Somerville Secondary College

Careers and Pathways

Somerville Secondary College has a comprehensive Careers and Pathways curriculum, which is distributed across all year levels and follows the Victorian Careers Curriculum Framework.

Students participate in a planned careers program from Year 7 and discover who they are and what they are interested in, with a focus on building their achievements and developing capabilities. 

The careers program connects education to our student’s passions and goals through career exploration; teaching students to locate and investigate opportunities in future learning and work options. 

Our aim is for students to set goals, know their individual pathway options and become excited about their future and how they are going to get there. 

There are six steps in a young person’s acquisition of skills for career development. These form the structure of the framework.

Goals at each step are organised into three stages:

  • Self-development: young people understand themselves, build their experiences and achievements and develop their capabilities.
  • Career exploration: young people locate, investigate and consider opportunities in learning and future work options.
  • Career management: young people make and adjust career action plans and manage their life choices, changes and transitions.

We live in exciting and changing times, the range of options for our students is many, diverse and varied. Our careers practitioner is always here to provide advice and support for students and families, this continues beyond school and through the post-secondary transition process.

“Inspire to Aspire – Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today”

Careers Education

Career education in Year 7: I Discover

Year 7 students use a range of activities to discover their strengths and interests to develop a positive self-image that provides the foundation for optimistic pathway planning. They develop an awareness of the importance of social and interpersonal skills in their future life and work roles.

Students investigate the contribution of work to the community and family, recognising the role of paid and unpaid work. They focus on understanding issues relating to stereotyping and discrimination through the study of occupational and labour market information. Students build their Career E-Portfolio on the self-knowledge they have acquired through the activities they have undertaken.

Career education in Year 8: I Explore

Students in Year 8 explore the influence that a positive self-image and good learning habits have on occupational choice. They research a wide range of occupational profiles to examine the nature of the work, the personal attributes and skills necessary to perform the tasks, and the required entry-level education and training.

Students use their occupational knowledge to investigate a range of occupations that contribute to their community and develop an awareness of the opportunities available in their local area. Students apply their occupational knowledge to explore possible career options that may suit their educational and personal goals.

They revisit their Career E-Portfolio and devise a Career Action plan where they review their career and learning goals in line with their academic achievements. They adjust their plans to be more reflective of their in-school and out of school experiences, activities and interest to learn more about their potential.

Career education in Year 9: I Focus

Year 9 students focus on the contribution that personal attributes and effective communication skills make to their future life and work roles. Students participate in activities that highlight the skills needed to gain and maintain employment such as mock interviews and online applications.

Students examine the changes that have taken place in the workplace over a period of time and apply their knowledge to consider the nature of change on their planning for their preferred future.

In their career action plan students apply their knowledge of their personal attributes and reflect on possible future pathways taking into consideration education and training requirements and the impact of change.

During Year 9, all students will have the opportunity to complete the Careers Insights program, a series of questionnaires and quizzes accessed through the Morrisby website to determine possible Career Pathways determined by aptitude, interests, learning style and personality. They were all provided with a comprehensive report of the findings and participated in a 30 minute interview to unpack the report and create an Action Plan to make more informed choices surrounding their future pathway.

Students in Year 9 also attend a range of Career Expos, VET (TAFE) Taster days and National Career Week.

Over the course of the schooling journey, the students at Somerville Secondary College are well prepared and armed with a wealth of knowledge to be able to navigate the next two years of their education and to make well informed decisions about their future.

Career education in Year 10 and above

In the senior years our focus is on career management where students will develop resumes, an E-portfolio and career action plan. Students are supported through the one-on-one counselling process to make informed choices and decisions about subject selections, further education, apprenticeships and the world of work.