Skills Pathway Framework for Juvenile Studentat Henry Gurney School

Abstract

Introduction:Education should not be exclusive. It must be inclusive, comprehensive, and holistic that includes the diversity of groups for the development of the country. However, juvenile delinquents who get the status of 'students' in juvenile schools are among the groups excluded from the national education stream. Juvenile students are a group of individuals who are juvenile offenders who are placed to attend school in prison institutions due to the problem of lack of discipline and moral decay. These people are also often associated with people who have learning problems, but not all of them can be considered as individuals who have failed or have no future. In addition to their mistakes and weaknesses, juvenile students may also have strengths and academic advantages or skills in certain areas that are usually quite overlooked in mainstream education.

Objectives: This study is expected to produce a skills pathway framework based on information on students' perceptions of their multiple intelligences and interview information among juvenile students. In addition, the significant output of this study is also expected to suggest new ideas to stakeholders on how a skills program can be designed to match the various levels of interest or excellence of each student.

Methods: This study uses a quantitative method with a survey design and is supported by qualitative data through interviews. The sampling of respondents (201 students) from Henry Gurney School (HGS) aged between 15 and 21 years. The instrument used in this study is divided into three parts, namely Part I (Demographic Information), Part II (Multiple Intelligence), and Part III (Interview Protocol).

Results: The findings of this studydetermined that the highest mean score for respondents’ multiple intelligence score is Naturalist Intelligence (μ = 3.908, σ = 0.64), while the lowest is Logic Math (μ = 3.294, σ = 0.62). An analysis with the independent sample t-test that has been carried out, show that there is no significant difference (p> 0.05; t = 0.883; df = 199) for the overall score of multiple intelligence between academic and non-academic stream in HGS. The respondents’ preferred courses to continue their study are more to Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) such as automotive. But there are also students who are interested in continuing their studies in the field of academic courses and sports.

Conclusions: This study has provided an important fact to the stakeholders where skills courses in the automotive field are courses that need to be offered whenever they want to open up opportunities for HGSleavers to continue their studies, especially with sponsorship from the Government. Moreover, students who are interested and qualified to continue their studies in academics and sports also need to be given opportunities so that they can be together in developing the country.