Clear Trusted Career Advice for West Australian Students
It collates In Focus Careers blog posts, resources and other mind maps for West Australian Year 12s who want to go to uni in 2023.
In January 2020 I was on holiday with my family at a BnB in Dunsborough. We were sitting on the deck overlooking the bush when we first heard about a virus in China that would go on to cause chaos in our lives.
My oldest grandkids were only 9 at the time and they were off in the bush building cubby houses. Their lives were about to be thrown into turmoil.
There is now a bubble of middle school students who may not remember life before COVID. They will not know how middle school students used to engage with life beyond childhood.
We are still creating that “new normal”.
At the Career Teacher Master Class at Murdoch this year, Dr. Chad Morrison explained that:
My 11-year-old grandkids have now started high school in the most disrupted academic year ever experienced in WA. Teachers have been off work with COVID. Relief teachers have tried to cover the gaps. My grandkids have been off school, then got into trouble from relief teachers for not having completed work.
I suspect that any middle school students who had minor social and mental health issues two years ago, will not have had opportunities to engage in activities that would have helped them to work through their issues at their own pace.
Life is tougher for middle school students in 2022.
Teachers are burnt out. They don’t have the energy to build a village that will support middle school students.
Promoting existing services is an easy step that can be taken.
School Chaplains
If you have a wonderful school chaplain, help them to engage with your students.
Community Services
I got in touch with the Department of Communities. They said that:
It takes a village to raise a child
As I am becoming more aware of the bubble of COVID affected middle school students I have written:
In this final post I have a Mentor and Support Services map. I will continue to build that as people let me know of additional services which students can tap into to create their own village.
These opportunities will help students to create their own village as they move into adulthood. Getting started is the toughest step.
I will continue to look for ideas that will help them to make the transition.
Subscribe to In Focus Careers monthly magazine for West Australian schools.
If you tell a 14 year old to start working with a mentor, expect a negative reaction.
As they emerge from the chrysalis of childhood, 14 year old’s want to be responsible for what they do themselves. They want to work towards the future with their peers.
They do not want to engage with an authority figure of YOUR choice. Friendships are never more important than in the vital mid teenage years.
If you think kids would benefit from having a mentor, you need to:
Sport Coaches
The idea of having a coach, rather than a mentor, might be more familiar to kids.
The coach and the team are all working towards a single purpose.
Students who play sport could tell you that their coach:
Kids know WHY the coach is there, it could be their love of the game, maybe their kids play in the team, maybe they played for the team at one stage.
Kids don’t know WHY a mentor is there.
They will be asking:
When they are clear about all these things, then they need to learn that the mentor:
If you want a one on one approach to help you to identify and achieve goals, a designated mentor could be your answer. A mentor will provide guidance and support, just to you.
Establishing trusted one on one relationships is more difficult with a mentor than with a coach as part of a team. You will need to work harder to establish a relationship with a mentor.
There are lots of mentor services in Perth. Many have a specific focus.
I will build on this map as people let me know about more mentoring services in WA.
You can choose different mentors for different purposes.
No-one seems to be focusing on the significant long term impacts of COVID that middle school students experienced just as they were leaving the comfort of childhood.
I hope that by providing an environment, rich in ideas and opportunities, middle school students will be able to progress through a scaffolded approach to adulthood. It will take conscious and deliberate effort to engage…. if they are to arrive as confused, disoriented and bewildered as the rest of us.
Addendum
In the Boredom Breakers blog which I wrote last week, I provide a range of opportunities that young people could choose to explore as they move along the long path from childhood to adulthood . All of those suggestions have a leader who will be a bit like a sport coach.
Just as Year 9s were starting to grow out of the things they loved doing as little kids, COVID hit. There is a fair chance Year 9s are bored but not aware of opportunities that are on the table.
Here is a range of opportunities that may spark an interest and which Year 9s can investigate.
Go to the Mind Map to find links to information about all of these ideas.
