Author: Bev Johnson

I started my career as a teacher in West Australian high schools. I believe that knowing what you want to do has power that can drive a successful life. I have now been researching and collating information for career professionals in In Focus Careers News for the past eight years. Together we are building our capacity to help students to find their power and create satisfying lives. If you would like to know about careers opportunities in Western Australia contact me at Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au or M: 0434056412
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Mind Maps to Creative Careers in Western Australia

These maps collate information about creative careers into categories. Explore Creative Careers at:

WAAPA Music Theatre Students
WAAPA Music Theatre students

Click on the maps and they will open up in the Coggle app where the links will take you to relevant sites. 

Download Creative Arts Degree courses HERE. 

Download Specialist Creative Programs in High Schools

 

Download Creative Arts Pathways for Aboriginal students HERE.

Creative Arts Analogue Courses

Digital Creative Arts VET Courses

Film and Acting – out of school

If you would like more creative industry mind maps let me know: Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au

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So, you want to be an electrician. Here are some suggested pathways into electrical trades

This post contains detailed information about pathways into electrical trades in Western Australia.

Being offered an electrical apprenticeship is getting as hard as getting into medicine. At the end of 2025 hundreds of West Australian high school students missed out on electrical pre apprenticeships.

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know

It seems that the best way to get an apprenticeship as an electrician is to have a family member who is willing to employ you. 

Shortage of Trainers

The resource industry is scooping up qualified electricians and paying them a bucket load to go onto the mines. It is difficult to attract qualified electricians from industry to deliver training to the 6000 apprentice electricians in WA.

Matt Shaw from Clean Energy Skills Recommendations 

Matt Shaw spoke at the Career Development Conference at Curtin late last year. He told us that there is doing to be a 4% increase in demand for electricians every year to 2050. 

He suggested that teachers go to the Clean Energy site for case studies and information about future careers.

 

 

 

From Robert Palmer at South Metro TAFE 

Rob Palmer is a senior career advisor at South Metro TAFE. I contacted him for advice on how to get into a trade as an electrician from school.

He sent this information:

A post school Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) (Electrotechnology Pre-apprenticeship) is being offered at Armadale in Semester 1 2026 and is expected to be offered again for Semester 2.
  • Semester 2 applications via TAFE Admissions typically open in late April/early May. 
The pre-apprenticeship course is also offered at Armadale as a VETDSS course for school students completing Year 11 and 12.   
(These new opportunities were snapped up as soon as they became available. It may be easier to get a place in Semester 2. Bev) 
Rob is an advocate for people enrolling in a skills set in a related trade first. He said that working as a trades assistant or builders’ labourer for a while would make applicants more attractive to potential employers. 
Careers in defence | South Metropolitan TAFE
See the video HERE.
The Defence Industries Pathways Program is a 12-month paid traineeship which gives trainees exposure to various sectors of the defence industry (e.g. manufacturing and engineering, computing and logistics)  and includes 3 X 12-week work placements with defence industry employers. 
It does not provide a direct entry into the electrical trade. However, the opportunity for DIPP participants to complete work-placements and demonstrate their work-ethic and aptitude can put them in a good position when Defence Industry employers advertise electrical apprenticeships. 

South Metro TAFE Defence Industry Electricians

You DO NOT have to enlist in the defence forces to work in the defence industry.

The defence industry is made up of businesses that supply goods and services to the army, navy and air force. 

Check out the South Metro TAFE Defence Industry Centre of Excellence for potential electrical pre apprenticeship and apprenticeships in the defence industry. You can find different, similar apprenticeships HERE.

To explore options go to your local Jobs and Skills Centre

Defence Force

If you really want the best possible training in anything to do with electrical trades, consider defence force trades. There is a range, like Electronic Systems Technician and Electronics Technician Submariner

The Defence Force has a recruiting office is down near the Convention Centre. Contact them for an careers appointment.

Checking out what is possible does not mean you are signing up!!

Linda Terrell at North Metro TAFE has these suggestions

Linda offered some creative ideas on how to get an electrical apprenticeship.

Linda suggested:

Private training provider

 

The College of Electrical Training is now the biggest trainer of apprentice electricians in WA. They have a maths quiz as part of the application, and the CET course and will also be highly competitive.

