 Students get real with career development services
Career development services can help students negotiate their way through the myriad of education, training and career options available to them. New research published by NCVER finds many students are unaware of how to access such information.
The report, Exploring career management competency and the course expectations of VET students, by Miles Morgan Australia, suggests that career development services can improve students’ career management skills and lead to more realistic expectations.
It shows the link between having realistic expectations and achieving high competency levels. This presents a challenge for the VET system, as unrealistic expectations can impact on course completion.
It also reveals that most young people depend on their educational provider to inform them of how or where to access career development services but this does not always happen.
Another report, What choice? An evaluation of career development services for young people, by Linda Rainey and colleagues, suggests that there needs to be more analysis of the motivations and ‘help-seeking behaviour’ of young people to determine how best to offer career development services.
It also notes that career development services are not nationally coordinated and their unstructured nature can lead to either gaps or duplication in delivery.
Career development services are focused on one-to-one personal delivery with less use of computer-based services. ‘Experienced-based’ career services, like job placement or job referral, are less likely to be utilised.
Tertiary education institutions report that only a small percentage of students use their career development services. Public and private providers of career development services report that most of their referrals come from government agencies.
Both VET providers and young people feel that information about available career services could be improved.
What choice? An evaluation of career development services for young people is available at
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