Tips for families to survive the VCE
YOUR teenager might be the one doing the VCE but, as a parent, you’re along for the ride. Here are some top tips for families before, during and after the VCE.
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AS CEO of The Australian Centre for Career Education, Bernadette Gigliotti knows what concerns students today — length of courses, location and accommodation, capacity to pay for courses, capacity to work part time while still studying, credit for courses already completed at school — the list goes on.
“Students present with similar concerns, but each one will have a slightly different focus,” says Gigliotti. “For example, students from rural and remote communities may be anxious about making a move to a large city based tertiary institution, and students from metro areas may have to travel greater distances to locate the course they prefer.”
Here, Gigliotti provides advice for parents before, during and after VCE.
MORE: HOW TO HANDLE THE STRESS OF VCE EXAMS
BEFORE VCE
Become familiar with the VCE process
Aim to support your child by having some background knowledge that is current on how the process for VCE works.
“Find out about pathways and alternative entry programs. Attend Open Days if you can or encourage your young person to attend Open Days to get a feel for tertiary study and an understanding of course and enrolment requirements,” says Gigliotti.
Check your family scheduling so that you are aware of the peak periods in the VCE program, this way you can plan family programs to support your young person rather than clash with them. Head’s up: the final months of senior school can be very stressful for all involved.
Do a stock take
Now is the time for your teenager to start thinking about their tertiary options and what they’d like to do post VCE. Is university on the table? Are they siding towards a TAFE course or a gap year? It’s safe to not assume anything. If the jury is still out, talk through these six steps with your teenager but don’t answer for them or make judgment. This process can be revisited when and if needed.
Step 1 — Review interests, abilities, skills, and needs
Consider these questions:
What are my strengths? Creativity, writing, leadership, sport, music.
What are my interests? People, places, maths, science, languages
What are my needs? Income, personal fulfilment, make a difference, personal growth
What are my values? Family, friends, challenges, helping others
Step 2 — Do your research
Explore a range of occupations that can meet some or all of your interests, strengths and needs. There are many websites with occupational information, but Gigliotti recommends sticking with two of the best Australian websites, Job Outlook and myfuture. “Both sites are curated so you can be confident that the information is correct,” she says.
Step 3 — Decision Time
Make a list of five possible occupations that are up for consideration. What are the job prospects, training requirements, wages and skills needed for these occupations?
Step 4 — Develop an Action Plan
Set some short and long term goals. “We can’t predict more than five years ahead with any certainty,” says Gigliotti. “Be prepared to change your plans if opportunities or happenstance provides you with a great chance or experience.”
Step 5 — Take Action
It’s important that you aim to complete any training or course of study as this will provide you with evidence of both motivation, determination and tenacity to see things to the end. It’s OK to change your mind and change course, life is complex and circumstances may take you down a different path.
Step 6 — Re-discover your interests again
“At each stage of your career journey, start with aiming to discover your interests and what drives your passion,” says Gigliotti.
DURING VCE
Get organised
Often, getting organised as a household where everyone and their schedule is included is a lot easier than parents simply working around their VCE student.
Help your son or daughter come up with a weekly schedule and review once a term or more often if you prefer.
Ask your son or daughter: “Are you sticking to your study schedule?” “Are there any particular days of the week/times of day when you find it hard to stick to the plan?” “What can we do to help?”
Before tackling the schedule, sit down and ask your child to list leisure and non-academic activities first — be realistic and include social media breaks and the like. Include casual jobs, sports training, family time, and socialising with friends, then slot in study blocks around the activities and include short breaks (about 5 — 10 minutes for every 40 — 50 minutes of study). These breaks should be away from their study area and preferably, away from a screen — encourage them to go for a quick walk, play with a pet, or make a healthy snack — anything other than sitting or a screen is ideal!
Find the right balance
Being a VCE success does not mean your teenager has to chain themselves to a desk for five hours per night after a day at school doing something similar. This will lead to stress and anxiety and you won’t be making an appearance in their good books at all. Just like you need a break from work, they too need a chance to enjoy other things in their life that aren’t their studies. Extra-curricular activities like exercise can have a positive effect on their studies.
Create a study-friendly environment
Ensure that your teenager has a quiet, tidy place to study away from distractions like the TV.
If the only place that fits the bill is their bedroom, encourage them to not study on their bed — it’s far easy to fall asleep and such a place shouldn’t be associated with important activities like studying. Ask your teenager should hand over their phone or other distractions before sitting down to study. Discourage them from studying in bed. Firstly, they may fall asleep. Secondly, bed should be a sanctuary for sleep not stress.
AFTER VCE
Celebrate!
As the dreaded waiting game for results begins, remember to praise and congratulate your teenager for completing 13 years of schooling first and foremost. And then don’t panic!
Remember to what the ATAR is and isn’t. It’s not a measure of who your teenager is and their capabilities. “It’s simply a ranking that provides some tertiary providers with a measure of selection from thousands of applications,” says Gigliotti. “It can be improved through pathways programs and is a ‘moment in time’ measure not a life measure,” she says.
As an adult you know that learning and improving never stops — your teenager perhaps can’t see this just yet. “Ask them to view the ATAR as only one item in their backpack that they may need to refer to at some point as their career portfolio builds,” says Gigliotti. “In the backpack should also be evidence of the skills, talents, interests, values, work experience, aspirations and dreams, for your teenager, others and for the community we live in,” she says.
If your teenager didn’t receive the ATAR they were expecting, keep in mind that there are alternative pathways that will lead to their chosen career, it may just require some difficult choices but they may need to plan around goals that are more reflective of the options. These options could include part time study and part time work, midyear entry to a course, selecting a pathway program, reconsidering the range of courses at your preferred tertiary institute.
Ask for help
Seek support from your teenager’s career practitioner at Change of Preference time to see what might be possible. Perhaps there is a different approach that was not an option before.
“You can support your teenager in their career planning by engaging in conversations where they explore life and work experiences covering a broad range of employability skills and abilities that are of high value in the workplace,” says Gigliotti. “These abilities and skills include the ability to self-manage; work in a team; understand trends in labour markets; communicate through a range of presentation skills; and willingness to demonstrate initiative and self-discipline to meet deadlines,” she says.
And keep in mind — there is life after the VCE!
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