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This project investigates how best to utilise school students’ experiences
in paid part-time work for the purposes of enhancing their understanding of work and working life
and making decisions about post-school pathways.
- Paid work experiences provide a rich resource for school
students, enabling them to consider the world of work and post-school
pathways, including career planning. School students report
that reflecting on their paid work is helpful in understanding
the world of work, and also in making informed choices about:
- working life
- similarities and differences in work options
- preferred kinds of work in post-school employment
- their suitability for their preferred work options
- their suitability for their preferred post-tertiary or higher
education work options.
- Teachers in Australian schools have a vital role to play in ensuring
that the full educational potential of their students’ paid
work is realised. The teacher’s
role includes providing classroom-based experiences such as
individual and group reflection. Integrating students’ paid
work into the school curriculum could provide a vehicle for
recognising and acknowledging
workplace competence for vocational education courses within
schools more readily than does
the conventional work experience model of work placements.
- Using students’ paid work experiences can reduce the requirements
for school-organised work
placements and the resources deployed to provide them.
- Careers advice schemes, such as the Australian National Industry
Careers Advisers initiative, will
benefit from integrating students’ paid work experiences
into their processes.
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