Co-designing a curriculum model for career education: perspectives from regional communities in Australia

Abstract

The vocational experiences and skills of young adolescents could be infused into formal education by identifying career competencies to be taught within the academic curriculum. Such curriculum practices that embed educational and career pathways must also include the perspectives of students and the community, particularly those from marginalised groups. Drawing on data from 111 teachers, principals, carers and students, this paper presents research undertaken to co-design career education lesson plans within an infused model of the curriculum for early Middle Year students from regional, rural, and remote Australia. The lesson plans and activities were designed to allow for meaningful self-reflection and goal-setting that could be seamlessly infused into the formal curriculum and help embed early-stage career education. The paper concludes by projecting opportunities and challenges for seamless curriculum integration, while pertinent to the Australian context, can also be read with broader relevance to other educational systems and schools.

Perceived support and influences in adolescents’ career choices: a mixed-methods study

“…An alternative could be to increase the amount of time this figure is in school or the type of support/intervention provided. Instead of face-to-face interviews, the literature seems to indicate that group interventions aimed at developing specific knowledge and competencies useful in career decision-making might be most effective in helping young people make choices and implement them (e.g., Mahat et al, 2022;Nota et al, 2016;Zammitti et al, 2020). Teachers might be involved, together with school guidance counselors, in providing these interventions.…”

Exploring the Idea of a Community Embedded University in Regional and Rural Australia

“…Because of their school experiences and sociocultural environments, as well as personal factors (Gemici et al, 2014;Zipin et al, 2015), regional and rural students may hold different educational preferences from their metropolitan peers and find that access to opportunities and educational resources is challenging (Akos et al, 2007;Birks et al, 2010;Yates et al, 2017). While aspirations for higher education may be influenced by university visits and other outreach programs (Walton & Carrillo-Higueras, 2019), aspirations for young people often start at a younger age than when career-specific guidance begins (Gore et al, 2015(Gore et al, , 2017Mahat et al, 2022).…”

“…And how would regional or rural placements (i.e., work-integrated learning placements) affect students' potentially metropolitan-based commitments around other study, part-time work, or accommodation? Similarly, participants also stressed the importance of maintaining a positive narrative about the value of local communities (see also Mahat et al, 2022), and that actions undertaken by a CEU should be seen as collaborative. As one participant submitted, "local communities are not without agency and are not damsels-in-distress."…”

Identifying Middle School Students’ Perceptions of STEAM Careers

“…This study was carried out with middle school students. After participating in some intervention, significant changes are possible in middle school students' awareness of career opportunities and their confidence in their ability to explore and plan their future careers (Mahat, Dollinger, D'Angelo, Naylor & Harvey, 2022). Students at this age may not have opportunities to have information about STEM career; and for this reason, they cannot think correctly about their career choices without having proper information (Wyss, Heulskamp & Siebert, 2012).…”