Throughout March, Form 5 students at Agius de Soldanis, Girls' Junior Lyceum and Secondary in Gozo took part in a Career Exploration Programme.
The students were divided into groups and led to the new Careers Room at Sir M'Ang Refalo Centre for Further Studies in Victoria where they could use a computer programme to enable them to explore career opportunities.
The programme does not involve any testing, but instead is of an explorative nature which allows the students to learn about all the jobs available, not only in Malta but also abroad. This information is useful to them because it also shows all the various levels of any career path.
After using the programme for an hour and a half each group of students were subsequently involved in lively and useful discussion. Throughout their visit the students were accompanied by the girls' school guidance teacher Claire Cassar, and Christine Scerri, guidance teacher from Sir M.A. Refalo centre.
These sessions were then followed by visits to various places of work, mainly in Malta, that the students were interested in, to enmable them to get a wider overview of the job. The places of work visited included Lufthansa Teknik, Midldle Sea Insurance, Foster Clarks, the Courts of Justice, Icon Studios, the Institute of Tourism Studies both in Malta and Gozo, the Institute of Community Services at Paola and the Institute of Art and Design at Tarġa Gap, Mosta, the University of Malta's Faculty of Architecture, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, Mater Dei Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital.
Another large group of students interested in teaching spent a morning at a primary school in Gozo. A group of students who study chemistry were given a talk by Arrow Pharm Ltd head of quality Adrian Zahra, about career opportunities in the budding pharmaceutical industry in Malta.
The idea behind the programme was to be as informative as possible and make students aware of the wide choice of careers that they can follow. At the age of 15, few are the students that have a clear view of what they want to become once they become adults, and those who do know might change their mind along the way.
Another important issue is the result of the Sec/Matsec exams. It is useless to imagine one becoming a medical doctor if one cannot get the right grades to enter University.
However, this does not completely rule out working in the medical field. There are a multitude of jobs in a hospital apart from doctors, but very often students are not aware of this at the age of 15.
Through this programme, the students were exposed to a wide variety of careers, making them more knowledgeable about their prospects after leaving school.