A recent study from our partner Unifrog suggests that young people are more concerned about the world of work than ever before. As such, careers education has never been more important, and we at WA have adapted to a “new normal”, adjusting to a version of careers education conducted almost exclusively through technology and virtual communication.

As part of their study, Unifrog suggests some key recommendations for skills and enterprise education and we are pleased to reflect on our success in each of the key areas.

Firstly, the recommendations to ‘use labour market information’ and ‘schedule time to reflect and record skills’ have been tackled during Tutor Touch Base. Once a week students have been exposed to many different careers and industries and are supported in their research of different careers suited to their interests. In these sessions they have also been provided with opportunities to reflect on the “soft skills” that are necessary for different job roles and have been provided with a virtual booklet to record and reflect on their skills, thereby building a knowledge portfolio.

Secondly, the recommendations to ‘facilitate employer encounters’ and ‘promote virtual work experience opportunities’ are firmly embedded in WA careers education plans. Years 10 and 12 students will be taking up virtual work experience later this year to allow them to interact with professionals from various industries whilst also gaining skills relevant to them. They will also get opportunities to work on their CVs, interview skills and other workplace attributes. Additionally, the TTB career sessions include visual exposure to specific roles in various industries through video recordings made by people in the respective industries. In these videos professionals provide information surrounding what their jobs entail and how they got to where they are now. In the past term this has included videos from a grants officer, a composer, a curator for the National Gallery, the founder of a podcast company, a finance manager and a partner at Ernst and Young! We are really grateful to these individuals who have recorded videos especially for WA students as a means of providing an accurate, real life insight into a range of exciting careers.

Students are reminded that they can also browse a wealth of resources and take advantage of the interactive personality and interests quizzes available through their Unifrog accounts. We are proud to continue our careers education and provide opportunities for our community throughout the pandemic - thank you for your support!

Ms Muraya, Careers Education Coordinator