If you want to know more about any of these opportunities, school based career advisors, student services officers and year coordinators will be able to help.
Age: 14 – 24 There are 4 sections:
Coding for Fun
Ages 7 – 17
Run by volunteers in libraries, unis and community centres. Young people and volunteers get together to learn to play with coding.
Acting, music and dance short courses are run on weekends and holidays. There are classes for young kids through to those who already have some experience.
Every local government council has youth programs. Check out your local government to see what it has on offer.
Age: 12 – 19
Fun with Robots
Teams make and program robots and compete in different challenges.
The latest edition of In Focus Careers News is out.
If you are in Year 12, you need to decide where you want to belong when you leave school.
Most of us don’t remember our dreams. Your dreams, or even your vague ideas will come in a whisper, not in a shout. Here are some tips on how to listen to your heart.
Career ideas don’t come fully formed. This simple trick will help you to see some possibilities.
Make a list of the things you do in a day. This list provides you with the raw material that you need to decide where you want to belong.
Expand your list by adding what you do on a weekend or on holidays or things you liked when you were younger.
When you have finished your list, highlight the things you like doing most. Check out those things and use them to guide your decisions about where you want to belong next.
Ideas are most at risk when they are vague and new.
Ideas need pampering or they will fade away.
Talk to your career advisor to get ideas about how you can do more of what you like doing most.
You can also check out how to do more of what you like through a free appointment with a careers counsellor at a Jobs and Skills Centre.
For more information go to Get on track to uni in WA 2023 or .Year 10 Magic Happens: Careers Handbook
For Donald Trump money and power are important.
For the Wiggles it is entertaining little kids.
You can figure out what is important to you through this game:
If you included your dog you might have:
MIssy – Friendly, fun, understanding.
You will have 24 different things that you like.
Group together similar things. The things that appear most are those things that are most important to you.
Let those things guide your decisions about where you want to go next.
If making money and having power is important to you, you won’t want to go to care for orphans in Cambodia.
If entertaining little kids is important to you, you might check out early childhood education. That is where the original Wiggles started.
For more information go to Get on track to uni in WA 2023 or .Year 10 Magic Happens: Careers Handbook
From little things big things grow.
Start by listening to what you like now. From those ideas you can grow your future.
Check to see if those thing sounds true to your values.
Stand on the shoulders of giants. Ask older people for information. Ask what they did. We all want you to succeed.
Get on track to uni in WA 2023 Year 10 Magic Happens Careers Handbook
After the most COVID disrupted term we have had in WA, career educators have bounced back. They are standing on the shoulders of West Australian giants in career education to deliver world class career experiences to our students.
Here are some examples from the last few weeks.
Last month Kathy Moore, from Swan View SHS, organised for career educators to go to the Construction Futures Centre in Belmont to check out the career education resources that are available to schools.
Twenty eight career practitioners turned up and played their way through the simulation games that can be booked for school groups. You can book a tour for yourself or for a school group HERE.
Kim Flintoff, from Peter Carnley Anglican Community School, is building on the work of the East Metropolitan Health Service which delivers the Youth Innovation Think Tank for West Australian high schools.
You can find earlier examples of problems addressed by schools HERE.
Brett Neasham, from Governor Stirling SHS, recently ran a career conversations session for Year 9 students. The MyCareerRules session with ABCN and Bankwest was a great introduction to careers with mentors giving thoughtful, honest insights and reflections on their career journeys.
Kathy Moore, from Swan View SHS, had Defence Force Recruiting come to school to give a presentation to Year 11 & 12 students.
Pathways from High School powerpoint presentation Get on track to uni in WA for 2023 Study Coach
Notre Dame has its Getting Into Medicine information session on 3 May at 5.30 West Australian Time. Curtin has their information session on 9th May.
People who want to get into medicine in 2023 need to attend medicine information sessions to hear of course application procedures and they need to complete their UCAT applications.
Notre Dame, Curtin and UWA run medicine courses in WA.
If you missed the Curtin information you can find the video HERE.
