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Page 1 of 3 Career Education Competencies
Career Education focuses on learning about the world of work and the place of work in society so that students can make informed decisions about their education, training and employment pathways.
The checklist below is not a comprehensive list, but has been developed as a guide. It has been adapted from the Australian Blueprint for Career Development, a national framework of career competencies and guidelines to help integrate and strengthen career development programs which help Australians to better manage their lives, learning and work. For additional information on the framework visit www.dest.gov.au/blueprint
The information and key learning areas identified in the checklist are quite broad. Like a school curriculum framework, the Australian Blueprint for Career Development aims to identify what skills, behaviours and attitudes will equip an individual for life as an adult in our society. Identifying these broad themes is only the first step in the learning process. The next step is to work out when, how and where an individual can learn different aspects of each skill.
Many of the learning areas listed in this section also appear in other sections of this resource. For example, skills listed under "Personal Management" are also identified in our "Social Networks and Life in the Community" section.
It is important not to leave these decisions to chance. Take an active role. Look over the checklist below and identify and prioritise which particular learning areas you might want to focus on this year. Bring this information to the Individual Learning Plan meeting and discuss strategies to provide/develop/identify concrete learning opportunities at school, home and in the community that will help develop these skills.
It may help to go through the questions in the "Making informed decisions about what to learn" section of this resource.
Career education is rarely taught as a separate subject these days. It is usually integrated into regular classes where a range of teaching strategies and lesson designs may be used to link subject content with career information and work-life skills. As such, it is important to take the time to do some forward planning.
Scary Questions
By the time _________________________________ is ____________________ I/he/she will:
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Possess the knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable me/him/her to find, apply for, secure, maintain and change jobs
Functional Skills Checklist
Download checklist in a worksheet format:
 Work Skills and Career Competencies Worksheet (436 Kb) MS Word format
 Work Skills and Career Competencies Worksheet (388 Kb) PDF format
The checklist worksheet includes the following goals:
Goals
Personal Management: Develops a knowledge of self in relation to work
- Identifies personal interests, skills, strengths, aspirations, characteristics etc.
- Uses a variety of self-inventory tools - such as personality questionnaires, aptitude tests, and interest scales - to identify personal attributes and interests (e.g., skills, needs and wants, values)
- Makes connections between the results from self-inventory tools and the individual's career and education interests and planning
- Understands how our self-image has an impact on achieving our goals
- Understands the importance of giving and receiving feedback
- Understands and demonstrates effective interpersonal and group communication skills (teamwork skills)
- Expresses personal feelings, reactions and ideas in an appropriate manner
- Demonstrates understanding about how our behaviours and those of other are inter-related
- Identifies strategies to respond to with peer pressure, stress, solve interpersonal problems, express personal feelings, reactions and ideas in an appropriate manner
- Understands that we change and grow throughout our lives (including our motivations and aspirations)
- Applies strategies to adapt to change
Learns about the world of work (paid and unpaid)
- Understands the relationship between work, society and the economy
- Understands and identifies reasons why people want or need to work
- Recognises different types of work, work environments and related work conditions (including non-traditional life and work scenarios)
- Identifies benefits that individuals and the community derive from work
- Identifies factors that effect availability of work/employment opportunities (location, economy, technology, business reorganisation, workplace reform, war, politics, environment - droughts, floods etc.)
- Understands the relationship between education, training and employment opportunities and how this relates to choice of school subjects
- Gathers information about further education, courses and programs
- Locates, understands and uses career information.
- Attends careers expos, job tasters/worksite visits
- Undertakes workplace learning (job shadowing, job tasters, work-experience, worksite visits, try-a-trade days etc.)
