Vocational guidance in CISC: what it is, how it is implemented and which experience and skills do the students acquire

Vocational guidance in CISC is a priority in senior school, and it’s included into the curricullum. Meaning that the studies in the form of professional immersions are obligatory for all students of the 10-11 grades.  If the students meet all the requirements of the curriculum, they obtain certificats.

The purpose of vocational guidance in CISC

To get the students acquainted with as much professional spheres as possible, to help them develop the necessary competences, and to prepare the students for the choice of their future occupation.

Another important goal of professional immersions is to help the students with the future choice of faculty / specialty in university or college. Thanks to professional immersions,  our graduates will be able to make mindful choices, understanding that nowadays they can have more than one profession, and it’s not a choice you have to live with your whole life. Continuing the studies in their further lives  will help them reach self-fulfillment and become confident.

What faculties we have and what partners are engaged

Vocational guidance studies, i.e. professional immersions, are an opportunity for the senior school students to enhance their knowledge and skills in the professional spheres they want to select in the future, and to acquire practical experience in the following directions: «Management», «Communication» and«ІТ» (as they choose). Special questionnaires help the students with their choices. CISC students study at the IT, communication and media, entrepreneurship faculties.

• The teachers at «IT» faculty are from educational accelerator for teenagers Ampli. The students learn Front-end programming at Beginner level, basics of graphic design and project work, make their own websites.
• «Communication and media» faculty – 1+1 media school. The students, together with the journalists, producers, PR experts and bloggers get acquainted with the media professions and their specifics.
• At the «Entrepreneurship» faculty the studies are conducted by the representatives of Startup Ukraine, the first educational center for entrepreneurs. The senior school students learn and pass in practice each of the stages necessary to launch their own business ideas.
• The authors and trainers of «Management» and «Communication» in CISC_Lviv are  the teachers from TechStartup School. The students work on their own startup projects, create PR campaigns and study brand-building.

Educational partnerships are developed on permanent basis, and the school engages the best practical experts at the market into collaboration at the faculties, in order to provide the senior school students with the most modern practical opportunities for vocational guidance. CISC also engages external business experts from famous companies, who share their experience and the most interesting cases with our students, give professional advice regarding their projects.

Which skills and competences do the students acquire at the faculties

The skills which the students acquire during the professional immersions enhance different professional spheres; for example, development of innovation thinking, development of innovation product, building a startup, development and  promotion of a business project, effective communication in professional sphere etc.

Besides the skills, the students’ essential values and competences are formed.  The senior school students learn to value the labour and the time, to be diligent and perseverant, flexible and creative, to cooperate with their peers, to plan their activities and bear responsibility for their results etc.

Vocational guidance is all about practice, not the theory; that’s why the students gain real practical experience of work in a certain profession or professional line. The students can try to be marketing specialists, brand managers or web-entrepreneurs. The students also attend the study groups of natural sciences,  conduct scientific experiments, work on practical projects,  perform lab tasks, engage into different social and environment-protection initiatives.

Vocational guidance tests

CISC has developed a system for mapping a student’s professional interests, which helps to prepare for the choice of future profession. This system provides for different types of work, in particular, testing and carreer guidance.  It will assist in narrowing down the search and defining the sphere of interests.

Together with «ProforientatorUA» (a project assisting in vocational guidance), CISC launched a system of tests to define the interests, inclinations, skills and personal traits of the students. They pass the tests, and each students receives results in electronic form. Within the framework of this partnership, each CISC family can receive advice from a vocational guidance expert concerning the results.

Is there vocational guidance in junior school 

The youngest of CISC students also learn about different professions, explore the startups, work on business ideas, conduct mathematical calculations and forecasts,  create the prototypes of their ideas and learn to present them.

At Financial literacy classes the students work on ideas that demonstrate how you can earn your first money using your skills and abilities (for example, during the summer break). The student develop a concept and a detailed strategy for implementation of their projects, analyze and discuss the results with the teachers.

Middle school students learn the basics of business: budgeting, competition analysis,  investments, price determination, advertising, PR, HR. The purpose here is to teach the children to develop their own business plans, without being afraid to experiment in business. Senior school students learn the basics of macro- and micro-economy, with many real practical examples. The core purpose of all courses and classes is the development of skills.