 

Apprenticeship Support Recommends 

Apprenticeship Support has joined the challenge to find pathways into electrical trades by recommending that students start with one of these courses:

  • Cert II in Sustainable Energy
  • Cert II in Electronics
  • Cert II in Computer Assembly and Repair

Comtech Training Recommends

Practice Maths Tests

University

I have requested information from ECU about courses that lead to electrical careers. These might be easier to get into than apprenticeships.

I will publish that information in the In Focus Careers Newsletter. 

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

If you need to know about emerging career opportunities in WA, you need In Focus Careers News. At $35 per issue, your organisation will have all the West Australian career information it needs to share with your school community. 

 

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Screen Industry Boom – It’s never been a better time to go into the creative industries in WA

Sometimes everything seems to line up.

In 2026 – Streaming Services like Netflix will be required to make Australian programs so there will be demand for more Australian film and television creators. Details HERE.

In 2026 – Perth Film Studios will open in Malaga and there will be demand for creative people to use the facilities.

In 2026 – The WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) will move to its new and expanded facilities at the ECU Perth Campus where the Mindaroo Foundation has donated $30m to support creative arts over 25 years.

You can find information about screen industry roles and courses from the Western Australia Future Now Industry Training Council. 

The Government is Kick Starting Screen Industry Renewal

The WA Government has a Western Australian Screen Industry Strategy 2024-2034

The 10 year plan aims to create:

..a world-renowned screen industry showcasing exceptional creative content and stories to the world.

The Strategy includes a workforce development plan that allocates $11.2 million over four years. There will be an additional $2 million over two years for a pilot Digital Games and Interactive Fund, which will be delivered through Screenwest.

Current University Courses

Western Australia already offers opportunities to those who want to study for careers in creative industries.

Check out this range of university courses  in Western Australia that teach skills for creative careers. 

VET Courses Provide Skills and Industry Connections

If you are willing to truly engage with the courses, do a VET course. You will quickly develop skills and get contacts who will be your passport into the industry.

VET Analogue Creative Careers

Actors, dancers, musicians and set designers are among those who join camera operators, set creators and makeup artists in this industry. 

VET Digital Creative Careers

Students who know how to create animation and digital games or how to maximise social media will have skills that can be used across the creative industries.

How to Start

If you want to work in the screen industry start now.

  • Sketch out a story or game idea

  • Get help from friends

  • Use the camera on your phone to create a production.

  • Look for competitions or take your show reel to lecturers at one of the teaching organisations and ask for help. 

Good luck with your screen industry career.

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

If you need to know about emerging career opportunities in WA, you need In Focus Careers News. At $35 per issue, your organisation will have all the West Australian career information it needs to provide expert guidance to students. 

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Data Standards between VET and Uni aren’t enough for seamless transition

Tertiary educators are facing barriers when they try to meet the Australian Universities Accord reforms to create better credit recognition and  seamless pathways from VET to uni. Establishing a collaboration framework that facilitates easy transition from VET into degrees needs to be built on an agreed regime in order to succeed. 

Data standards are just the beginning 

TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) is going to delver a TAFETalk on Harmonisation and the importance of shared data standards.

A critical challenge to harmonisation is that tertiary providers’ data systems are not aligned, limiting collaboration, creating duplication, and making student mobility difficult.


Australia has had agreed technical standards, that include agreement on semantics. Technical stuff is the easiest standard to negotiate. Security standards will be a critical issue.

Governance

Tertiary education providers need to agree on who is responsible for what and to what standard. These decisions can be value laden and difficult to negotiate.

Legal Framework

Establishing an agreed legal framework will be tricky as VET is a State government responsibility while universities are Commonwealth. Issues about international students, copyright and privacy will need to be agreed. It is easiest to all adopt Commonwealth legal frameworks.

Business Rules

We also need agreed Business Rules. How things are managed to preserve the reputation of collaborating organisations need to be agreed. This involves egos and personal preferences and they are the most difficult issues to negotiate. 

Financial Rules

If there is a standard framework then recognizing VET skills by unis will be low cost. VET providers will need to establish systems to ensure that unis don’t bare the costs involved in recognizing VET qualifications. 