If you missed the Notre Dame information session, search “Notre Dame Medical Student information videos” for a suite of helpful videos.
UWA has not planned an information session. You can find information about medicine at UWA HERE.
To get into medicine you have to score well on a University Clinical Admission Test (UCAT)
Students undertake the UCAT at a time they can choose between 1 July to 12 August.
There is a fee to undertake the UCAT. Concessions close on 10 May.
Applications close on 17th May.
Late bookings for UCAT
The late booking deadline is 31st May.
To see all dates go HERE.
There is a bank of tests that students should do to prepare for the test.
UCAT recommends:
you start by viewing the Preparation Advice and Resources before moving onto the Question Banks and Practice Tests and the Test Tools.
Training organisations that are not associated with UCAT offer additional training. UCAT has this to say about those organisations:
Commercial organisations will be using questions that are not necessarily of the standard you will encounter in the UCAT and this may distort your performance whilst practising. Screen views may be different and commercial organisations are unlikely to include the new question types, which you may encounter in your test. They may also not replicate the UCAT scoring and banding accurately and may give misleading indicators of your anticipated UCAT score.
Good luck to all of you who aim to get into medicine.
You can use the skills you developed when coming to high school to guide your transition from high school to uni.
Online Study V On Campus
Get your student number and connection to the internet sorted. You will be given instructions about how to do this around Christmas time with the offer that comes after the final TISC results come out.
If face to face classes are available on campus, go to them. Uni is so much more than curated information about different subjects.
On Campus Accommodation
If you CAN stay on campus, do that.
We want students to stay at the on campus accommodation, whether they are from South East Asia or South Perth.
Professor Harlene Hayne, Vice Chancellor Curtin University
There are people employed by residential colleges who have knowledge, networks and power to create an amazing university life for you. You will make friends for life, get help with study and create networks that will lead to jobs.
$$$$$$$$: Check accommodation scholarships HERE.
Public Transport
If you will be taking public transport to uni, figure out the best route and timetable and find out how to get your SmartRider ticket.
Tertiary SmartRider
Parking
Not being able to find parking when you are under pressure can break you.
Get your parking stickers/app during the holidays. Find where you can park and where to find parking during peak hours. Try to find free parking, although most good free spots will be taken by students who have been at uni for a while. 
Campus Layout
Go to movies, food van markets, play sport or join clubs on campus. Each baby step you make to become familiar with your uni will make your transition easier.
Walk around the campus. If you are doing engineering, go to the engineering building. Check out the room and lab locations. Find the library.
Whatever course you are doing, find your buildings and know where your classes will be held BEFORE Orientation Week.
If you aren’t certain which subjects to take, do a uni prep course – its free and it will help you to make better subject choices. You will be able to go to the same campus as your friends who are leaping into their degree straight away, and you will learn enough to be clear about what course you want to do before you start your degree.
Lectures, tutorials and workshops will be scheduled throughout the week. You choose your timetable.Your school timetable is a good model to follow when choosing your class times.
Treat uni like school. Organise your timetable so that you go to uni every day. Don’t be tempted to pack your scheduled times into a few days and just go during scheduled times. Spend your “free time” doing your research and assignments.
If you treat uni as a job, with a 40 hour week and some good study planning you are on a good path to success. Schedule breaks where you meet your friends and where you play sport or engage in club activities. A mix of work and play is what you need to have a great time at uni.
The friends you make at uni can stay with you for your entire life.
There will be so many people to choose from. If you go to Curtin, there will be about 50,000 people to choose from. If you go to Notre Dame in Fremantle, which is our smallest uni, you will have about 6,000 to choose from.
If you pick clubs or sports or volunteer activities from the amazing choice that is available, you will find friends there who have the same interests as you. You can join clubs during Orientation Week.
If you arrange to stay at university accommodation you will meet lots of new people there.
To subscribe email: Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au
Pathways from High School Video Presentation for Senior Students
Get on track to uni in WA 2023
