Careers Corner
Year 9 ‘Let’s Get Technical’ IT Career Taster
Friday, 25 October
A group of Year 9 Belridge students were recently involved in the Information Technology (IT) based ‘Let’s Get Technical’ Career Taster at North Metropolitan TAFE’s East Perth campus. Students and the College’s Career Practitioner, Mr Mouritz, travelled by bus to East Perth for the excursion. The excursion was part of the Year 9 Career Taster Program, designed to provide students with opportunities to explore careers and pathways of interest. All attendees were excited to attend TAFE for the day and experience what life as a TAFE student, studying an Information Technologies course, would be like. All students in attendance are currently studying Integrated Technologies and they enjoyed the opportunity to explore courses and careers relating to the IT field. During the event students had the opportunity to program a robotic device, with the use of a Micro bit program. All attendees really enjoyed programming their robot to race around a racecourse. They also got to explore the world of Cyber Security and learnt the basics of ethical hacking, by completing several activities and educational games. For the final session of the day students had the opportunity to use a separate Micro bit program to complete some computer coding activities using Python programming language. It was great to see students identify the types of IT activities they enjoy the most, so that they could begin to put plans in place for their future careers. Several students plan on applying for a one day a week Vocational Education and Training Delivered to Secondary Students (VETDSS) course next year. Students were informed of the Integrated Technology, Robotics and Cyber Security certificates they can complete at TAFE, as a part their Senior School studies, in Year 11 and 12.
Ashley Mouritz
Career Practitioner
Career Taster: Healthcare Sector
A group of Year 10 and 11 students took the opportunity to complete a healthcare specific career taster at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in Joondalup on Monday, 16 September 2024. Students were put through healthcare specific stretches, how to support patients with visual impairments, and got practice using state of the art equipment in taking and recording a patient’s ‘vitals’. These students have identified healthcare as a potential career pathway and were given useful and current information on healthcare opportunities and pathways by AMA staff. Well done to these students who behaved professionally and were able to demonstrate a natural ‘bedside manner’ when completing activities.
Adam Smith
Senior School Pathways
ABCN: ‘Find Your Purpose’
On Thursday, 17 October 2024 the College’s Program Coordinator: Senior School Pathways, Adam Smith and Career Practitioner, Ashley Mouritz had the pleasure of supervising a group of Year 9 and 10 students during an Australian Business Community Networking (ABCN) coordinated excursion to Optus located in the CBD, for the ‘Find Your Purpose’ event. The program helps students better understand themselves, their values, and their ambitions for life. Working with Optus mentors, students gained a deeper understanding of what’s important to them, and how they can use their strengths to design a life that they will love.
Feedback received from the event was excellent, showing that students’ career development and decision making was positively impacted by being involved in the day.
Program Feedback
The following are summarised student response results demonstrating the percentage improvement from the program's start to the end. (Note: the rating scale is a 1 to 7 measure with 1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest. i.e. 5 to 7 is agreed to agree strongly). These results demonstrate that the students gained immensely from the program.
|
BEFORE FYP |
AFTER FYP |
|
| I feel confident about choosing a career | 23% | 92% |
| I understand how knowing my strengths and values will help me build a life I love | 46% | 100% |
| I understand the importance of researching career options before making decisions | 46% | 100% |
| I know what steps I need to take to explore my career ideas | 38% | 77% |
| I intend to complete Year 12 | 85% | 85% |
| I intend to undertake further education such as TAFE, university or other courses | 77% | 77% |
| I am aware of a wide range of career options and pathways | 77% | 100% |
| I feel comfortable connecting with and developing relationships with new people | 77% | 85% |
| I can see myself ina workplace like the one my mentor works in | 23% | 38% |
STUDENT COMMENTS:
What was the most useful thing you learnt in this program?
“My values and strengths should affect the career I choose in the future.”
“That there's sources online and local things which I can reach out to for when I need to ask questions.”
“To have more than one or 2 options because it will most definitely change throughout your lifetime.”
“The colour activity told me what kind of person I was.”
What was the most important thing you learnt from your mentor?
“The sky is the limit; no career pathway is a wrong one.”
“To just have fun in whatever job you have, don't hate your job.”
“There are always options and alternatives.”
“Follow your dreams.”
Is there anything you'd like to say to your mentor/s?
“I really appreciate the mentors spending time and giving their advice and sharing their experiences.”
“Thank you for all the advice, enjoy your future aspirations, Garth.”
“Thank you so much, you were so kind and very knowledgeable.”
“Thank you for the experience you have given to us, it will be helpful in the future.”
MENTOR COMMENTS:
What was the biggest change you observed in your student(s)?
“The realisation that what they are interested in can actually manifest as their future and they can do something about making it happen.”
“Confidence and the ability to translate what they like into a career option for them.”
“Confidence to explore.”
Ashley Mouritz
Career Practitioner
