General capabilities and career education Illustrations of practice

Career education: a community approach

School context

This illustration of practice highlights how Broome Senior High School and St. Mary’s College collaborate with a range of local agencies to design a Career Expo and career-related learning experience to celebrate National Careers Week. The Career Expo is supported by local business, industry and training providers and offers opportunities for students to investigate a range of careers in their local region and beyond.

Broome Senior High School and St. Mary’s College are located in Broome, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Broome Senior High School caters for 950 students across the Kimberley community from Years 7 to 12. St Mary’s College caters for 750 local community and Kimberley region students from Foundation to Year 12.

This illustration provides a framework for school collaboration and showcases an approach to support students as they develop the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions about their future.

Career education focus

The Career Expo offers students an opportunity to consider their future and explore the possibilities available to them in their local community and beyond. Student participation in the Career Expo inspires learning to achieve post-school goals.

Collaboration among different groups, crucial to the success of the event, is guided by the West Kimberley Career Expo Committee. The committee comprises representatives from education, industry and business. The education sector is represented by schools, the Department of Education and Training, TAFE, the TAFE Jobs and Skills Centre and the University of Notre Dame. Industry and business are represented by Australian Government and the Broome Chamber of Commerce. A local community agency/employer is also represented.

The committee developed a schedule to prepare for the 2019 West Kimberley Career Expo:

Date	Action
November 2018	Committee meeting to initiate planning for 2019 Career Expo
January 2019	Committee members contact employers to gauge and register interest
January 2019	Committee members provide information package to registered employers
January–April 2019	Committee meetings every fortnight to organise the event
6–10 May 2019	National Careers Week activities
10 May 2019	West Kimberley Career Expo at Broome Senior High School

Curriculum connections

Participating schools provide a range of school-based learning experiences which incorporate key elements of the Personal and Social capability through the Australian Curriculum learning areas. The schools also provide opportunities for students to explore future learning with training bodies, such as TAFE and VET.

The Australian Curriculum: Work Studies Years 9–10 adapts discipline-based learning to work contexts. Work Studies aims to develop students’ knowledge of the world of work, the importance of lifelong learning, and the capacity to manage careers, change and transitions in an uncertain and changing future. At the Broome schools, Work Studies supports the development of elements of self-awareness and self-management in the Personal and Social capability.

Personal and Social capability

Australian Curriculum: Work Studies

Questions for teachers

In the illustration of practice:

Describe how the schools used the Australian Curriculum learning areas and general capabilities to develop a career education program.

Identify the schools’ approaches to the key objectives of Future Ready: A student focused National Career Education Strategy.

How did the schools identify and engage with a range of stakeholders in the development of their career education program?

In your school context:

Identify how a school-based career education program would benefit your students.

What aspects of the Australian Curriculum could be included in your school-based career education program?

What elements of the Future Ready: A student focused National Career Education Strategy would you include when developing your school-based career education program?

How would you identify and include appropriate community stakeholders when developing a school-based career education program?