Post-school options: Work discovery

Middle years
Senior years
4

Resources are provided with this practice

Yes

Summary

This practice is part of a formal evaluation project exploring the value of MyWAY Employability resources to educators that will take place in Term 2 2022. Please contact Keely Harper-Hill if you are interested in taking part. Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee Approval HRE2020-0493

Transitioning from school to the workplace or further study is not always easy.  Many students are unsure of what they want to do and how to go about discovering this information.

This Post-school options: Work discovery practice explores post-school pathways, work experience, and introduces workplace safety. There are a range of resources such as glossaries, videos, teacher notes, and activities. The activities are designed to build the students’ knowledge and understanding of how to plan, prepare, and identify post-school opportunities.

These activities support students to use the myWAY Employability website to develop their individual profile matched to relevant career, further education and training information, and pathways. 

Using the unit activities alongside the myWAY Employability website will help set up students for success in a number of ways:

  • Develop student awareness of the various post-school educational and training pathways available
  • Assist students to engage in real-life learning about careers
  • Provide opportunities for students to develop job application knowledge and skills
  • Develop student planning and organisational skills
  • Help build student-school-community partnerships

The Post-school options units on inclusionED meet the needs of diverse learners with sign posts for reasonable adjustments  and scaffolded resources.

    This practice will help students to

    Discover training pathways for their chosen career

    Explore work experience opportunities

    This practice will help teachers to

    Incorporate myWAY Employability into teaching and learning

    How the practice works

    Watch this short video to learn more about this practice.  Duration 01:36

    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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    A. Plan

    Unit plan

    The unit plan for this practice is available as a PDF or in a Word version. Use the Word version if you wish to amend the plan or record any teaching adjustments. The plan includes two lessons:

    • Lesson One: Explore Training Pathways. This includes the information and resources for the whole-term project Training Pathways Forum.
    • Lesson Two: Explore Work Experience

    Some of the activities and quizzes in this unit will be completed on the myWAY Employability website. These activities are denoted with the following symbol:

    myWAY Employability website indicator

    Work discovery unit plan - Word version

    You can use this Word document to amend the plan or record teaching adjustments

    Work discovery unit plan - PDF version

    Adjustments for students with diverse abilities

    The Teaching to diversity notes outlines how each practice is designed to assist you to teach to the diversity within your classroom.

     

    Teacher notes: Teaching to diversity using myWAY Educator

    Adjustments for students with diverse learning abilities 

    Before you begin:

    Review your schools current work experience program. Consider how this can be used to complement the existing program.

    Have students complete the Post-school pathways section on myWAY Employability. There are two questions for students to respond to.  

    Review the following articles and print and prepare as necessary.

    Transition pathways
    Work experience 
    Individual student activity: Glossary worksheet

    This unit has separate glossaries for the Training Pathways, Work Experience, and Workplace Safety lessons. Some of the terms used may be unfamiliar to students and some students may take longer than their peers to learn them. The glossary will assist students to pre-learn the vocabulary used in this practice.

    Each glossary booklet contains word lists and activities at the three different levels of scaffolding. For  practices with a number of unfamiliar terms we recommended you focus on 3-5 words that are most relevant to each lesson.

    If you are not sure how to pre-teach vocabulary, you may like to watch this video which provides a quick example of how to teach vocabulary. Note: this video is intended for viewing by teachers only.   

    Glossary booklet – Transition pathways

    Glossary booklet – Work experience

    Glossary booklet – Workplace safety

    This lesson contains the following objectives:

    • Students will learn relevant vocabulary
    • Students will identify their preferences and important considerations when choosing a career
    • Students will research training pathway options pertinent to their career of interest
    • Prepare for event (optional activity)
    Whole class activity: Jigsaw learning

    Divide the class into groups of three. Each group receives at least one of the guides and articles to answer a series of questions.  They will report back to the class what they have learnt and any other interesting thoughts:

    Each group nominates a scribe, a reader, and a speaker for the activity. 

    Questions for the groups to consider:

    • What are the features of university?
    • What are the features of TAFE?
    • What do I need to know about transitioning to uni or TAFE?
    • Does the career I’m interested in require uni study, TAFE study, or other experiences?
    • Other interesting facts on training pathways.

    Each group will then take turns to share with the class what their findings were.

    You may like to appoint a scribe to write the key concepts and ideas on the board or paper for students to refer to later.

    Students will research their career of interest using the Career Bullseyes and take notes on options they would like to research further. Students can then find training pathways that link to these roles, and search for universities or TAFE sites nearby that offer these courses.

    Students may like to refer to the notes about TAFE and Uni from the previous activity as they explore the pathway options.

    This is an optional whole of term project in which all students take an active role in organising an end-of-term forum on the theme of “post-school training or educational pathways”.

     Each student has a role and the resources developed cover the roles of: 

    • Event Promotion

    • Speaker Liaison

    • Master of Ceremony (MC)

    • Reporter  

    As part of the preparation, students must read the job descriptions for each role and submit a job application for the role that they would like. Depending on the degree of scaffolding they require, students respond to the job description by addressing the selection criteria and writing a cover letter. 

    This activity is an opportunity for students to develop transferrable skills such as communication, organisational, and planning skills. 

