Careers and Pathways
Year 9 and 10 Careers Program
In recent weeks, the Careers program for our Year 9 and 10 students has taken centre stage delivering several immersive opportunities.
Year 9 students participated in a range of activities at our Mentone Campus, which were both informational and immersive. Year 10 students travelled to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre where they attended the 2024 VCE and Careers Expo.
Both events will serve our students well as they progress in their senior years and make decisions regarding their future pathways.
VCE and Careers Expo
In early May, our Year 10 students took to the city to attend the VCE and Careers Expo. This is a showcase of many future pathways, including Universities and TAFE providers, Emergency Services and Armed Forces, and Apprenticeships, Industries and Vocations.
Students got to interact with representatives to gain some knowledge and better understanding of their career sector. There was something there for everyone, with overwhelming student feedback that it was a worthwhile experience.
Following their Morrisby Testing and subsequent interviews, students have received guidance on possible future pathways and gained many new insights. Whilst there may be more questions, curiosity has been piqued and students are well-placed to make the decisions they need to come Term 3. These decisions will be supported when the next stage of the Year 10 Careers Program takes place, the Tertiary Immersion with visits to TAFE and University campuses.
Year 9 Careers Program
This month, we held a three-day Careers and Enterprise Event, designed to create space where students could build self-awareness, capacities, breadth of knowledge and skills.
It was heralded a great success by all involved and continues to generate student action and conversation.
Through presentations, guest speakers, alumni panelists, entrepreneurial coaching, workshops and competitions, our students were challenged to learn and do new things, collaborate, create, discern, evaluate, reflect – and ultimately – to grow.
Students were empowered to author their own stories across and beyond the event, encouraged to open themselves to all experiences and actively receptive to new information as the careers journey progressed.
Our Keynote Speaker, Professor Janine Dixon, Director, Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University Melbourne, focussed on the Employment Forecast Dashboard 2023-2026. Future themes included Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence and Caring for others illustrate the priorities of present and future job markets, whilst also reflecting how demand for traditional roles - nursing, teaching, accounting and truck driving - remain in high demand as ever.
Professor Dixon also reinforced to our students that career pathways don't need to be linear and imparted five cornerstones:
- be aware of the opportunities around you
- find occupations that align with your values
- cultivate strong relationships
- be prepared to change
- know yourself – sage advice for all.
Jim Schuman (First Pivot) spoke on Entrepreneurial Coaching, introducing students to the eleven elements of entrepreneurial mindset and ten entrepreneurial skillsets. He also guided us on the concept of pitching and story-telling.
Equipped with competitive fever, high energies and newly learnt knowledge, students clamoured to begin their “Amazing Race”, driven by six Pitch Point Challenges covering: ideas to improve their school, a unique solution to a social problem, a new way to use a common item and a pitch to an employer at a dream job opening. Fun and learning went hand in hand to produce some amazing ideas, including a dissolvable fishing net, expandable pasta bowls and self-polishing shoe boxes to name a few – proving that education and imagination could just lead to the next greatest thing.
Taking learning to the next level, a Year 9 Shark Tank Competition resulted in collaborative planning, building, modelling and pitching of a unique landing apparatus for an extreme sport of jumping minus parachutes. The addition of eggs and water bombs to the testing stage of prototypes provided an edge, whilst the judging panel of College Leadership personnel and Mr Schuman found it incredibly hard to choose a winning team - an abundance of entrepreneurship and ingenuity intensifying their task!
First Pivot certainly ignited the Entrepreneurial Torch in our students, who now segue these skills into the realm of social enterprise. Some will do so with the benefit of an extended coaching class, generously gifted to the Shark Tank Winners by Mr Schuman.
The Youth Engagement Team from Vinnies contributed an impactful presentation to our event delegates, referencing the volunteer work and resources required to address social hardship, restore dignity and enable independence to those impacted.
Business mindsets and Lasallian hearts were audience to some sobering facts. We learned that in 2023, over 122,000 Australians were experiencing homelessness, wages increased by 4.2% and rents by more than 7.3%. An overwhelming 50% of people who needed help did not receive it.
This knowledge resulted in an outstanding initiative project managed by our Year 9 student leaders with Vinnie’s Vault. This series of Pop-Up Op Shops was planned, pitched and stocked by the business minded, the creatives and the generosity of the College Community. Vinnie's Vault promotes entrepreneurial skills, slow fashion, sustainability and recycling – whilst also developing a platform to use core workplace competencies of initiative, collaboration, networking and communication, digital literacy and work ethic.
Careers Education in its purest form avails the learner to think and act for themselves and others. Applying the principles of entrepreneurship to social justice further allows this program to seamlessly address elements of the College Strategic Plan, framed by our Lasallian ethos.
The three-day event was concluded with presentations from popular favourites, Australian Defence Force and Victoria Police.
We also heard from Ai Training Group with exceptional insight into the Vocational Sector and Apprenticeship and Training Pathways. This cemented the theme that the working world is non-linear, and equal respect and attention should be given to exploring the various sectors within. On any pathway, education is key - the higher the better - these days more than ever.
The keys to success in this initiative were creativity, collaboration, professional research, connection to community, courage to take risks – and most importantly – the support of our incredible College Leadership Team who trusted and extended the vision and innovation of our Careers Team.
Support for the resourcing and delivery of Careers Education is critical to the goal of embedding it in all levels of College curriculum – enriching the learning journeys of students from the junior, through middle, to the senior years.
This event provides a vibrant starting point which we at St Bede’s College will continue to develop and look forward to extending in future.
Kaylene Menara
Careers and Pathways Coordinator