This is something I struggle to comprehend, how a system that so desperately needs to ensure an effective transition from education to workforce can be so neglectful in providing a thorough enough education around career choice. I am sure if you ask any current junior or middle high school student what they think they may want to do for a career, nine out of ten would have no real idea!

The problem is, students only really begin to be exposed to any real career education in year 10 at the earliest, with some schools starting in year eleven and twelve! This leaves students a very limited window to develop enough exposure and knowledge about the career market and their own individual personality traits, which ultimately helps better align them with the different career options available.

If career education begins in year seven, where different industries and future market projections are studied along with a personality profiling of each individual student, we would surely begin to see a more well prepared and informed student cohort, capable of making better subject and career related decisions for the HSC and beyond.

The Victorian school system has begun to implement such a system, with a national standard currently in the pipeline. In my opinion, this is very much a move in the right direction. I feel there should be more urgency placed on its deployment across the nation, as this would ultimately lead to a drop in job and tertiary education fallout rates, which tend to occur as a result of uneducated decisions made on impulse rather than learned experience.

If the Government is serious about effectively transitioning our younger generation into the workforce, then I think placing more urgency on a longer and more detailed national career education curriculum should be high on their agenda.