Career education in year 8: I explore

​Students in year 8 explore the influence that a positive self-image and good learning habits have on occupational choice. They research a wide range of occupational profiles to examine the nature of the work, the personal attributes and skills necessary to perform the tasks, and the required entry-level education and training.

Students use their occupational knowledge to investigate a  range of occupations that contribute to their community and develop an awareness of the opportunities available in their local area. Students apply their occupational knowledge to explore possible career options that may suit their educational and personal goals.

They revisit their annual career action plan and review their career and learning goals in line with their academic achievements. They adjust their plans to be more reflective of their in-school and out of school experiences, activities and interest to learn more about their potential.

Year 8 career education program

Learning outcome: self development

1. Identify their beliefs and value systems and their influence on self-concept.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 1
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Health and Physical Education, Personal Learning, Civics and Citizenship
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Discuss the importance of recognising positive and negative attitudes and how they influence self-concept.
  2. Define the meaning of strength, challenges, abilities and interests and record these in a career action plan.
  3. Undertake a goal-setting exercise to plan how to overcome challenges and barriers to achievements.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeDemonstrate how values influence self-concept (e.g. respect for self, family and others).
Sample assessment task
  1. Use the handout from the Careers and Transition Resource Kit: Self Awareness Careers Resources - My values
  2. Compare your ratings with others, in a group discussion.
  3. Discuss how those values are important to your community.
2. Use the results of self-assessment to identify areas for development, build aspirations, and a positive self-image.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 1
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Personal Learning
  • Discipline-Based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: ICT, Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Understand how individual characteristics contribute to achieving personal, educational and professional goals.
  2. Develop a profile of important strengths and abilities to improve self-image and self-esteem.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeDescribe how a positive self-image (e.g. positive self-talk develops self-confidence) can improve learning and career goals.
Sample assessment task
  1. Fill out the student worksheet in ReCaP: Section 6 - Lesson Plan 'Positive self-talk' (docx - 847.56kb)
  2. Work out ways on improving the points you have listed in the 'Negative self-talk'.
3. Understand and analyse how personal characteristics (attitudes, interests, values, beliefs and behaviours) influence career decisions.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 2
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Health and Physical Education, Personal Learning, Civics and Citizenship
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Complete a review of a values checklist and identify any changes, growth, barriers and challenges to career aspirations and personal learning.
  2. Discuss the differences between the outcomes of chance and planned events.
  3. Review, explain and form conclusions about previous transitions and identifying lessons for the future.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeApply their knowledge of their interests, values and beliefs to planning and decision making.
Sample assessment task
  1. Study the flow chart on in Careers and Transition Resource Kit: Decision Learning Careers Resources - Making decisions.
  2. Draw out another flowchart with your answers to the questions.

Links to Australian Blueprint for career development

Phase II
Area A: Personal Management 
  • Competency 1: Build and maintain a positive self-image
  • Competency 2: Interact positively and effectively with others
  • Competency 3: Change and grow throughout life

Teaching resources

Teacher planning questions:

  1. What are some ways I can help students record their dreams and aspirations?
  2. How well do I know what my students’ career goals are?
  3. Am I current with my knowledge of the ways in which the subject I teach fits into the world of work?
  4. Do I find opportunities for group discussions to talk about issues like stereotyping and biases with relation to social interaction, careers and work?
  5. Have I discussed the importance of how having the right attitudes, interests, values and beliefs, influences career choices?
  6. What are the ways in which I can help students explore the vital role of positive communication amongst peers and adults?
  7. Are there ways in which I can communicate career information about my subject area with parents through events in school?

Additional activity

  1. Choose a career that interests you and list all the skills and courses you will need to work on to take up that career in the future. Match your school subjects to the skill set needed for this industry.
  2. Identify the type of occupations that would be suitable to solve a world of work problem related to sustainability. Use the internet to research the skills and courses that may be suitable for two careers related to issues of over population and famine.

Learning outcome: career exploration

4. Discover the learning habits and study skills that help people achieve good education and training outcomes.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 2
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Discipline-based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Review case studies of former students.
  2. Identify the benefits and drawbacks of different opportunities.
  3. Identify a list of people who can help achieve good education and training outcomes.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeDemonstrate their understanding of how they are able to apply learning skills and strategies to their own learning.
Sample assessment taskStudents complete a vocational assessment. They review the outcomes and record their top five career aspirations. Using the results of their assessment they research their top two career aspirations and develop a career chart that links their academic performance to their aspirations. They should identify areas for improvement.
5. Explore the importance of a variety of skill types in the workplace.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 2
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Discipline-Based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. From suggested websites, group various skill types and discuss their significance in the world of work.
  2. Discuss how changes in technology require workers to have a variety of skills.
  3. Discover the importance of possessing transferable skills when applying for jobs.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeApply their knowledge of how to acquire a variety of skills to fit into the workplace
Sample assessment task
  1. Complete the lesson in Careers and Transition Resource Kit: Opportunity Awareness Careers Resources - Employability skills.
  2. In pairs, complete the work sheet in Careers and Transition Resource Kit: Decision Learning Careers Resources - Transferable Skills.
  3. Discuss how these skills fit into the workplace.
6. Understand how different types of work (paid, unpaid, volunteer, self-employment and periods of unemployment) contribute to society.
Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 2, Term 3
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Civics and Citizenship
  • Discipline-Based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Undertake a discussion with employers from a variety of work backgrounds about how various work roles contribute to the community.
  2. Explore questions that would encourage students to think about the extent to which various jobs are dependent on each other, and how much our standard of living depends on people being at work.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeInvestigate and compare a variety of job types (e.g. paid and unpaid jobs, volunteer work, self-employment and unemployment) and decide how each type contributes to the community.
Sample assessment task
  1. Distribute a different job type to different groups.
  2. Groups need to collect data on the job type they have been given (through the Internet, career centre and the community).
  3. Compare as a whole class how each job type contributes to the community.
  4. Conclude on how a variety of job types is needed to maintain a good balance in the community.

