What you will find in this handbook

This guide introduces career education at Years 7 and 8. It outlines the best and most appropriate approaches to career education for students at this level.

It is for:

• school managers and teachers in Years 7 and 8 who are responsible for leading the planning and implementation of career education in their school
• all teachers in Years 7 and 8 who want to understand how career education will help them meet the needs of their students, and prepare them to move on to secondary school.

The first part of this guide looks at:

• why career education is relevant to Year 7 and 8 students
• what kinds of discussions and activities are appropriate at these year levels
• how these discussions and activities prepare students for transition, and link in with career education in their later school years.
  

The second part provides help on how to lead, design and deliver appropriate career education for students. Each of the sections in this part begins with key indicators of effective practice in career education at Years 7 and 8, and continues with strategies, ideas, and examples to help you plan or enhance practice.

The final section is for new careers leaders. It offers ideas around how to get started. The checklist below brings together key indicators of effective career education practice. You can use this for discussion as well as for measuring your progress.

This guide is a companion document to Career Education in Practice which is useful to all schools but weighted towards approaches and environments in secondary schools.

Publication details: A4, 42 pages, PDF, published online September 2009.

Resource components

• Download the Understanding career education in Years 7 and 8 handbook (PDF - 0.6MB)
• Download the Understanding career education in Years 7 and 8 handbook (Word - 2MB)
• Download the checklist of effective practice indicators (Word - 77KB)