SNNEWS
SHEPPARTON NEWS, FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2019
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CAREERS, COURSES AND OPEN DAYS A GUIDE TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN 2019 Shepparton High School career adviser Mary-Ann Linehan provides students with information and guidance about open days.
Open days are valuable resources From the moment students enrol, every facet of secondary school life is tailored to helping them reach their utmost potential. And as the years progress, students have options to experiment and narrow down possible pathways with various different classes before they graduate. Shepparton High School careers adviser Mary-Ann Linehan urges students to attend university open days in order to get a taste for their future surroundings. “It is really important for students to attend open days to get a feel for the environment of the university; not all universities are going to suit every student,” she said. “I believe it is important for the kids to get down there to talk to the people in the different faculties about different pathways into the courses if they don’t quite meet the ATAR requirements, and just to get a feel for the university environment and whether it is the right place for them to study.” Like other schools in the region, Shepparton High School’s focus is to initiate the thought process about future pathways as early as possible. Ms Linehan said the curriculum gets the ball rolling from the moment students enrol, but stressed the
importance of delving into career options from Year 10 onwards. “We are all trying to implement from Year 7 on just to get that conversation happening, but from Year 10 on we start seriously talking about subjects to select and areas of interest,” she said. “Kids don’t need to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives in Year 10, but they do need to know what area they would like to pursue so they can just keep following their passion.” Students can expect to gain a wealth of information at open days, finding out about which courses are best suited to their skillset at the various university exhibitions. “Different faculties are highlighted throughout the day and the students can go and talk to the right people on the right day to find out the correct info about courses of their interest,” Ms Linehan said. “If they don’t get the requirements, the prerequisites and ATAR scores, then they are talking to the right people about the pathways to directly get them in to those courses.”
Mary-Ann Linehan can provide students with course booklets.