Career Pathway Planning z Parents: A glimpse of myfuture and Career Pathway Planning

Career Management The world of work is increasingly more complex. Self managing learning over a lifetime is important for each person to remain flexible, resilient and enterprising. A young person’s career development is influenced by: individual uniqueness community and cultural expectations location, environment and the wider society random & unpredictable events stage of life

Parents can support young people’s career pathways by: Investigating information on a range of education and training pathways Understanding the employment market Becoming aware of the range of career options Finding out about the jobs available in different industries .

Parents can support young people’s career pathways by (Cont.): Understanding the suitability of the young person to a specific vocational pathway Introducing and exposing the young person to a range different careers Talking; sharing; providing introductions to key people; encouraging a range of experiences.

Career & Career Development Clearly parents play an important role. Parents who regularly talk to their children about college [TAFE, training, university] provide the encouragement necessary to promote a full exploration of educational options. Despite the stereotypes about the relationships between parents and their teenage children, this study suggests that parents have an important effect on this important decision making process. (Hossler, Schmit & Vepser, 1999, p.66) (Bryce J, Anderson M, Frigo T, & McKenzie P., (2007) Australian Young People, their families and post-school plans: a research review, ACER & The Smith Family P.19)

What is myfuture? UNIQUE - it is Australia’s national career information service for all Australians COMPREHENSIVE - supported by many very large databases that are regularly up-dated ONLINE - can be accessed anytime, anywhere - it is interactive and user driven FREE - funded jointly by the Australian, State and Territory governments GATEWAY - to other useful websites and career related activities In 2000, the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) approved the development of myfuture and the site was released in July 2002. Based on a website evaluation improvements to the website have continued to deliver an improved interface that engage the viewer to explore career information. myfuture is an interactive, user-driven website which contains: a personal career exploration and decision making tool called My Guide, comprehensive career-related information called The Facts; and a section which provides help for those assisting others making career decisions called Assist Others.

myfuture – Home page Myfuture can be located on the internet at: www.myfuture.edu.au www. myfuture.edu.au is underpinned by a theoretical understanding of current philosophies which recognise the complex, holistic nature of career development. Career development is seen as a lifelong process and individuals are regarded as lifelong learners. This view acknowledges that individuals of all ages have a career, with different influences being more significant at different points in a person’s life. This means that anyone wanting to: explore career options; discover more about their individual career pathway; support others to learn about career development; or assist others with planning a career pathway will gain support from using myfuture.

The Quizzes myQuiz is a series of five video and audio animated digital learning objects developed to engage young people in career development and planning. They’re a fun way to think about career development. myQuiz uses questions and answers to get young people to explore career concepts and information in myfuture, particularly The Facts and My Guide sections.

Occupational Videos The Occupational Videos provide the viewer with a short video clip about an area of work . They simply click on the occupation they would like to explore and start watching!

Choose which subject your child is good at! Bullseye Posters Choose which subject your child is good at! The Bullseye series of posters are a prime tool to assist others when making career choices as it not only introduces students to the occupations linked with subject areas but also helps them to understand the association between the occupation and the study or training level required.

myfuture – The Facts The Facts provides a range of information to assist with making decisions and planning career pathways. Information contained within The Facts includes: details about market trends across 208 regions, pages of links to career related resources and job vacancy sites; 600 national occupation descriptions (with additional specialisations presenting, making the number of occupations listed in The Facts in excess of 1500); 250 industries sector descriptions; 2 700 industry, occupational and employer contact details; 19 000 courses; 1 700 education and training providers in over 3 000 locations; 2 300 scholarships offered by over 400 organisations; and links to relevant external sites and articles.

The Facts – Occupational Information In each career / job provided in The Facts area of myfuture you will find: information and articles which support users as they start their career exploration, development and planning The Facts can be used as: a resource of valuable information for parents, students and teachers; and a central reference point for information relevant to career theories and practice.