Summary

The Australian Government developed its first Strategy for Joined Up Government in 2003. It is a great template that could be used by those trying to develop seamless pathways. Without an agreement, transition from VET to uni will continue to be ad hoc and wasteful. 

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Sneek Preview to New City ECU Campus from a non ECU visitor

I was one of a small group of visitors invited to an early inspection of the new ECU City Campus.

It was a tour of a building site. We had to wear PPE. There is plastic protecting the carpet and cardboard taped up to protect some of the walls in high traffic areas. Workers were everywhere and tradies’ boomboxes blared from each floor.

Overall impression

So much thought has gone into this building. It is actually two buildings, joined by gangways in middle floors and the two buildings become one at the top. It reminded me of Boola Bardip. Lots of open space and connectivity. It seems to soar up and it feels spacious.

What’s missing:

  • Coffee Shops: It may seem trivial, but there are no coffee shops in the building. Students wanting coffee will be forced to go out of the building to interact with people in the city.

  • No big theatre: There is no big theatre. The Heath Ledge Theatre is only a few hundred metres away and it is envisaged that students will graduate from the smaller ECU studios into the big public theatres.

  • No Parking: There is no parking at the campus. Public transport is the obvious way to get there. You come out of the Perth City Bus Port just metres from the front door. The Perth train station is across Yagan Square, a couple of hundred metres away.

What’s there:

  • Bespoke Design The building has been designed for teaching. The theatres are designed so that lighting students or sound students or creative students are the clients, rather than an audience. Expert lecturers and students from ECU and Boorloo custodians were involved throughout the design process.  The final colours inside are going to reflect the colours of West Australian wildflowers.

  • Dance Studio Floor The floors in the four dance studios are the best they could find from anywhere in the world. They were designed in England as were the sound panels on the ceiling of the double height rooms.

  • Sound. Light. Action The best architects have consulted with the best creative practitioners to ensure the sound, lighting, theatrical teaching opportunities are the best in the world.

  • Built on springs The building is vulnerable to vibration because it is built over the train line and bus station. It has been engineered to sit on a spring foundation like that used in earthquake zones. This will be a particular advantage for the high tech equipment in the building.

  • Top floor services There is no room under the building for services, so they have been located in the top floors. This seems weird, but if they had been located on lower floors they would have disrupted the flow from one section to the next, which is a feature of the building.

Design

It feels like Boola Bardip. There are lots of open spaces and many hubs where you can sit and study. There are two main buildings connected with walkways on the lower floors and joined together at the top.

  • Orientation: The creatives face Northbridge. Business, law and cyber security are on the city side.

  • The entrance: The foyer off Yagan Square welcomes you with beautiful wooden bleacher like seating for public and students. An escalator to rival that in Boola Bardip draws you up into the building. The entrance ceiling is 40 metres high (don’t hold me to that) and to your left is an LED wall where students’ work will be showcased.

  • Ground floor gallery. There is an art gallery on the ground floor where student art will be displayed. This is a proper gallery, open to the public. You can see into it from Yagan Square.

  • Piano Museum In homage to the role pianos have played in early white settlement of Western Australia, there will be a museum of old pianos on the ground floor.

  • Theatres: There are three theatres, all with outstanding sound proofing. The recital hall impressed me most with its beautiful wooden sound proofed and acoustically perfect walls and crafted wooden ceiling. The theatres are small with the layout focusing on teaching. The playhouse theatre has tiered seating, which will be perfect for productions for a small audience.

Learning Spaces

The library area is still a work in progress, so it was difficult to understand what it will look like. There are many open study zones throughout the building. The traditional lecture rooms are high tech, as would be expected in a future looking learning space.

Logistics

  • The building is handed over to ECU on 19 December and staff will move in over the Christmas break.

  • WAAPA courses, Business and Law, Science including some IT, and Arts and Humanities will be based at the City Campus.

  • Education will move from Mt Lawley to the Joondalup campus.

  • There will be 1000 staff working from there and the building has the capacity to support 9000 students.

  • The campus will commence operations at the start of the 2026 academic year.

There are no WAAPA Summer School classes. 

Thanks to those who invited me. It is going to be amazing!!

