Georgia students interested in commercial fishing will now have a unique opportunity to pursue that field of study as part of their high school curriculum. The State Board of Education recently adopted standards for two courses — commercial fishing, management and fisheries science and safety, watchkeeping, and healthy oceans for commercial fishing.
The State BOE also posted three courses for public comment which are part of a new financial technology (FinTech) career pathway, including introduction to financial technology, financial technologies and services, and coding for FinTech.
“Georgia’s Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) program aims to deliver real-world, workforce-ready skills for Georgia students,” said Dr. Barbara Wall, State CTAE Director. “The commercial fishing and FinTech pathways are great examples of the way we partner with local school systems, industry partners, and higher ed to prepare students for their futures.”
According to state education officials, this career pathway grew out of an immediate need to improve the graduation rate for students in McIntosh County on the Georgia coast where local students often leave school to work on commercial fishing vessels. This career pathway is designed to give all students the opportunity to complete the three sequenced pathway courses in commercial fishing and earn an embedded unit of credit in Oceanography — allowing them to meet the Fourth-Science graduation requirement.
According to the state Department of Education, many local commercial fishing industry partners, Coastal Pines Technical College and the UGAR/VBulldog(Research Vessel) researchers were involved in determining and identifying curriculum standard content for these courses. Work is currently ongoing with the industry, the U.S. Coast Guard and Georgia Department of Natural Resources to identify appropriate commercial fishing credentials for students upon pathway completion. In addition, students will be eligible to complete Work-Based Learning courses in Commercial Fishing upon career pathway completion, officials said.
DOE staff reported that recent workforce projections indicate there is an immediate need for 5,000 employees in FinTech — with a projected need for 2,000 annually going forward as Georgia emerges as a leader in the industry.
FinTech uses technology to offer various financial services to consumers and 70 percent of all financial transactions worldwide pass through Georgia.
The University System of Georgia has already developed an associate’s level degree which includes five FinTech courses. The State DOE then identified three of those courses to develop into a pathway for high school students interested in the FinTech industry which will allow students to take these three courses either in high school or at a college and receive credit at both institutions. Students will also have the opportunity to dual-enroll and take the remaining two courses — feasibly allowing them to graduate high school with the FinTech content completed.
The State Board tabled a vote for approval to post course standards for public comment on history and literature of the Old Testament, history and literature of the New Testament, sports in American society, and intelligence and national security studies. The Old Testament and New Testament courses are a result of the passage of SB 83 by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) in 2019.
