Free Lesson Plan: Learning About Career Sectors

Free careers lesson plan: Teachers and Careers Leaders can help students and learners explore sectors in the world of work.

Careers Lesson Plan Overview

Students will explore the sectors listed in Youth Employment UK’s Career Guides and present back to the group what they have learnt.

Learning Outcomes

Students will feel more confident in their knowledge of the world of work.

Step By Step Guide

2 Minutes: Introduce Youth Employment UK to students

Youth Employment UK provides free membership called Young Professional to all 14-24 year olds in the UK. This membership is accessed online and helps young people to build up skills for life and work. It can be used virtually or in a classroom capacity.

In addition, Youth Employment UK has Career Guides with useful information about the world of work, careers, pathways, salary information, tips, advice and much more. Students are going to use these Career Guides today to learn more about the world of work, and to build their skills for making career choices, researching information and improving their job searching skills.

3 Minutes: Set the task

Students are going to work in pairs or small groups and explore one of the 15 sectors listed in the Career Guides. ‘Sector’ is the term used to describe a specific industry; the 15 sectors in these Career Guides are the primary sectors in the UK. There are hundreds of careers within each sector that provide huge opportunity for young people. Understanding the sectors, career roles and additional information such as the growth and earning potential available is key for young people when making choices about their future. In this session, students are going learn about the range of sectors available and the opportunities that exist within them.

5 Minutes: Students explore a career sector

Allocate groups of students one of the sectors or allow them to choose a sector they want to explore. Once they have their sector you are going to set some research questions. The students will need to read and explore the information in the Career Guides to answer the questions. You can choose how the students present this information – general feedback, posters, Powerpoint presentation etc.

15 minutes: Ask students to answer these questions:

• How would you describe the sector?
• What sort of earning potential is there for people in the sector?
• What sort of careers exist in the sector?
• What qualifications do you need to work in the sector?
• What key employability skills are important to the jobs in the sector?
• Do you know any local employers who are in the sector?
• Can you name any national employers who are in the sector?

5-15 minutes: Students deliver their presentations and/or plenary discussion

Ask students to prepare their presentation (or they can present their answers straight away).

Plenary

What have the students learnt about the world of work? Are there more sectors and careers than they thought there would be? Did anyone find a career they would like?

Teacher Notes

Suggested next steps

• Get students to register as Young Professional Members so that they can benefit from the additional support that Young Professional Members get
• Deliver the Young Professional assemblies to students to help them learn about the 5 core skills – Communication, team work, problem solving, self-belief and self-management
• Invite a professional from one of the careers you learnt about to come and talk to students
• Arrange a visit to a local employer where STEM is at the heart of their work

Additional Resources

Find an inspiring STEM speaker to come and talk to your students.

Work with your enterprise adviser to develop your business links in schools.

Final Notes

• Don’t forget to share this lesson plan and the Youth Employment UK resources with other colleagues.
• Take photos of the students completing this activity and share them on Twitter with us @YEUK2012 #careers.