6. myWAY Employability: Post-school pathways

Middle years
Senior years
4

Resources are provided with this practice

Yes

Summary

The purpose of this practice is to promote, teach, and facilitate: 

  • student awareness and understanding regarding the various post-school educational and training pathways, for example, TAFE, College, traineeships, and apprenticeships
  • real-life learning opportunities
  • student-school-community partnerships
  • job application knowledge and skills
  • student planning and organisational skills

In this practice, we encourage the use of peer mentors to support the needs of diverse learners through joint submissions for job applications, have small groups of students to work as teams and  take on certain roles to complete the tasks.

This practice aligns with the General Capabilities of the Australian curriculum as described on the website of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

This practice also aligns with the National Curriculum Work Studies as described on the website of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. 

 

Test

This practice will help students to

Develop literacy skills

Understand post-secondary training options

Develop planning and organisational skills

Develop teamwork skills

This practice will help teachers to

Use myWAY Employability

Promote community partnership

Where this practice fits into myWAY Employability educator resources

map of practices 6 post-school pathways

Apply this practice with your students

The tabs below provide information to support your implementation of this practice. The sequence aligns with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership's High-Quality Professional Learning Cycle. You can find out more about high quality professional learning in the Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of Teachers and School Leaders.

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AITSL
Read the complete charter

A. Plan

Familiarise yourself with the myWAY Employability website so that you can demonstrate it to students and assist them in class if needed.

  • Post-school pathways section - students are only asked to respond to 2 questions.

  • Articles on post-school educational pathways. Audio versions of these articles are also available below.

  • Finding a job section.

[insert audio versions here]

Some of your students, particularly those going onto university,  might benefit from viewing the following video:

Choose from several resource materials provided in this practice to use or adapt ahead of the lesson.

Remember: 

description of levels of scaffolding

Glossary

The glossary can be used to assist students to pre-learn the vocabulary used in this practice. If you are not sure how to pre-teach vocabulary, we have a quick example inserted at the end of this planning section which is intended for viewing by teachers only. 

Glossary - 1 Hand - Training Pathways

Glossary - 2 Hands - Training Pathways

Glossary - 3 Hands - Training Pathways

Teacher notes

Teacher notes explain this whole of term project.

Teacher notes - Training pathways

Considerations

  • Seek permission and/or invite input from your school leadership team regarding the event if needed.

  • Consult relevant staff at the school to draft a list of suitable panel speakers.

  • Decide on the date and time of your panel discussion event, organise practicalities such as booking the venue.

  • Depending on the size of the venue decide who you will invite: another class? parents? other staff members?

Job roles

    In this practice, your students will organise an end-of-term event with speakers who come and talk to them. Each student has a role and the resources have been developed to cover the roles of: 

    • Event Promotion

    • Speaker Liaison

    • Master of Ceremony (MC)

    • Reporter  

    Depending on the degree of scaffolding they require, students respond to the job description by addressing the selection criteria and writing a cover letter. 

    Peer modelling video

    We have included a video of two students discussing how they meet the selection criteria. Some of your students may find this helpful.

    As always, select the resources you will use and adapt them as necessary. The resources for each role can be found below. 

    Plan for audio-visual needs. For example, do the panel members have a power-point presentation? Is the venue large and therefore do they need to use microphones in order to be heard?

    Support students with their various roles in the lead up to the event. For example, you may need to offer your student MC an opportunity to rehearse with you.

    Event promotion

    Job role - Event Promotion - 1 Hand

    Job role - Event Promotion - 2 Hands

    Job role - Event Promotion - 3 Hands

    Speaker Liaison

    In addition to the scaffolded job descriptions for this role you can download a Speaker invitation letter that you can copy, amend, and use the text.

    Job role - Speaker Liaison - 1 Hand

    Job role - Speaker Liaison - 2 Hands

    Job role - Speaker Liaison - 3 Hands

    Speaker invitation letter

    Speaker invitation letter

    You can copy, amend, and use the text in this word document

    Master of Ceremony (MC)

    In addition to the scaffolded job descriptions for this role you can download an Order of Event that you can copy, amend, and use the text.

    Job role - Event MC - 1 Hand

    Job role - Event MC - 2 Hands

    Job role - Event MC - 3 Hands

    MC Order of Event

    You can copy, amend, and use the text in this word document

    Reporter

    Job role - Reporter - 1 Hand

    Job role - Reporter - 2 Hands

    Job role - Reporter - 3 Hands

    Lesson plan

    This Lesson Plan is incorporated in Section C: Apply the practice below. 

    Lesson Plan - Training Pathways

    Sample Lesson Plan - Training Pathways

    Adapt this sample template as required.

    Practical checks

    • Have all students created an individualised login?

    • Do all students have  access to the myWAY Employability website?

    • If needed, have you organised a peer mentor or an additional adult? 

    Pre-teaching vocabulary

    The glossary can be used to assist students to pre-learn the vocabulary used in this practice. If you want to refresh how to pre-teach vocabulary, we have a quick example here,  which is for viewing by teachers only. 

    B. Set goals

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    Session title

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    C. Apply the practice

    1. Job application skills

    If you are going to invite students to apply for different “jobs” teach students job application writing skills and set an assessment grid for this work. You can use the articles in the “Finding a job” section of myWAY Employability for this. If doing the activity, each student will prepare and submit 2 documents:

    • Cover letter
    • Statement addressing the selection criteria

    Students will be asked to include a resume and will have to prepared one previously. 

     

    2. Please adapt this lesson plan to meet your needs

    Screenshot of the Lesson Plan

    3. Introduce the myWAY Employability Training Pathways section

    There are only two questions in this section. 

    Go to the myWAY Employability website and show students the Training Pathways section on the dashboard. You will need Internet access for this task.

    Use a Smartboard if you have one available, otherwise ask students to go the website (using a computer or tablet) and talk them through it.

    Demonstrate to students how to complete the section. You might find the peer video helpful.

    4. After the event

    At the conclusion of the event, ask students to write a reflection of their learning. This could be set as homework or as a task for the follow-up lesson. Suggested topics for the reflection are:

    • What was your favourite aspect of the event?

    • What were 2 things you learned?

    • Did you take on an organisational role for the event? What did you learn from this experience?

    • Did the event help you with your decisions about post-school options? How?

     

    Possible Adjustments

    Consider different options for the Q and A to meet the needs of students who have differing aptitudes and preferences in regard to public speaking. For example, you could ask students to write down one question for one speaker during the event and put it in a box during a break. You can then ask one or more students who wish to take on a public speaking role to draw questions from the box and read out the questions to the panel members.

    Reflection task:

    For students with writing difficulties you can construct the above-mentioned reflection with sentence stems, or, you may ask them to record their reflections and submit to you as an audio or video-file.

     

    D. Reflect and refine

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    Reflect on your student goals

    Please enter student goals in B. Set Goals

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    <% student_goal.reflection %>

    Reflect on your teacher goals

    Please enter teacher goals in B. Set Goals

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    <% teacher_goal.reflection %>

    E. Share

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    Congratulations

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    Your student goals and reflections

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    Your teacher goals and reflections

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    This practice is from the core research project