TRANSITION YEAR
Career Guidance & Personal Development Module
CONTENT STRUCTURE:

• 1 Period per week
• Content based on LCA Guidance Module
• Cross Curricular links with Work Experience Teacher & Co-ordinator
• Team teaching with Work Experience Teacher & Co-ordinator

Aims
Enable the students:
 To raise awareness of interests, skills and personality in relation to work
 To determine strengths and weaknesses
 To identify areas of employment
 To access and use career information
 To develop a career action plan
 To enable the students to develop personally through vocational exploration
 To enable students to reflect on their mental health and discuss individually and as a group on Positive Mental Health
 To review and evaluate
Guidance Structure
 1 Module
 4 Units
 4 Sessions
 4 Key Assignments
 1 period per week
Unit 1
 Settle and adjust
 Aims, ambitions & expectations
 Interests
 Different types of work & employment
 Reasons for work
 Qualities which employers value in workers
 Curriculum Vitae
 Interview Skills

Learning Outcomes
That the student would be able to:
o Identify her/his aims and expectations in relation to the Transition Year course
o Recognise career interests through completion and interpretation of an occupational interest questionnaire
o Distinguish different types of work and employment
o Demonstrate an understanding of what people gain from working
o Identify qualities that employers value in workers

Unit 2
 Skills, qualities and interests
 Choose a career
 Research all aspects of career (pay, qualifications, qualities & skills)
 POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH: MIND YOURSELF PROGRAMME (HSE)
Learning Outcomes
 List some of their own personal qualities and their relevance to working life
 Complete a checklist re his/her own skills
 Outline their ideal job, the type of work it entails, and how suitable they think they are to fill it
 Research one particular chosen career and present their findings.
 Reflect on their mental health and discuss individually and as a group on Positive Mental Health

Unit 3
 Visits out (exhibition, sites, Open Days)
 Reports
 Practical Techniques
 Tests, inventories and questionnaires
Learning Outcomes
 Report on information obtained on a number of visits to career exhibitions, colleges of further education, training centres, etc.
 List the career and training opportunities that are available as a progression from Senior Cycle
 Complete and score an interest questionnaire (other than that completed in Unit 1) and discuss the outcome

Unit 4
 Students evaluate and reflect
 Progression into Senior Cycle and beyond
 Subject Choices for Senior Cycle
 Step by step action plan
 Alternatives

Learning Outcomes
1. Identify possible careers that would suit his/her own skills, qualities and interests and to suggest at least three areas of employment that link to these characteristics
2. Identify Senior Cycle Subjects appropriate to their possible Career plans
3. Devise a personal career action plan
4. Prepare Curriculum Vitae and for interviews
5. Review the experience they have gained from Transition Year