Pathways to Work and Learning provides students with opportunities to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills to access further studies and employment. Students identify their existing skills, target areas for development and actively seek to build skill sets for work and learning opportunities. They investigate the dispositions and mindsets needed to succeed in learning and work and develop strategies to acquire them.

The course also provides the opportunity to develop 21^st century work skills and learning dispositions. Students develop an understanding of how skills can be transferred to a broad range of contexts. The course supports the acquisition of enterprise skills, such as communication, presentation, digital and teamwork that give access to a wide range of occupations and allows students to acquire new and emerging skills sets. These skills sets will also assist them in their studies at school and in undertaking the ongoing learning which will characterise working life in the contemporary and future workplace.

Students learn about how to engage with a complex world of study and work by developing a career mindset. Students investigate the rights, obligations and expectations of workplaces so that they are better prepared for the transition to a post-school working life. They develop a capacity to identify opportunities for learning and work.

Students in this course will be prepared for entry into employment and further study. They develop the capacity to identify and take advantage of opportunities that they encounter and to seize opportunities for themselves.

The Pathways to Work and Learning course is written under the Integrated Learning Framework.

Advances in technology, coupled with political, economic, and social shifts both nationally and globally have transformed the nature of work and learning. Students are required to demonstrate a range of capabilities. They are required to apply concepts, methods, and language of more than one discipline to explore topics, design research questions, develop skills and solve problems.

Courses written under this framework promote interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. Students will learn how to transfer capabilities such as the research process, information management, critical thinking, creativity, effective teambuilding, leadership, collaborative decision making and communicate with a diverse range of people.

Students complete an inquiry that has a purpose, product or outcome. They develop the ability to engage with a process, question sources of information, make effective decisions, consider ethical implications, evaluate their own progress, be innovative and solve problems.

Courses written under this framework are suited for students with diverse abilities and learning styles including students preparing to enter the workforce, as well as those planning to study at university.

The Career Mindset

Students investigate the changing world at a local, national, and global level, and set goals to address the challenges and take advantage of opportunities. Students explore the practices, methods, and dispositions useful for work and learning. They identify learning required to prepare for a planned career. Students acquire the capabilities and skills that empower them as lifelong and adaptive learners, and participants in the workplace. They understand the value of their existing skills and knowledge, their transferability to a wide range of settings, and reflect on areas for further development.

Workplace and Learning Practices

This unit focuses on the expectations of workers, 21^st century skills, and relational skills utilised in a variety of diverse workplace environments. Students analyse and understand workplace practices such as digital processes, communication protocols, behavioural expectations, workplace rights and obligations, and workplace health and safety requirements. They understand social, legal, and industrial codes, and how to navigate them so they can plan for their future lives as they work with others.

Enterprise Skills

Students develop and apply transferable skills that allow them to be enterprising, so they can navigate and participate in careers across a range of businesses, industries, organisations, and professions. They understand, develop, and refine enterprise skills and readiness to use them: problem solving, communication skills, digital literacy, teamwork skills, presentation skills, critical thinking, creativity, and financial literacy. Students appraise their personal capacities, become aware of their existing skills, and identify and redress gaps.

Creating Opportunities

Students apply their understanding and skills to develop their own ideas and build supports and networks to plan opportunities for their future. They work collaboratively and independently to be creative, solve problems, and present their ideas. Students develop and use project management skills to bring their innovations and ideas to action. They identify sources of reliable information, advice, and support to implement entrepreneurial ideas. Students investigate opportunities and learn how to research workplace contexts, assess risk, and develop and implement a plan.

Independent Study

An Independent Study unit has an important place in senior secondary courses. It is a valuable pedagogical approach that empowers students to make decisions about their own learning. An Independent Study unit can be proposed by an individual student for their own independent study and negotiated with their teacher. The program of learning for an Independent Study unit must meet the unit goals and content descriptions as they appear in the course.

Independent Study units are only available to individual students in Year 12. A student can only study a maximum of one Independent Study unit in each course. Students must have studied at least three standard 1.0 units from this course. An Independent Study unit requires the principal’s written approval. Principal approval can also be sought by a student in Year 12 to enrol concurrently in an Independent Study unit and their third 1.0 unit in this course of study.

Course From 2023

Pathways to Work and Learning A/M/V (729 KB)

Pathways to Work and Learning A/M/V  (307 KB)