As part of National Careers Week 2021, the NCSEHE hosted a virtual event on 21 May, showcasing major NCSEHE-commissioned research on key influencers and careers advice for equity students. More info: https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/careers-week-webinar-careers-student-equity/

1. CRICOS Provider Code 00301J

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3. 1. Analysis of LSAY data: Divide in careers info access more entrenched
over time
• Notable differences in type of careers info by SES background.
• Non-low SES students have more access to career info.
• Low SES engage more with non-professional pathways e.g. VET
and TAFE.
2. EmployABILITY analysis: Study in Government schools compounded
disadvantage in students’ confidence and careers thinking.
• Low SES+Government schools had lower self-esteem and
academic self-efficacy
• Non-low SES+Government schools had lower program awareness;
self-esteem and occ mobility
• Some employABILITY factors shown to influence academic
performance (Weighted Average Marks)
•
•

4. • Lower1 SES schools had a greater prevalence of less qualified, less experienced
career practitioners providing career and study pathway guidance.
• Across the board, career practitioners reported being undervalued, overworked and
having insufficient time and resources to meet students’ needs.
• Career practitioners reported too much focus on exam performance/grades rather
than students’ confidence and readiness for life/work after school.
• The majority of lower SES school career practitioners reported that limited financial
resources impeded their role.
• Only 31% of career practitioners from lower SES schools reported that study
pathway support was fit for purpose. This was 55% for higher SES schools.
1 Refer to the report for our use of this term

5. 1. Students overwhelming indicated that they were provided with little career
support and guidance – insufficient to meet their needs.
2. Irrespective of school type, career and study guidance was limited to subject
selection, which is based predominantly on academic grades.
3. Career advice and guidance is mostly limited to short, single meetings used for
streaming purposes to either university entrance or other pathways.
4. Advice on choice of academic major tended to be based on grades rather than
student interests.
5. Access to study pathways guidance was predominantly available to students on
university pathways.
6. Regional, rural and smaller school students received little support for, or
information on, work-based programs and activities.
7. No student interviewed had received advice on alternative pathways to
secondary education.

6. .
1. Create a national approach to ameliorating the inequitable provision of
career and study pathways guidance.
2. Establish a nation-wide repository of student-centric information which
complements the QILT site and enhances students’ ability to make informed
career and study choices.
3. Craft a national approach to assisting school students and career influencers
to navigate the post-secondary environment within and across jurisdictions.
4. Fund a national approach to the collection and analysis of data in relation to
secondary pathways and education-to-work reporting.
5. Create national data sets to examine the changing role of disadvantage in
career guidance.
6. Include the student voice in policy making.
7. Incorporate career development information in pre-service teacher
programs.
8. Recognise the career practitioner role as critical to core business in schools.
9. Ensure that career education is undertaken by qualified practitioners in
conjunction with trained educators.
10. Make sure that career and study pathways guidance is universal and across
the student lifecycle.

7. Creating accessible, efficacious and equitable careers and
study information for low SES students

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9. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Businessess or industries
Family
Friends
Library or study centre
Local government
Local media
Local uni campus
My employer
Organisations and groups such as Rotary
Organised visits to a uni campus
People who had studied at uni
TAFE or adult learning centre
Teachers and school staff
Visits from uni staff
Home Community Factors
Awareness of university Support to get into university
Survey of 3,180 university students from RRR communities. Katersky Barnes et al. (2019) Regional communities’ influences on equity participation in
higher education, NCSEHE https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Barnes-et-al.Report-Final.pdf

10. • Partnered with 3 rural communities
• Pathway working party; local pathway broker
• Presented information about community demographics,
education and employment opportunities
• Asked working party about their community, what does it need
and what is likely to work
• Presented programs and events that have worked
in similar contexts
• Working party chose interventions
• Each had a small budget

11. • Programs targeting parents and families
• Exposing key influencers to hidden jobs in communities
• Demystifying post year 12 options and what they really entail
• Local people talking to local people – authentic, relevant
• Evaluation
• Vast majority who participated in interventions reported increased
knowledge of education and career pathways and increased
confidence in talking to young people, employees and/or others
about pathways.
• Working party members reported increased capacity in supporting
others to make pathway decisions.
• All 3 communities have plans for future programs.

