Category: career education

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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.

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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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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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Out Now – In Focus Careers News April 2025. Discover your path to careers for tomorrow.

Discover your path to careers for tomorrow in the April issue of In Focus Careers News. 

Unearth future possibilities in the evolving landscape of work. Identify innovative pathways to a career you love. 

The April issue leads you through new courses, support programs, scholarships and career events available to you in Western Australia now.

In Focus Careers inspires dreams and empowers you take action to shape your tomorrow. 

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In Focus Careers provides a clear guide to career professionals and families trying to wade through a tsunami of career information.

Bev doing research for 2025
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Want to become a teacher? ECU Teacher Education School to Split Between Joondalup and New Perth Campus

Mount Lawley ECU Campus is to close at the end of this year.

Some faculties, like Business, IT and Creative Industries, which includes WAAPA, are moving to the new ECU campus being built next to Perth train station. 

The Teacher Education School is to be split across both Joondalup and the city campus. 

Bachelor of Education Early Childhood Studies

This degree will be available at Joondalup, South West and online in 2025. 

Bachelor of Education Primary

This course is available at Mt Lawley, Joondalup, South West and online in 2025.

Bachelor of Education Secondary

In 2025 this course is available at Mt Lawley and Joondalup. It will be split in 2026 depending on what you major in. 

Majors you can study in this course

Students may be required to attend both Joondalup and Mount Lawley campuses depending on their selected major and minor combination.

I’m Sad to See Mt Lawley Close

ECU evolved out of Claremont Teachers’ College which opened in 1902. Half of my family did their teacher education at Claremont Teachers’ College or at ECU in Mt Lawley.  

Claremont Teachers’ College. Picture from SIDE

In 1982 Claremont Teachers’ College merged with other providers of teacher education across WA and then evolved into ECU which has been a centre of excellence for teacher education in WA. It is still be biggest provider of teacher education in WA.

I hope it manages to maintain its reputation as a great provider of teacher education through the transition. 

To find out more about the move go to the ECU Handbook 

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Bev doing research for 2025
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Out Now – In Focus Careers News for West Australian Students: February 2025 Issue

The first issue of In Focus Careers News is now available.

By subscribing you also get a copy of: 
Year 10 Magic Happens Careers Handbook for Students

Year 10 Magic Happens Teachers’ Guide

16 Mind Maps for Career Advisors

In Focus Careers News is unique. It is the only publication that provides news about emerging career opportunities in Western Australia. 

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Be on top of all the information you need to be an outstanding career advisor.

Bev doing research for careers in hospitality and tourism in 2025

 

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Unlock the Potential of Career Education in just 10 Hours a Year.

Despite mountains of research showing the value of career education, career advisors struggle for resources, time and recognition.

Don’t try to face these challenges alone. In 10 hours per year, you can get the support of a dynamic group of local industry representatives who will transform how career education is recognised in the school.

This will be the group you go to for advice and support. They will be the first ones you go to for guest speakers, work experience, mentoring, expos and industry tours. They will have networks to support your goals.

Example

Vet Nursing Advisory Board for South Metro TAFE

At one stage in my career at TAFE I was put in charge of Veterinary Nursing. I knew nothing about it so set up an industry advisory board with members from the Australian Veterinary Association, The Vet Surgeons Board, Vet Nurses, industry groups – from agriculture, racing and gaming and a student representative.

They delivered information, advice and support to the students and enhanced the work we did by aligning it more to industry needs. They provided industry connections for work experience, and recommended us to pet food companies that donated food for animals in our clinic.

Your Guide

Hour 1: Get the support of your principal

Put a pitch together about how an Industry Advisory Group will enhance the career education of students. The Principal may want to know details which I have put in “Hour 2”.

Hour 2: Thinking Time

Decide roughly who you want on the group:

  • Someone from a Jobs and Skills Centre
  • A member of the local Rotary Group (great for mock job interviews, work experience and mentors).
  • A member of the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
  • Someone from retail (Coles/Woolworths/ Bunnings/McDonalds)
  • Someone from an aged care facility.
  • You could try the Construction Futures Centre, or a trade group in your area.
  • Someone powerful who is willing to help – in my area we have Hofmann Engineering, they are a multinational company and they so generous with their time and support.

Decide how often you will meet. Probably twice a year for an hour.

Decide what will happen to their ideas. Maybe the minutes of the meetings are sent to the school management and school board and they will guide your work. Say you will report back on progress at each meeting.

Set a date and time for the meeting at the school. Book a room.

Hour 3 and 4: Busy Work

Ring people. Invite them to be a member of the (name of school) Industry Advisory Group that aims to build the capacity of career education within the school.

Follow up with an email invitation to the first meeting.

Hour 5: Hold the Meeting

Make sure you have tea and coffee and a biscuit for them.

You are a teacher. You KNOW how to facilitate a brilliant meeting.

You might want to:

  • Welcome and introduce the purpose of the group.
  • Do some brainstorming with the group through a SWOT analysis.
  • I like to analyse to SWOT to get ideas for how to Use each of the Strengths, Stop the Weaknesses, Exploit the Opportunities and Deny the Threats. That gives me a “to do list”.
  • Tell them you will write up the notes from the brainstorming and send them out to them.
  • Set a time for the next meeting.

Build relationships. Have a cup of tea/coffee and a talk.

Hour 6 – 7: Write up the notes and distribute

After the meeting write up what happened in a report send it to everyone.

Talk about it at staff meetings. Put it into your school newsletter. Let the District Office know. Let me know and I now and I will put it in the next In Focus Careers newsletter.

You will be able to call on your Group members to support any of the initiatives you want to launch at school.

Hour 8: After 6 months write a Progress Report

After 6 months write up a basic Progress Report for your next meeting and email it to everyone in the group.

Include the time and place for next meeting.

Hour 9: Prepare for Next Meeting

Book a room. Get tea and coffee. Prepare the agenda. Would your principal want to come?

Hour 10 Hold Next Meeting.

Report on and discuss progress and note further suggestions.

Repeat 3- 10 above for next year.

You are on your way

Your Industry Advisory Group will be your greatest asset. They provide work experience, mentors, guest speakers, expo displays and industry advice AND they can be a powerful voice that trailblazes the way for career education in your school.

It really is worth setting aside 10 hours per year to put in place infrastructure that will make your life easier.