Career practitioners’ work is dynamic and challenging because they work:
- in a constantly changing social and economic environment
- with large amounts of information from many different sources and agencies
- with many and varied groups in the community
- in schools, educational organisations, community agencies and business settings
- with large numbers of individuals (each with special and unique combinations of career development needs).
Career work is an area where the ‘information load’ can be overwhelming and at times confusing. The amount and sources of career-related information require practitioners to be discerning – giving careful consideration to the relevance and value of the information. Another factor to be taken into consideration is that with inevitable changes in social and economic circumstances some resources, information and websites quickly become redundant.
Career practitioners have often been required to work independently in remote or resource-limited areas. They have had to explore and find the best available resources, as well as create and adapt relevant career programmes and information or material to suit their clients’ needs. Due to the considerable demands of the work role, career practitioners often do not have enough time to search for, or develop, high quality resources. Some people working in career support roles have had little background and training in the theoretical foundations of career development and practical skills.
This Resource for Career Practitioners is a national career resource that supports the demanding role of the career practitioner by providing access to a consolidated set of important materials that can be used and organised in a flexible way. For well-established career practitioners, the resource can be a useful aid in organising information. For novices moving into a career support role, this resource can be a useful starting point to increase their career knowledge and to develop their skills.
The importance of career education is recognised by all jurisdictions. The national policy documents and resources from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) that are informing and shaping current policy, curriculum and programs have been included in this resource.
The Resource for Career Practitioners has been designed for people who provide information, guidance, support and advice to students and clients on career development. ‘Career practitioners’ includes careers teachers, teachers from a range of departments in a school, VET teachers and coordinators, counsellors and community-based organisations. This resource is available in hard copy to careers practitioners. Please send an e-mail to: careers@dest.gov.au with your details, delivery address and a statement supporting your request.
This resource provides career practitioners with a starting point. It has been organised to facilitate the development of a customised quality career service or programme. The content included in each of the sections provides the career practitioner with information about current theories and policies relating to career development, the most up-to-date information about national programmes, resources and materials, and has sections to enable users to include state/territory, local and personal content.
The loose-leaf folder format with specific sections enables the practitioner to update and customise for local client and community needs.
Additions and amendments will be added to this website as they become available. Please monitor the website on a regular basis.
Section 2 provides career practitioners with an Australian context for career development, with an overview and rationale and national policy documents and guidelines.
Section 3 provides information about developing and improving career education programmes and relevant national career programmes and initiatives in Australia.
Section 4 is the section where more specific state/territory-based programmes and resources can be included.
Section 5 provides student activity sheets and teachers’ notes that can be used to facilitate career development (self-awareness and opportunity exploration, decision making, goal setting and skill development). It includes activities related to developing enterprise skills.
Section 6 provides information about useful career resources that can be used by a career practitioner working with groups or individual clients.
Section 7 will be an expanding and growing section that allows you to include all relevant local career and network information.
Section 8 provides a section where you can store and organise information related to professional learning and updating of relevant knowledge and information.