Time for Change – Cate Conference 2013
The title of the event said it all, from the 13th-15th of November over 600 Transition Facilitators, Career Advisors, Teaching staff and Government officials made their way down to Queenstown for the Careers and Transition Education conference which was focused on change. It was evident from the outset that the majority of people present were dissatisfied with the current outcomes for students leaving secondary school. This year’s CATE conference would focus on what we can all do to make positive changes that will lead to better outcomes for the next generation of leaders.
After finding out we were going to run a workshop at the CATE conference only weeks before the event, Suse and I began preparing a presentation that we had hoped would inspire and encourage our audience to push for better opportunities for students with experience of disability. The presentation room was tucked away through a slight maze of hotel corridors in a room that quickly became a sauna under the heat of the stunning Queenstown sun. Despite those minor deterrents, we still had at least 25-30 eager audience members turn up and lend their full attention to the presentation. I started the presentation by speaking about the research I had done into transition as well as my experience working alongside youth and school staff. Suse then went on to give a more detailed explanation of the work Emerge does with a focus on best practice in transition. We summed up by reinforcing the message that we need better funding and more options for a lot of the youth we work with.
Our workshop was received with applause and a number of interested audience members stayed around to chat with us and ask questions afterwards. Admittedly, Suse and I were very nervous in the week leading up to the event, so it was a major relief to have such a great reception to our presentation and to the work Emerge does in general. Throughout the rest of the conference, we were able to meet a number of interesting people from various schools and organisations around the country. Suse and I left with some new and exciting ideas for our students and hopefully we were able to impart some inspiration on the people we met too.
