression tapping into an unknown knowledge source Change the School University Work sequence to School Work University Work sequence. (promoting pre-tertiary study work) Loan Payback Anti-gravity falling up investigating gravity free solutions for the disabled. Credit accumulation to determine career aptitude based on regular assessment. Invisible tutor wearing of a mentor-aid (based on a hearing aid) Teleportation hologram tutor transference of knowledge Change the concept of Growing Old around to Growing Young working towards Life not working towards Death Genie in a bottle to grant wishes Hi-Learnation (from Hibernation) developing sleep and rest training techniques Survival of the weakest possible through the information age, giving new opportunities to the disabled. Mind Reader knowledge transfer through telepathy

7.
8. 9. 10.

11. 12.
13. 14.

Three Selected Ideas

1. Most Practical Idea
A Structured Gap Year
In a developing country such as South Africa there is a high level of unemployment, yet there is so much to be done to provide the necessary infrastructure, services and production to ensure economic growth, social stability and environmental sustainability. Essential technical skills have become undervalued in favour of professional university qualifications. The structured gap year could be an opportunity to impart essential technical skills and to involve the youth in community service and a knowledge of environmental sustainability.

Three Selected Ideas

2. Most Disruptive Idea
Knowledge from extra-terrestrial beings and spaceships
This would be very disruptive as we would have to come to terms with a new reality where we were not necessarily in control. However through the assimilation of alien ideas we could fast-track the solving of many of our pressing issues. Today we are entrenched in many systems that although accepted as a norm are not necessarily relevant to current situations. This includes the international financial systems, provision of housing , food production systems, and general resource management. Hopefully it will not take an alien invasion for us to look at new alternatives that will totally influence the school to work transition.

Three Selected Ideas

3. Favourite Idea
To establish a retired experts mentorship programme centre. This will utilse the knowledge and experience of the retired experts to benefit the advancement of the careers of the youth. It will be a win-win situation as the retirees will welcome the opportunity to remain active and to make a worthwhile contribution: the youth will benefit from having someone to guide them through the study-work transition. This can start off as a local project which can then become national and international. There is a wealth of expertise that is lost due to redundancy in retirement. With so much knowledge available it makes sense to tap into it.