Careers & Pathways
The Careers & Pathways team aims to provide effective education and guidance to empower students to explore career options and make informed choices for their future post Secondary studies.
At Springside West Secondary College students have access to targeted Careers and Pathways counselling from Year 9 onwards. The Middle Years team work closely with all students in Years 9 and 10 to explore different pathway options, which facilitate their course selection as they progress upwards into the Senior Years.
Year 9 Morrisby
Morrisby is a career guidance tool that is available for Year 9 students through the My Career Insight program. This tool allows the students to explore their strengths, interests, career options and assist them in making decisions for their future education and employment career path.
The Morrisby Profile is a matched series of timed cognitive aptitude tests. It assesses an individual’s verbal, numerical, abstract, spatial and mechanical skills.
Students begin to discover through Morrisby, it helps them learn more about themselves, their values, preferences and skills. Each student who have completed the Morrisby profiling has the opportunity to have a one-on-one session with a Morrisby certified counsellor to discuss their results and to assist them to set realistic goals related to their career journey. Morrisby aims to gain the confidence of students to make informed career decisions.
Year 10 Work Experience
Year 10 work experience is a short-term placement where students get real-world experience working in a business or organization. It’s designed to assist students to explore different career paths and gain an understanding into what it’s like to work in a particular field. All Year 10 students are encouraged to participate in the program to develop employability skills and improve work readiness.
Work Experience Arrangement Form – this form must be signed and completed by the employer, student, and parent/carer. Once you have gathered all 3 signatures, please hand it in to the careers office, located in the library and one of the career practitioners will get the principal to sign it. This form allows the student to be covered by the public liability insurance in accordance with Ministerial Order 1413- Work Experience Arrangement. If this form is not signed by the principal, the student will not be covered for WorkSafe Insurance by the Department of Education.
Work Experience Travel and Accommodation Form – this form must be used if the student needs to travel in the same vehicle as the employer or supervisor and/or if the student will need to stay in an accommodation other than their normal place of residence while undertaking work experience.
Please click on the link for the Work Experience Arrangement and Travel https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/work-experience/resources
Year 10 Multi-Industry Pathway Program
The Multi-Industry Pathway Program is an initiative working with AGA to provide a small number of Year 10 students with the opportunity to undertake a suite of taster courses that pathway into Certificate I and II trade certificates. Below are details regarding the program, as well as frequently asked questions related to how the program operates in conjunction with Year 10 studies here at Springside West Secondary College.
AGA Multi-Industry Pathway Presentation
For more information on this program, please contact the Middle Years team.
Further information
Yes – each year SWSC will work in conjunction with AGA to finalise the cost that families will be charged to engage with this extra-curricular program.
No – the purpose of the MIP program is to assist students in better understanding their pathway choices. Discussions around pathway options into either the VCE or VCE-VM will subsequently occur as part of the careers counselling process throughout Semester One of Year 10.
For those students who enrol in the program, our expectation is that they complete the full semester program, attending each week at AGA. If a vocational major pathway is no longer what students wish to pursue, they will still have the opportunity to select to undertake the VCE instead at the end of Year 10.
Students enrolled with AGA for the MIP program, may be in a class with other SWSC students, or in a composite class with other students from across the Brimbank and Melton networks schools who are also enrolled. These class groupings are determined by AGA and will vary each semester.
Year 11 and 12 Structured Workplace Learning- VCE Vocational Major
Structured Workplace Learning (SWL) is on-the-job training where students gain hands-on experience in a workplace environment related to the VET Course. SWL Connects classroom learning to practical application.
Structured Workplace Learning provides the student the opportunity to:
- Enhance their skill development
- Complete assessments of units of competency
- Achieve learning outcomes
- Enhance opportunities for employment
- Practical application of industry knowledge
Structured Workplace Learning Arrangement Form- a document that has to be completed and signed by the employer, student, parent/carer and the principal before the commencement of the placement.
Structured Workplace Learning Travel and Accommodation Form- a document that needs to be completed if the student may need to undertake vehicle travel with the employer or supervisor and/ or stay in other accommodation other than the student’s normal place of residence during the placement.
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/structured-workplace-learning/resources
Year 12
All Year 12 students are invited to a one-on one career counseling interview with a Career Practitioner to assist them with their plans for post Secondary School pathways.
Further Resources
Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC)
- VTAC Home
- VTAC – Year 12 Guide 2025 – y12-guide-2025.pdf
- VTAC Course Search – CourseSearch: Search
University/Tafe
- University of Melbourne – The University of Melbourne – Australia’s #1 Ranked University
- Monash University – Monash University | Study at Monash Uni | Melbourne
- RMIT – www.rmit.edu.au
- La Trobe University – www.latrobe.edu.au
- Swinburne University of Technology – Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne | Australia
- Victoria University – www.vu.edu.au
- ACU – www.acu.edu.au
- Federation University – Home | Federation University
- Melbourne Polytechnic TAFE and Degrees Melbourne | Melbourne Polytechnic
- Box Hill Institute of TAFE – Holmesglen Institute of TAFE – www.boxhill.edu.au
Further Resources
- How to create a USI – For students | Unique Student Identifier
- Local Skills & Job Centre – Victoria University – VU Skills and Jobs Centres
- Study Assist / HECS – https://www.studyassist.gov.au/
- Services Australia – Youth Allowance – Youth Allowance – Services Australia
- Apprenticeships advice and support | Australian Apprenticeships
You can contact the Careers & Pathways team on 8784-Careers@schools.vic.edu.au