Careers
Careers and Pathways
It has been a very busy term with the careers and pathways team. We have been working on many different projects with students across 9 - 12.
Students in Years 9 - 11 completed Course Counselling at the beginning of term. We had a few busy days with most families connecting with us to discuss subject choices and make decisions about their courses for next year. Students in 2020 Year 11 and 12 should receive notification of their subjects over the holidays, with 2020 Year 10s receiving theirs shortly after. There will be also be instructions about how to request changes to courses if necessary.
Year 9 students have all participated in a vocational testing program called the Morrisby Careers Guidance program. This is a new initiative by the Victorian State Government which is being implemented this year. All students sit an online test and then have a careers counselling session with a qualified careers counsellor in order to get their results. Students will receive a formal report with lots of information and opportunities to investigate possible future career pathways. Thanks to Shannon Pook, Michelle Graco and the Year 9 team for helping to organise this initiative. We look forward to running it again next year as part of Year 9 Career Journey in Life Skills.
Year 12 VCAL attended the Melbourne Careers Expo at the Melbourne Convention Centre as part of their course work for the subject Skills for Further Study. They have completed investigation into different pathways providers and will be delivering their reports on different organisations to their fellow students in class. They are also in the process of deciding on their first step post-school - this might involve signing up for a TAFE course or applying for a job. The aim is that no VCAL student leaves the school without already having taken their next steps! Year 11 VCE students had previously attended the Good Careers Expo at Caulfield Racecourse, so this group of students have also had the opportunity to talk to post-school pathways providers about what is needed for them to move into tertiary study, employment or even a gap year.
Year 12 VCE students have all met with Michelle Graco to discuss VTAC and to list their preferences for tertiary courses. All of the students were well prepared and had obviously done some extensive thinking about what their future holds for them. Students also participated in a workshop run by Deakin Uni which told them about the Special Education Access Scheme, which can give them a bonus to their ATAR, and they are now aware of the many scholarships that they may also be eligible for. I encourage all families of Year 12 students to look at the Study Assist website (www.studyassist.gov.au) to find information about government assistance for financing tertiary study. If your family do not hold Australian citizenship or Permanent residence status, it is very important that you become aware of the costs of tertiary education, both for Higher Education and TAFE.
Our Year 10 students have had a number of careers initiatives targeted towards them by our University partners, with Deakin, Monash and RMIT all providing on campus activities to help familiarise students with campuses and courses. Students participated in a mock Law trial at Deakin, completed a scavenger hunt around Australia’s biggest university campus at Monash, and learnt about coding, web page design and Melbourne’s dual provider campus at RMIT. Each of the Universities are very different, and students saw positives and negatives associated with all of them, but essentially their experiences helped them to realise that hard work and ambition could lead them to many great opportunities in the Higher Education sector.
We have also had TAFE and RTO representatives at our Information evenings, and this has been of great interest to parents as they learn about Vocational education and School Based Apprenticeships and Training. We have also had a number of students express interest in the Headstart Apprenticeships program, a project aimed to keep young people at school until the end of year 12, by allowing them to combine an apprenticeship, work and secondary school study.
Finally, our Year 10 cohort are just about to go out on Work Experience, with a little over half of the group having secured a placement for the last week of Term 3. This is actually a great achievement, as it is indeed difficult for young people to find an employer who has the time and resources to take a work experience student on. Students will work in a range of workplaces, including supermarkets, schools, auto repair centres, hospitality, beauty and hairdressing providers, real estate agents and many more fields. The common factor will be about working with other people, learning new things, persevering and experiencing what it is like to get up and go to the workplace every day (and to be on time!) Students needed to complete Occupational Health and Safety training before they can go on their placement. Those who don’t find a placement will be expected to be at school every day. They will have classes in their core subjects, and will also complete an additional OHS assignment. This will be the assessment task for Life Skills, whilst those who have gone on placement will complete a Journal for their Life Skills assessment task.
Michelle, Shannon and Carren welcome your contact if you have any questions about careers and pathways, including what steps you might need to take if you are thinking about leaving school, what to do if you need to change subjects, or help with resumes, references and cover letters. From next term we will be in our new offices and career resource room in the new student services building, so we will have lots of space and hopefully some great new resources to help you with all your careers needs.