- Explores non-traditional life and work scenarios
Employability Skills
- Identifies and demonstrates employability skills - transferable skills:
- Communication
- Planning and organising
- Teamwork
- Technology
- Problem solving
- Learning
- Self management
- Initiative and enterprise
- Understands how skills and understandings developed and used in one work role are transferable to a range of life/work roles and occupations life/work opportunities
- Identifies and demonstrates personal attributes that employers look for in an employee
- Loyalty
- Commitment
- Honesty and integrity
- Enthusiasm
- Reliability
- Personal presentation
- Commonsense
- Positive self-esteem
- Sense of humour
- Balanced attitude to life and work
- Ability to deal with pressure
- Motivation
- Adaptability
Occupation Health and Safety in the workplace
- Demonstrates knowledge of Occupation Health and Safety in the workplace
- Gets help if something goes wrong
- Maintains a safe work environment
- Identifies rights of workers (safety, discrimination, wages and working conditions, unions)
- Understands and follows workplace safety procedures
- Keeps work area clean and tidy
- Identifies and responds appropriately to hazards
- Understands and follows safety guidelines
- Knows own abilities
- Uses safety equipment and clothing
Complaints and Management Issues
- Identifies rights and responsibilities of workers (safety, discrimination, wages and working conditions, unions)
- Identifies rights and responsibilities of employers (paying wages, occupational health and safety, superannuation and workers' compensation responsibilities)
- Applies effective interpersonal/workplace communication strategies to manage, conflict resolution, complaint procedures
- Understands and applies appropriate procedures and channels to lodge complaints
- Develops appropriate strategies to respond to harassment in the workplace
- Knows how to join and access a union
- Responds appropriately to compliments and criticisms
- Ask questions for clarifications
- Seeks help from appropriate person(s) when it is needed
General Work Procedures and Ethic
- Demonstrates knowledge about requirements to prepare for a work day (managing as a worker, arriving on time, calling in sick, work performance, following instructions, honesty, returning to work on time after breaks etc.)
- Identifies things that enhance or impede productivity at work (appropriate workplace behaviour, personal attributes that employers look for in an employee)
- Listens to and follows instructions and routines
- Responds appropriately to supervision and instruction
- Assists co-workers when required
- Develops strategies for remembering instructions
- Maintains equipment, tools, inventory
- Maintains personal hygiene
- Maintains appropriate behaviour
- Adjusts to changes in routines
- Works things out from a list or a plan
- Works with minimal supervision
- Finishes one job before starting another
- Continues working when other distraction are present and/or after interruptions
- Attempts to find solutions to problems
- Prepares and consumes food and drinks appropriately in a work setting
- Sets up materials and tools for tasks
- Works within a team
- Works independently
- Plans and organises work tasks
- Completes learned tasks independently without prompting or assistance
- Checks own work and corrects errors where possible
- Accepts responsibility for own work
- Maintains a positive work attitude
- Gets to and from work independently (public transport, bike, car etc.)
- Understands time (use a watch or clock)
- Dresses appropriately for work
- Maintains basic personal hygiene
- Takes responsibility for personal items
Arrival at work
- Travels independently to and from work (including time management skills so as to get to work on time)
- Phones in and talks to your supervisor if they are sick, running late or cannot go to work
- Selects, wears and maintains suitable clothes for work
- Clocks in / fills in a timesheet
- Follows routine to get started
- Maintains appropriate behaviour across time
- Takes a breaks at the appropriate time
- Returns from breaks on time
Implements career plans and transition pathway decisions
- Makes career decisions and manages career transitions.
- Identifies short-term and long-term work goals
- Develops an employment search strategy/plan
- Describes and analyses the emotional stages individuals go through during transitions that are both planned and unplanned
- Analyses how a range of transitions and changes might be planned for and managed
- Practices interview skills
- Prepares common answers for common interview questions
- Describes appropriate follow-up techniques after an interview
- Prepares resume
- Develops, updates and maintains a skills portfolio
- Locates job vacancy information
- Develops a list of people that can expand their job search capacities (family members, neighbours, family friends, mentors etc.) and enlists their help
- Prepares job application letters and forms
- Applies for casual, part-time and summer jobs
- Prepares disclosure of disability statement(s) and applies strategies to ensure that work opportunities are not limited due to stereotyping of disability
- Identifies and demonstrates strategies and responses to unsuccessful job applications
- Identifies and demonstrates strategies and coping skills to manage transitions including unemployment
- Develops money management skills
- Identifies and uses time management and goal setting strategies
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