Planning Your Future

Lesson Details

• Subject: PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education)
• Year Group: Year 9
• UK Curriculum Reference: KS3 PSHE (Personal Wellbeing, Section 1.3: Developing Skills for Careers and Employability)
• Lesson Duration: 80 Minutes
• Class Size: 6 Students

---

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will:

1. Create a basic personal careers action plan for a selected career, including targets, action points, and review dates.
2. Identify and outline three opportunities for lifelong learning.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of how career choices connect to personal aspirations and future goals.

---

Lesson Overview

This lesson will revolve around self-reflection, guided discussion, and interactive planning to help students take ownership of their aspirations, develop practical plans, and explore the lifelong learning opportunities they can utilise to achieve their professional goals.

---

Resources Needed

• Printed worksheets for the "Careers Action Plan Template" (one per student)
• Post-it notes and pens
• A3 sheets for group brainstorming activities
• Dice for discussion game activity
• Access to career prospect information (printed guides or books with details on employability pathways)
• Mini whiteboards and coloured markers (one per student)

---

Lesson Plan

1. Starter Activity: Visualising the Future (10 minutes)

• Objective: Engage students and set the context for the lesson.
• Activity: Begin by asking students to close their eyes for one minute and picture themselves 10 years from now. Prompt them with questions such as:
  • What does your ideal workday look like?
  • What job or career are you doing?
  • How does it align with your passions and strengths?
• Discussion: After one minute, ask students to share their visions briefly. Write their career ideas on the board.

Transition tip: Highlight how today's lesson will involve creating a personal action plan to bring those visions closer to reality.

---

2. Careers Exploration: (15 minutes)

• Objective: Help students explore their chosen career.
• Activity Format: Pair Work.

1. Give students 5-7 minutes to select a career they find interesting. They may draw from their earlier visualisation or think of a new one.
2. Hand out printed career prospect guides or ask them to use their pre-existing knowledge about career paths (e.g., becoming a teacher, IT technician, artist, or doctor).
3. In pairs, students will answer questions about their chosen job:
   • What qualifications does this career require?
   • What skills or traits make someone successful in this role?
   • What steps might you take to pursue this career after secondary school?

• Extension Idea: For quick finishers, challenge them to think about what might change in this career due to advancements in technology or changes in the job market.

---

3. Creating a Careers Action Plan (25 minutes)

• Objective: Encourage students to develop realistic and personalised goals.
• Activity Format: Independent Planning.

1. Hand out the "Careers Action Plan Template" worksheets. Break the structured template into these key areas:
   • Career/Job Goal
   • Skills and Qualifications Needed
   • Short-term Target (next 6 months)
   • Medium-term Target (next 2 years)
   • Action Points (Steps to achieve these targets)
   • Review Date (when to check progress)
2. Provide guidance on each section. (E.g., "For action points, think about work experience, joining a club, or talking to someone in that job.")
3. Allow students to complete their action plans. Offer one-on-one support if necessary.

Debrief: Ask willing students to share parts of their action plans. Provide positive reinforcement and practical suggestions where needed.

---

4. Lifelong Learning Exploration (20 minutes)

• Objective: Broaden students’ awareness of lifelong learning opportunities.
• Activity Format: Group Brainstorm and Sharing.

1. Split the class into two groups of three. Each group gets an A3 sheet.
2. Pose the question, "How can learning continue after school?" Encourage discussions about apprenticeships, university, online courses, workshops, mentorships, and skills upgrades (e.g., coding, languages, networking training).
3. Give 10 minutes for brainstorming. Afterward, have groups present their three most interesting lifelong learning opportunities to the rest of the class.

---

5. Reflection Game: Rolling the Dice (10 minutes)

• Objective: Reinforce learning objectives in a lighthearted and engaging way
• Activity Format: Class Discussion.

1. Each student takes turns rolling one dice. Depending on the number rolled, they answer a reflective question from the list below:
   • 1: Share one action step in your career plan.
   • 2: Name one skill you’ll need for your chosen career.
   • 3: What is one short-term target you’ve written down today?
   • 4: Name one opportunity for lifelong learning you identified.
   • 5: What is a challenge you might face in achieving your goal?
   • 6: How will lifelong learning help you stay adaptable to future job market changes?

Finish with a quick recap of key takeaways from the session.

---

Plenary (5 minutes)

• Highlight how students now have a clearer path toward their goals.
• Encourage them to review their action plans with parents or guardians at home.
• Pose an open question to leave them with: “What will you do this week to bring your plans to life?”

---

Assessment

Teachers can assess students’ understanding by:

1. Reviewing the completed Career Action Plans for clear steps, realistic targets, and connections to career goals.
2. Observing participation in brainstorming and group discussions about lifelong learning.
3. Evaluating responses in the reflection game for thoughtfulness and comprehension of the topic.

---

Extension Activity (For Homework or Extra Time)

Ask students to research one further opportunity for lifelong learning that could improve their career prospects and write a short paragraph about why it would be valuable.