Technological, social and economic factors are rapidly changing the nature of work and traditional patterns of work organisation. Many of the occupations which will be undertaken by students currently in secondary schools do not yet exist. Preparing students for such a future requires a flexible approach which enables students to acquire general work-related knowledge, skills and attitudes, transferable across a number of occupational areas. Being generic, rather than industry-specific, Work Studies provides a framework within which students may explore several areas of vocational interest.
The strongly practical orientation of the course is intended to give students useful experiences against which to test their emerging career and/or study preferences. It also allows for students to develop a range of skills and attitudes in actual workplace contexts. The value of these experiences will be reinforced by the school-based components of the course, which provide both a knowledge base and the opportunity for structured reflection on workplace learning.
Course structure
The modular structure comprises a compulsory common core and optional course modules.
The core
Core studies are compulsory. The core provides an introductory study of aspects of work and work-related skills which are then taken up in more detail in the course modules. The indicative time allocation for the core is 30 hours. There are two parts to the core
Core 1: Work and change
Core 2: Experiencing work
Course modules
- Career planning
- Job seeking and interviews
- Workplace communication and interpersonal skills
- Equity issues and work
- Work and lifestyle
- Workplace issues
- Self-employment
All students will be required to complete 2 modules of compulsory work placement