Career Week at St Aloysius' College

"Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers" - Institute of Career Guidance.

At St Aloysius' College our priority is to help all students realise their full potential. It is with this in mind that the college's Guidance Department set out to enhance the service given to students at Secondary School and Sixth Form. A Career Week was also held recently by the Guidance Department to create awareness about career opportunities.

Career Week involved putting up a number of exhibition stands at college highlighting careers in various sectors: finance and business, the arts, science and maths. The fact that students toured the exhibition in small groups allowed for one-to-one interaction and questions with the delegates at the stands.

Concurrently, several simultaneous small group informal talks were organised for our Fifth and upper Sixth Formers respectively. Students were grouped according to their subject choice and a number of professionals addressed small groups at a time. Thus, students gained exposure and direct contact with a broader variety of people in the field.

This activity further enhanced our guidance programme with Fifth Formers, where teachers from the Guidance Department meet students individually, to discuss and support them in their plans for the future.

Career guidance is seen as an ongoing process at the college - and is built up gradually, starting from Form 1 right up to upper Sixth Form, through the PSD education programme. Furthermore, both upon reaching the end of Fifth Form and the end of Sixth Form, students are exposed to the various educational opportunities available also locally and abroad. Such exposure is intended to help them make informed decisions about the next step in their educational path.

Through the organisation of visits in various work places and the invitation of professionals to the college to speak to students about their respective careers, students are also exposed to the labour market.

Through these initiatives, they are encouraged to relate what they experience in these visits and what they learn from professionals who share their work experiences, to what they know about themselves. This is also intended to support students in recognising suitable career paths.

Career Week was only achievable thanks to the collaboration of all members of staff and to speakers and exhibiting participants who contributed strongly to make this experience possible. This event was very well received by our students, generating a great deal of interest. From the students' feedback, it seems that it has been a useful and valuable experience creating questions for some and providing answers for others.

It is the aim of the Guidance Department at St Aloysius' College to make information about the labour market and educational opportunities more accessible to our students. The possibility of introducing tools, such as self-assessment questionnaires and tests, which further help students identify their potential, is also being investigated.

The ultimate goal of the Guidance Department is to assist and support students in reaching that position in their lives where they can plan and make their own informed decisions about work and further learning.