Inquiry into Career Advice Activities in Victorian Schools

Career development is an ongoing process that develops individuals' skills and knowledge to make decisions about their education, work and career throughout their lifespan. Secondary school is a pivotal time when students make choices about their direction following school. The terms of reference asked the Committee to investigate how well school career development is meeting the needs of Victorian students and how it could be improved. The Committee was also asked to consider the specific needs of regional students and during the course of the inquiry, the Committee also chose to explore the career development needs of students facing disadvantage. Victorian schools have significant autonomy over how they provide career development services to their students, including the number and qualifications of the career practitioners they employ and how to structure classes and subjects to deliver career development. This autonomy allows schools to tailor career development to the needs of their students.

Key findings are that: (1) career development is not currently meeting the needs of Victorian students; (2) career development must involve the whole school; (3) school career practitioners need more resources and support; (4) career development services must be delivered by qualified professionals; (5) students need more opportunities for workplace exposure; (6) the value of vocational education and training should be better promoted; (7) career development faces more challenges in regional areas; (8) students facing disadvantage need services tailored to their circumstances; and (9) career development is an essential school function. Recommendations are proposed to meet these requirements.

To obtain the views of young people and school career practitioners for the inquiry, the Committee ran an online survey on SurveyMonkey from 24 October to 15 December 2017. The survey was open to secondary students, recent school leavers, teachers and school career practitioners. The online survey summary report provides a summary of aggregated results.

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