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Career Practitioners’ Place in an AI World – Presentation to download

I developed this presentation for a conference last weekend. It builds on a blog post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Shift Happens

Shift Happens came out more that a decade ago. The changes it identified focused on the analogue world.

  • The population of China and India

  • How many brilliant kids there are in India

  • China becoming the number one English speaking country in the world.

It delivers lots of revelations that we now accept as part of out world. We adapted.

We are going to have to adapt to AI generated change even faster. 

AI and Online Job Applications

The Australian government came out with guidelines for using AI for your job applications. It is now 12 months old but still has great advice about protecting your privacy.

Job Applications Using AI

Everyone is using AI to generate their first draft of AI. Ty Jones from Jobs and Skills in Geraldton reckons many are a lot better than the ones he is used to getting!!

They need to be personalised once the initial draft has been done.

Ty does a brilliant presentation on the use of AI in job applications. He really demystifies how to use it. You can email him for a copy HERE. 

Career Practitioners are Change Agents

We are change agents and our role is to guide people in times of significant change.

We KNOW where to find the most current relevant information and we KNOW how to engage with people.

How to Prepare for the Future

There is already a tsunami of information to wade through.

The speed of incoming information is going to increase. My advice is to specialize if you can. Pick a narrow field and go deep if you want to keep up. 

 If you can’t specialize you need to form strong networks of experts to work with. 

Learn How to Provide Holistic Solutions

Nora Bateson’s Warm Data methodology and Dave Snowdon’s Cynefin Framework provide ways of addressing complex environments.

Finally – Focus on Being Human

Engage. Connect with people. Find out how they are coping. Go to more conferences and to more meet up meetings. We need to be sharing what we know through the lens of career professionals. 

You can download a copy of my presentation HERE.

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The future of education is exciting and better, particularly for STEM teachers

  • A Brilliant Breakthrough

  • Back to the Future

  • The Future for STEM Education

  • How to Prepare for the Future Now

As educators we are at the start of the AI road. We are learning to delegate the teaching of data to large language models.

Digital twins technology is an example of an AI teaching tool that seems to personalise the learning experience. It can map a students’ actual learning style against an ideal model. It then creates a personalised learning program that will help the student to learn most effectively.

See Education Next.

It’s brilliant. A breakthrough.

AI will help us to create individualize teaching of data to a class of 30 students. Students will be able to learn using their bespoke programs on their devices with little support from a teacher, once the personalised program is set up. 

  • AI can also teach relationship between scientific facts. Hydrogen + Oxygen = Water.

  • It can help us to plan. We can plan how to teach a student with learning difficulties more effectively?

  • It can help us to prepare. I heard Tess Magden, captain of The Opal’s basketball team, saying that every team member has a personalised AI created training program.

AI creates opportunities to make teaching better.

Back to the future

We are already stuck to our screens. We text rather than talk to people. Kids no longer break their arms while playing, because they are inside playing computer games. Friendly bots are becoming our imaginary friends replacing the need for human interaction.

As our non-digital world narrows there will be increasing need for educators to consciously and deliberately teach people to engage with and solve problems with other people. Learning activities will become places for engaging with data to collaboratively generate constructive solutions, while developing mental health, community connections and peer relationships.

Educators will engage with warm data that captures relationships between systems and the consequences of decisions. A lot of data learning will be done by AI.

The future for STEM education

Teachers of STEM will have the greatest opportunities through adopting AI.

There is a lot of data to learn in STEM subjects. Using a program like digital twins to teach the periodic table and multiplication tables will release teachers from the tedium of rote teaching. 

Learning to apply facts will become the more joyful role of the science teacher.

Learning to think about the application of facts will be the most challenging part of STEM teaching.

Making wise decisions about the application of STEM facts requires human capital.

  • So many people don’t believe that climate change is real. People don’t know who to trust and they ignore the scientific evidence delivered by experts. How do we teach people who and what to trust in a world of malicious influencers?

  • Tech giants want to deregulate copyright laws so that AI can use artistic works. Should we steal intellectual property and make a profit from it, just because we can?

  • DNA results collected by bankrupt firm 23andMe have been sold. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals now owns the data. What should they do with it?

  • What considerations were included in the architectural decision NOT include a coffee shop in the new City ECU building.

