The Careers Department has a good reputation. It's easy to use, it's modern, the content is fresh and engaging compared to the one I was using. It's got everything at your fingertips.
The Next Big Thing
This is your Welcome section paragraph. As the first text your readers encounter, this copy should clearly convey what your site is all about.
01
Why did you choose The Careers Department?
The Careers Department has a good reputation. It's easy to use, it's modern, the content is fresh and engaging compared to the one I was using. It's got everything at your fingertips.
I like the fact that you've got the jobs map. I’ve had a student say to me, ‘I love biology, but science is not my thing. ‘So, we looked at the map and worked out together what other options were out there.’
We're really enjoying it. It's nice to have all the teachers connected in the way that we can see what each other has completed.
CASE STUDY
We discussed how Batemans Bay High School has a focus on ensuring work readiness and career literacy. Both Abby and Chantal aim to centralise students' career information and expand their knowledge of available career options.
Champions: Abby, Transition Advisor and Chantal, Careers Advisor
SNAPSHOT
State
NSW
About
Government, Regional
Enrolment
754
Active Teachers
4
Active Students
200
Focus
Careers Exploration, Resume Builder and Profiling Tool
02
How is your careers program structured?
It's definitely tailored to the year groups. In Years 7 & 8, students will at times be referred to us if they require assistance or guidance creating a resume. We then go through the process with them using The Careers Department resume builder tool.
In Year 9 & 10 we have a class called ‘Work Education’, we start by getting the students to complete their career profile assessment and then we show them how to create a resume using the resume builder.
Once students reach year 11, they have the option to select the Work Studies class and are encouraged to do one-on-one interviews with us. We start these sessions with the Game Plan, students then delve into the platform by looking at the industry content that surround the area of study or job they've selected.
If students are unsure what they want to do, then we encourage them to complete the Profiling tool to give them insight and inspiration into to some careers/education choices. We then print out the results and read through it together, and we go through each of the careers and cross them out or visit the suggested links and investigate the job, pre-requisites and assumed knowledge together.
03
Do you find students explore the site on their own or is it mostly led by teachers?
It’s currently teacher directed while they're learning where everything is, but they'll be able to explore on their own after that. A lot of our students don’t know how to navigate on a computer so we're teaching careers education and computer skills at the same time, which works really well because The Careers Department is so easy to use. We're lucky that we have a lot of laptops available for class use so we can access the program often.
04
Do your students tend to lean towards TAFE and University, or do they transition directly into work after school?
We've got an even mix between TAFE and Uni for post-school destination - 20% university, 20% TAFE, and then 60% full-time work. They tend to just work at Coles or Woolworths until they work out what direction they want to head in. Unfortunately, I don't track their career path, but it would be great to see where they've ended up.
We do have a very strong vocational pathway. In year 10, we have a program called ‘Step into work’ and they leave school halfway through the year to go to a college to do a certificate three in business and a trade. This directs them into an apprenticeship or a traineeship.
05
Do other teachers in your school use TCD within their class?
Yes, our English studies teacher uses the resume function with her class. They do a whole unit on going into work and in that, they complete a session on resume writing. We can then keep it all together and are on the same page about what they’ve completed. Anything they do in their English class; students can then build on in the careers lesson.
We also have special education classrooms, and they use it for monitoring their skills and see where they're headed, and they just build it in as part of their learning.
06
Do you think The Careers Department has inspired a wider range of careers?
Absolutely, the Industry content definitely has. So, for context at my school there are a lot of students who come from a background where they don't have role models in the workforce, like mum and dad don't work. They don't see somebody getting up, getting ready, going to work, so their knowledge of careers is quite small. There are so many careers out there that they don't know about. It's really about opening their eyes to a whole range of careers. The Careers Department definitely has widened the knowledge of the students.
.png)
SNAPSHOT
State
NSW
About
Government, Regional
Enrolment
754
Active Teachers
4
Active Students
200
Focus
Careers Exploration, Resume Builder and Profiling Tool
CASE STUDY
We discussed how Batemans Bay High School has a focus on ensuring work readiness and career literacy. Both Abby and Chantal aim to centralise students' career information and expand their knowledge of available career options.
Champions: Abby, Transition Advisor and Chantal, Careers Advisor
