Models of work experience at the Waratah Centre.
Work Education Programs
Work Education Programs prepare students for post-school options and choices. They refer to a wide variety of activities that are designed to:
develop in students the attitudes and skills to participate in unpaid work
- increase students' understanding of the current and future labour market
- increase students' understanding of the dynamic nature of work.
Structured work placements
A structured work placement involves the student participating in specific tasks in the workplace as described in the VET in Schools program. It may occur where the VET in Schools program does not mandate assessment in the workplace.
Prior to the placement, negotiation occurs between the teacher, student and the work experience provider, to identify the specific tasks for the student.
Work sampling
A work sampling placement is one in which students have the opportunity to test personal vocational preferences through performing tasks in a workplace. Students select placements according to their future occupational aspirations. The student may experience the following outcomes:
- clarification of employment goals
- first-hand information about what it means to work, as well as about the work processes of the organisation and the work environment.
Work shadowing
Work shadowing provides students with the opportunity to learn actively about people at work and to examine the work role they perform. Students gain access to occupational areas that may not be suited to work sampling, e.g. lawyer, dentist, chemist. The focus of work shadowing is the role of the worker(s) being shadowed, rather than the performance of work tasks or the investigation of the workplace.