Links to the Australian Blueprint for career development

Phase II

Area B: Learning and Work Exploration

  • Competency 4: Participate in lifelong learning
  • Competency 5: Locate and effectively use career information
  • Competency 6: Understand the relationship between work, society and the economy

Teaching resources

Teacher planning questions

  1. Have I discussed with my students that acquiring the maximum amount of varied skills and knowledge will open up a wide range of careers and jobs to choose from?
  2. What is the best way to keep parents informed of their children’s career choices? How is the family affected by those choices?
  3. Am I emphasising the fact that developing good learning habits and study skills helps achieve positive education and better career options?
  4. Have I helped my students begin to understand the ways in which work contributes to family life and the community, and the effect work has on their life styles?
  5. Have I explained the impact a good academic record may have to my student’s future selection into further study, training or employment?
  6. What are the various ways in which I can help students practice writing up good job applications, resumes and portfolios? How can they use technology for this purpose?
  7. Have I discussed with the students that their career journey would include paid, unpaid, volunteer work and that there would be periods of unemployment as well?

Additional activity

  1. The media presents an enormous range of occupations and many different ways in which we can engage in work. Choose your favourite television program and give a short synopsis of what the episode is about, and how the world of work is presented.
  2. Make a list of all the character occupations, work sites and problem-solving strategies used in the episode. How do the characters cope with work/life balance? What choices do they have to make? Would you choose this career option? Why/Why not?

Learning outcome: career management

7. Understand how choices are made and explore what can be learned from their decision-making experiences

Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 1, Term 2
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Personal Learning
  • Discipline-Based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Through a group discussion, consider different attributes needed for work and explore occupational choices.
  2. Understand and acknowledge the benefits of paid and unpaid work.
  3. Review, explain and form conclusions about previous transitions and identifying lessons for the future.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeApply knowledge and skills in making career choices.
Sample assessment task
  1. Students to complete the Career Survey worksheet from ReCaP: Section 6 - Lesson Plan 'How careers Unfold' (docx - 921.19kb).
  2. Discuss findings with the students.
  3. What conclusions can be drawn from the surveys regarding how and why individuals made those career choices?

8. Understand problem-solving strategies and goal setting in making career and life decisions

Delivery timeframe adviceSemester 2, Term 4
VELS Domains Standards Level 5
  • Physical, Personal and Social Learning: Interpersonal Development, Personal Learning
  • Discipline-Based Learning: The Humanities – Economics
  • Interdisciplinary Learning: Communication, Thinking Processes
  • Careers/Work Education Classes
  • Non Government: Pastoral Care, Religious Education or Careers/Work Education Classes
Planned classroom activities
  1. Identify a range of approaches to solving problems when making career and life decisions.
  2. List long-term and short-term career goals, including how to develop career action plans to meet these goals.
Learning and teaching resources
Sample assessment advice to achieve the learning outcomeUse decision-making and problem-solving skills appropriately to complete their annual career action plan.
Sample assessment task
  1. Students fill out the goal-setting worksheet from Careers and Transition Resource Kit: Transition Planning Careers Resources - Goal setting.
  2. Students need to spend a few minutes thinking into the future on what they believe would be a fantastic life for themselves, five years after leaving school.
  3. For each of the five years, students need to list a set of short-term goals.
  4. Trace with them how their short-term goals lead up to their long-term goal.

Links to the Australian Blueprint for career development

Phase II

Area C: Career Building

  • Competency 7: Secure/create and maintain work
  • Competency 8: Make career-enhancing decisions
  • Competency 9: Maintain balanced life and work roles
  • Competency 10: Understand the changing nature of life and work roles
  • Competency 11: Understand, engage in and manage the career-building process

Teaching resources

Teacher planning questions

  1. Am I assisting my students to develop career action plans and helping with goal-setting?
  2. Have I given students leads to collect information through networks, the internet, television and the newspaper for their career information resources?
  3. How do I support my students when they are making decisions and career choices?
  4. What problem-solving strategies can l include in my classroom activities to improve my student’s understanding of the importance of career planning?
  5. Am I providing students with guidelines on how to locate information on educational, social, industrial and economic trends when working on career choices?
  6. Have I emphasised the importance of developing short-term career action plans that are flexible and adaptable?
  7. Have I informed students of how personal goals can be achieved through combining work, community, social and family roles?

Additional activity

Interview someone you know who has completed work experience as part of their career planning. Find out the most important advice this person can share with you about the workplace and the particular job they did. Has their experience influenced your decisions about your future career choices? Present your findings as a blog entry to share with your classmates.

Career action plans

The framework focuses the student’s attention on recognising and creating opportunities to make informed career choices by defining their career goals in an annual career action plan. In each year of their career education program, students develop a career action plan that reflects their increased learning, identifies future actions and builds on previous planning.

For sample templates, see:

Teacher advi​​ce

When preparing to implement the framework it is important that teachers reflect on the following questions:

  1. Do l have students from diverse backgrounds? If so, am l coordinating with their families, support agencies and their communities?
  2. Do l have any Koorie students? If so, am l coordinating effectively with Koorie education support officers, Koorie transition officers, Koorie families and the Koorie community?
  3. How do my own attitudes affect the way l assist students with their career goals/planning?
  4. Do l have high enough expectations of all my students in relation to their career planning?