Advisory Boards, what are the benefits and expectations?
Advisory Boards provide information, counsel and recommendations to the individual auto technician programs and are made up from the community it serves. Each NATEF accredited auto technician program at high schools, regional technical education centers or community colleges are required by the National Automotive Technician Education Foundation (NATEF) to convene an Advisory Board. These boards generally consist of former students, currently employed auto technicians, employers and people whom could represent consumers interests. This is in addition to school personnel that are responsible for running the program. An active and involved board ensures that program goals are met by having all stakeholders in the automobile industry present, and by having it be diverse.
Advisory Board members can expect to attend meetings at least twice a year aligning with Fall and Spring semesters. In addition to providing input, board members will conduct site inspections of labs, make funding recommendations and review curriculum. Through these processes, board members evaluate the program’s tools, equipment and facilities to mirror the industry and ensure the instruction provides the students with the skills needed to enter the workforce.
The benefits of serving on an Advisory Board are abundant. Whether an auto technician, employer, educator or consumer, we all rely upon a skilled automobile workforce to keep New Hampshire rolling. A leadership and advisory role gives you a voice and the satisfaction of giving back to an industry that you’ve benefited from. Most rewarding is the joy derived from observing how these programs transform young people’s lives by giving them opportunity and a career.
What are job Co-Ops or Extended Learning Opportunities and Mentorships?
Automotive educational programs rely upon community-based learning to translate the theory and practice taught in the classroom into the reality of being part of the workforce inside industry. These community-based learning pipelines commonly take the form of:
What makes successful Co-Ops or Extended Learning Opportunities and Mentorships?
The most successful Co-Ops, Extended Learning Opportunities and Mentorships all have several things in common:
In essence, these programs are most successful when they provide a win-win outcome for both the students and industry partners. Without the above processes in place, all too often win-lose or worst, lose-lose outcomes are realized whereas the students didn’t benefit from the experience and industry doesn’t realize the return on its investment. Communication, engagement and cultivation of relationships by school faculty combined with accountability of the students to fulfill their obligations to industry all but insure a positive outcome. This is just not replicable by staying in the confines of the classroom walls.