Introducing holistic thinking, wise decision making and the capacity to stand up for what is best for the greatest number of people, will become an increasing challenge for STEM teachers. 

How to Prepare for the Future Now

Warm data is the best discipline I know to understand the relational processes between and among systems. Its creator, Nora Bateson is a genius. There are occasional Warm Data labs in Perth.

David Snowden is another systems person worth exploring. He created the Cynefin Framework which provides a description of peoples and cultures with their customs, habits and mutual differences. 

Both Bateson and Snowden are tackling how to deliver holistic approaches to understanding. Twenty years ago, my lotto dream was to go to Wales and do Snowdon’s course. Now that I have learned about Warm Data, I like it better. 

Snowdon and Bateson can be seen on webinars together. They have minds like planets. You can trust them as a good source of thinking when you start to consider teaching in the age of Artificial Intelligence. 

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Career Decision Making Flowchart

Ty Jones from Mid West Jobs and Skills Centre created this Career Decision Making Flowchart.

He created it after an online Career Development Association of Australia conversation in which WA President, Rebecca Herbertson, asked if anyone had such a model.

Ty went ahead and created this one. Thanks for sharing Ty. 

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Dreams come in a whisper, not in a shout. Career Influence Model for Career Advisors

Stephen Spielberg made his first feature move at 16, yet even he advised to listen for a whisper rather than wait for your dream to shout to you. You would expect the creator of the BFG, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park to know he wanted to be a movie maker.

Perhaps even Speilberg had doubts about his career choice, or wondered if there was something better for him. 

Charles Kingley said: 

It is tricky to find a job you are enthusiastic about. Those jobs don’t shout out to you. 

As career professionals it is our role to help people to:

  1. Become Aware of opportunities for enthusiasm
  2. Explore career pathways to happiness
  3. Help them to engage in work they find interesting
  4. Repeat 1 – 3 until they find something to become enthusiastic about. 

Using the Model

When working with people, ask them where they want to start on this career model: 

  • Are they looking for something totally new?
  • Do they know what they want, but not know how to get there?
  • Are they interested in their work but want to refine their target for the future?

Download this copy of the Career Influence Model to use with your clients

Download HERE. 

Download copy with Speech Bubbles HERE. 

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Casual Summer Jobs for Senior School Students

Job Application Help

If you would like a job during the holidays but have never applied for a job, there is help available to get you on the right track and it’s free from the Jobs and Skills Centres, which are located throughout the State. 

Go to a Jobs and Skills Centre for job application skills.

Text books for schools

Text book sellers have their peak time during the summer holidays as schools and students get their text books for the next year. 

If you are interested in working with friends and making some money over summer, this could be a good option for you.

Every year Campion Education hires up to 1700 casual staff across Australia for our busy back-to-school period. There are stores in Canning Vale and Malaga

Register your interest for a summer job with Campion here

Casual jobs at Campion are typically from late October / November to February. The roles are in either customer support, warehouse & operations, or retail stores. 

Once you register, we will let you know in August when applications open, so you can apply ahead of the crowd.

CBH Summer Jobs

Each year usually in about October, Western Australian (WA) grain growers start harvesting their grain such as canola, wheat, barley and oats. 

It only pays $33/hour but there is opportunity for overtime and many uni students save enough to pay for their academic year by working for CBH. 

There are three main jobs on a CBH receival site:

  • Samplers are responsible for ensuring the quality of grain by sampling a truck load of grain and performing an unbiased and accurate assessment of the load.
  • A Weighbridge Officer is responsible for controlling the site weighbridges, recording grower deliveries and ensuring the correct and accurate weighing of the trucks.
  • RPOs are responsible for ensuring that the grain flows smoothly from the trucks to the storage areas.

You don’t require any experience as CBH provides all of the necessary training!

Swimming Instructor – Education Department

If you’re a friendly, outgoing person who loves the water, help us run the Education Department’s popular swimming programs across the state.

It’s a rewarding, feel-good job with:

  • a competitive salary
  • great, flexible hours
  • friendly, supportive teams
  • leadership opportunities
  • more than 180 locations in WA.

Apply HERE. 

To find what’s available and how to access those opportunities, subscribe to In Focus Careers for West Australians.

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