The Facts – Occupational Information The Facts also include occupational earnings for each career / job.

Labour Market Information When students click on the map in the Labour Market Information ara or use the drop down menu they can find occupational information about specific regions, such as: A Regional Profile Top Regional Occupations Top Regional Industries Graph of top 20 occupations and income Graph of top 20 industries in Australia How does the region compares with the state and the nation?

myfuture – Industry information The Industry Information is based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classifications 2006 (ANZSIC) produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). There are four levels to each industry category. An example is shown below: Level Example Division Manufacturing Subdivision Food Product Manufacturing Group Meat and Meat Product Manufacturing Class Meat Processing

My Guide at a glance My Guide provides: a personalised career exploration tool to support users with career decision making and pathway planning; and planning tools to help users set career goals and actions. My Guide is a free service and accessible via myfuture.edu.au. Users need to create a My Guide account to access the service. Using their unique User Name and confidential password users will need to log in each time they want to access their My Guide account.

My Guide My Guide allows the user to: compare, prioritise and make decisions about which career direction to take; plan futures based on a personal profile; and set career goals.

Sub title page To create a new user account click on Create New User Account and follow the prompts. If a My Guide account has already been created, type in your username and password, this will take you to the My Guide home page to continue adding your details.

The home page of My Guide.

Getting Started Getting Started offers the following; My Guide Virtual Tour A Quick Start Guide Mini Career Explorer Why is Career Planning Important? myfuture Virtual Tour Sign-up to My Guide The Articles presented under Getting Started in the My Guide set the scene for a user’s career exploration and help identify their specific needs. The Articles presented in “Why is Career Planning Important?” provide information to assist users understand the purpose of career planning.

My Career Plan develop a specific career plan; In My Career Plan students can:   develop a specific career plan; set goals; identify actions to achieve their goals; and record and monitor their progress. My Career Plan in the My Guide allows users to start planning their career by considering the results of the activities, questionnaires and reflections from My Profile, Explore Career Ideas, and Help Me Decide sections.

My Career Plan Summary My Career Plan Summary records the information the student has entered into the career plan; and users can print and/or email all or selected sections of the career plan summary. Implementing the plan can be the most rewarding part of career planning and development but it can also be difficult and poses many challenges for young people. The articles presented in this part of My Guide aim to offer information and some hints and tips which individuals can consider as they embark upon the next step along their career pathway.

Other useful websites http://www.jobguide.thegoodguides.com.au/ The Job guide website has a leaflet titled: Parents Talking Career Choices   This leaflet is for parents, guardians, or those who have a responsibility or an interest in looking after teenagers. It will provide you with information about career pathways, and give you suggestions on how you can help your teenager to make career decisions. The leaflet is available in 15 different languages. There are also a series of audio podcasts available for parents as well.

Other useful websites https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/schooltowork/parentscommunity/index.html The “For Parents and Community” section on the Vocational Education in Schools website provides information that has been designed to aid parents/carers and community members to better understand the current career development landscape and their critical role in helping young people make transitions affecting their career and study.

The High Five Principles The High Five Principles are from the Real Game Series and state: Know yourself, believe in yourself and follow your heart. Focus on the journey, not the destination. Become a good traveller. You’re not alone. Access your allies, and be a good ally. Change is constant, and brings with it new opportunities. Learning is lifelong, and it’s good. We are most alive when we are learning. The High Five Principles are a simple way of representing the five key areas that support the career development of young people.

What parents should know: “Follow your heart” Dream the future Be positive Build confidence Respect your child’s ideas

What parents should know: “Focus on the journey” Explore different career ideas Experiment with career paths Enjoy the journey

What parents should know: “Be an ally” Offer support Use your networks

What parents should know: “Change is constant” Take a flexible approach Be prepared to change Look for opportunities

What parents should know: “Keep learning” Learn from many sources - Sport Community Family Learning is lifelong

Contact your school careers adviser for further information and support. Thank you