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General capabilities and career education
Illustrations of practice
Career education: linking learning and social entrepreneurship

General capabilities and career education Illustrations of practice

Career education: linking learning and social entrepreneurship

School context

This illustration of practice describes how Rooty Hill High School approaches a year-long strategy for career education and entrepreneurial learning through a Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP). In Young Entrepreneurs Week at the end of Term 4, students complete a social entrepreneurship work task that includes opportunities to develop and demonstrate general capabilities.

Rooty Hill High School is located in the western suburbs of Sydney, 42 kilometres from the central business district. The co-educational, comprehensive community school caters for 1125 students from Years 7 to 12. The school’s mission it to uphold a commitment to develop the talents of each student through personalised learning.

Rooty Hill High School supports students to develop, practise and refine capabilities across all learning areas. The school culture encourages young people to become successful learners who can make confident, informed choices about their learning and their lives beyond school.

Rooty Hill High School’s capability-driven curriculum is supported by a commitment to entrepreneurial learning identified in the 2018–2020 School Plan.

Career education focus

Rooty Hill High School has developed a personalised digital portfolio, #MyLearningHub, which enables students to self-assess their progress and achievement against general capabilities’ benchmarks. Using the #MyLearningHub, it is the students’ responsibility to identify their own personal capabilities, select and upload annotated evidence that has been validated by teachers, and document actions towards attaining further progress.

In 2016 the school refreshed its work experience program with the Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP). The Year 10 program focuses on social entrepreneurship; students work in teams to identify school or community issues and develop a solution that will add value to the lives of others. YEP provides an opportunity for students to improve their skills in leadership, collaboration, problem solving, design thinking, communication, creativity and innovation.

Curriculum connections

Young Entrepreneurs Week draws on the skills and dispositions of the general capabilities. Students are encouraged to identify key general capabilities that are transferable between workplaces and to examine how they can contribute to future workplace success. Students endeavour to utilise entrepreneurial mindsets and apply creative problem-solving techniques to solve the school or community issue that they have identified.

The general capabilities of Critical and Creative Thinking and Personal and Social capability are emphasised throughout YEP Week. Students also develop Literacy and Numeracy capabilities as they engage in learning that involves the delivery of presentations and the calculation of a budget. The ICT capability is developed as students collaborate and share documents, communicate with team members across a range of platforms, and select and use ICT to articulate ideas and concepts to others in their teams and the community. Ethical Understanding and Intercultural Understanding capabilities are developed when students make informed decisions on project options and processes and engage with colleagues and community members in respectful and productive ways.

Rooty Hill High School incorporates the Australian Curriculum learning area of Work Studies in this illustration of practice.

General capabilities

Australian Curriculum: Work Studies

Questions for teachers

In the illustration of practice:

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

Identify the school's approach to the key objectives of Future Ready: A student focused National Career Education Strategy.

How does the school 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?