12. • Communities are experts on their own community
• Each rural community is different
• Key influencers are found in many places
• Driver mentors
• Sports coaches
• Local libraries and Neighbourhood houses
• Social workers
• Empower trusted local institutions
• e.g. local government as employer of the pathway broker
• Schools are important, but should be prepared to share the
load in education and career pathway choice support
• Flexibility and COVID
• Community based participatory research methodology

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15. Changes to the employment market and
future world of work
Students from low SES backgrounds have
inequitable outcomes from education
and employment
Traditional approaches to career
education in schools can
promote disadvantage
Career education has the potential to
enable individuals to reach their full
potential and create fairer societies

16. • How do young people
from low SES
backgrounds make
decisions about their
educational and vocational
futures?
• What are the best
practices
in career advice for
students from low SES
backgrounds?

17. • Long-term lifecycle approach to CE
• Curriculum that explicitly teaches
students the ‘hidden’ discourses to
navigate the world of work
• Increased access to CE
• School-wide approaches to CE
• Parents as partners in the provision
of CE
• Students as partners in the provision
of CE
• Professionalised CE to ensure that
students are receiving the highest quality
career education
• Programs are evaluative and
demonstrate impact on students’ post-
school learning outcomes
• Student-centred approaches to CE
• Place based approaches to CE
• Non-linear journeys through the world
of work normalised
• Impartially led partnerships that value
all career pathways and fields
of study
• Clearly defined partnership practices
that engage all stakeholders in the
provision of CE

18. Expand the responsibility of career advice beyond the
“formal” role of the career adviser through enhancing the
capacity of all teachers within the school to provide effective
advice and embed principles of CE within their curriculum
Three one-hour face to face sessions for
teachers from all key learning areas on the following topics:
• Career Decisions and influences in the changing world of work
• Career conversations
• Careers in the curriculum
• 19 Teacher participants
• Knowledge of career terms, career roles and a whole-
school approach to CE increased
• Increased confidence in having career conversations
• Increased positivity towards implementing a whole
school approach

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21. • Community-based participatory
design methodology
• Early-stage focus
(Years 7 & 8)
• 4 outer-regional schools
in Victoria
• 10 interviews with RRR
Queensland and WA principals
• WA research still underway…

22. Scaffolded activities that support transparency and
collaboration with diverse users to generate ideas and
problem solve. Examples include:
• Flash thinking exercises
• Storyboarding
• Mind maps
• Lifeboat exercises (i.e., pitching ideas)
• Role playing

23. • Alternate pathways into university
• Transport options
• Future skill shortages
• Examples of location-independent jobs
• University versus secondary school FAQs
• Debunking myths about university
• Age-appropriate careers advice

24. We also created 10 learning activities called ‘Careers
Exploration for Country Kids’.
- What makes a great leader?
- What skills or characteristics do I need if I'm
interested in healthcare?
- What’s an ATAR?
- Jobs in renewable energy
- Spotlight on RRR successful businesses

25. Project research team:
• Dr Mollie Dollinger
(La Trobe University)
• Professor Andrew Harvey
(La Trobe University)
• Associate Professor Ryan Naylor
(University of Sydney)
• Dr Marian Mahat
(The University of Melbourne)
• Dr Belinda D’Angelo
(La Trobe University)
Additional support from:
• National Centre for Student Equity in
Higher Education
• Victorian Child Care Agency
• Career Experts from Deakin, Monash,
and the University of Southern Queensland
• So many amazing teachers
and principals!
• Our wonderful participants

26. • Please visit our NCSEHE website page
https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/
There you can fill out a short request and
we’ll send resources (report, curriculum,
toolkit) to you
• To request outputs:
https://codesigncareers.questionpro.com
• Also contact me at:
m.dollinger@latrobe.edu.au

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28. CRICOS Provider Code 00301J