Pathways Beyond School
Pathways Beyond School activities focus on building career and educational aspirations and preparing students for life beyond school.
Ardoch’s Pathways Beyond School program offers students engaging learning experiences that are designed to support their preparation for employment, as well as increase aspirations towards continued education and training, with a view to gaining long-term employment. It has the following components:
Mock Interviews
Secondary school students are connected with working adult volunteers who take part in mock interviews with students, helping them to practice and build interview techniques which are crucial to securing employment.
Speed Careers
Secondary and senior primary school students are connected with a variety of working adults in order to build students’ awareness and understanding of the range of job types, careers, and work/study pathways that exist. During Speed Careers sessions students rotate in groups to hear from each speaker, learning about careers in areas as diverse as law/policing, trades, community work, health, manufacturing, banking and the arts.
Industry Visits
Primary and secondary school students visit industry workplaces to learn about the skills and training that are required in sectors which employ large numbers of young people, such as retail, hospitality, technology and health.
You-niversity
Primary and secondary school students visit a university or TAFE campus where they meet staff and students and complete activities related to university life. Students’ aspirations for further study are developed as they increase their understanding of the links between learning, higher education and careers.
Learning Through Lunch
Children and young people develop confidence by engaging in table conversation with adult volunteers, trying new foods, becoming familiar with a restaurant setting and recognising hospitality as a possible career path. Ardoch’s flagship Pathways Beyond School program for the hospitality industry involves a class of students attending a two-course fine dining lunch with volunteers at a TAFE or hospitality training venue. Each volunteer hosts a group of students during the lunch and encourages them to talk over the meal about paid employment and further education. A tour of the training facility is provided to prompt thinking about post-school options and further education.