    Download the teacher notes for further information.

    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 speakers for the Forum.

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

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

    In the Training Pathways Forum, 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. Each job role or job description document below includes not only the description but the selection criteria and covering letter activity.

    Peer modelling video: Job roles activity

    In the video below, two students discuss how they meet the selection criteria. Some of your students may find this helpful.

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

    When planning for the Forum, encourage students to consider the audio-visual needs of each panellist. 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 Helping hand

    Job role: Event Promotion – 2 Helping hands

    Job role: Event Promotion – 3 Helping 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 Helping hand

    Job role: Speaker liaison – 2 Helping hands

    Job role: Speaker liaison – 3 Helping 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 the Order of Event that your MC can copy, amend, or use the text.

    Job role: Event MC – 1 Helping hand

    Job role: Event MC – 2 Helping hands

    Job role: Event MC – 3 Helping hands

    MC Order of Event

    MC Order of Event

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

    Reporter

    Job role: Reporter – 1 Helping hand

    Job role: Reporter – 2 Helping hands

    Job role: Reporter – 3 Helping hands

    This lesson contains the following objectives:

    • Students understand how work experience helps them determine their career pathway.
    • Students will role play common work experiences.

    Students will draft a letter to a company, workplace, or person they know to request the opportunity to complete work experience there. This will be written like a letter of consideration or job application. Students will need to consider the following:

    • The benefits to the employer for taking on a work experience student
    • The specific skills the student can offer
    • Why the student particularly wants to have work experience at this place

    Resource : Creating a job application

    If students are unsure where to start for work experience opportunities, this myWAY Employability article on undertaking work experience and internships has several useful links.

    The Cloze activity supports student understanding of the following myWAY Employability articles. 

    There are three scaffolded versions of the  student cloze worksheet.

    Student worksheet - 1 Helping hand - Cloze activity

    Student worksheet - 2 Helping hands - Cloze activity

    Student worksheet - 3 Helping hands - Cloze activity

    View the Teacher notes for information on the Journal writing activity.

    There are two versions of the Journal writing student worksheet.

    Teacher notes – Journal writing

    Student worksheet: Journal writing - 2 Helping hands

    Student worksheet: Journal writing - 1 Helping hand

    Introduce the articles -Rights and responsibilities at work and Giving and receiving feedback at work  

    As a class, brainstorm the key ideas and write these on the board.

    The teacher notes (below) explain the Role-play video activity. 

    There are two versions of the Role-playing student worksheet.

    Depending on your students’ skills and time allowed for this activity, choose from the following:

    • Show the work experience student  videos (below). These provide opportunities to evaluate students' communication and work preparedness.  
    • Offer students several scenarios that they must role-play (either in pairs or in front of the class)

    Suggested scenarios could include:

    • You are a work experience student and are running late for your first day.
    • You are receiving feedback on how you are going on work experience from your workplace key contact person.
    • You don’t understand something that you are supposed to do on your work experience.

    Students can reflect on and discuss each of these scenarios with their partner or with the rest of the class.

    Teacher notes – Role playing

    Student worksheet: Role playing - 1 Helping hand

    Student worksheet: Role playing - 2 Helping hands

    Student worksheet: Role playing - 3 Helping hands

    Peer modelling videos: Role-playing activity

    There are two videos for your students to watch. Each video shows student peers at work experience.

    The video stops in order that your students can evaluate the peer's performance. After the pause, there is a section where there is a peer model of a student evaluating the student in the video.  Depending on your students, you may want to stop the video at the pause. 

    Work experience video 1

    Work experience video 2

    The objective of this lesson is for students to begin to understand how workplace safety affects their job.

    As with all lessons, if students have not had the opportunity to pre-learn and familiarise themselves with the relevant vocabulary, we recommend introducing the vocabulary using the glossary sheet 

    Glossary booklet – Workplace Safety

    Students then complete the workplace safety student worksheet, which examines certain occupations that require protective equipment or PPE, as well as interpersonal safety. Details for the activity can be read in the teacher notes.

    Teacher notes – Workplace safety

    Student worksheet 1H - Workplace safety

    Student worksheet 2H - Workplace Safety

    This practice aligns with the following standards and capabilities: 

    Work Studies Curriculum Standards
    • ACWSCL006: Investigate a wide range of occupations, and the skills and personal qualities required in these fields.
    • ACWSCL012: Practice the skills and attributes underpinning entrepreneurial behaviours.
    • ACWSCL014: Source career information and resources.
    • ACWSCL017: Investigate formal and informal recruitment processes.
    • ACWSCL037: Use a range of tools, methods and skills for accessing work relevant to 21st century recruitment and selection processes.
    General Capabilities (Personal & Social Capability)
    • Self-management: work independently and show initiative.
    • Social management: communicate effectively, work collaboratively, make decisions, develop leadership skills.

    B. Set goals

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    C. Apply the practice

    It works best when...

    • Demonstrate to students how to complete the Training Pathways and Work Experience sections.

    • 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?

    It doesn't work if...

    Students don't have access to a computer to individually log onto the myWAY Employability(link is external) website.

    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?

    D. Reflect and refine

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    E. Share

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