National Careers Week (NCW) was launched by the Minister of Higher Education and Training in 2021 as an inter-departmental civil careers programme, leveraging the capacity of departments and the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to provide career exhibitions. It grew quickly - from 64 events for 9 591 beneficiaries in April 2022 to 162 events for 19 428 beneficiaries in April 2023 - and now brings together the Departments of Basic Education (DBE), Higher Education and Training (DHET), Employment and Labour (DEL), Small Business Development (DSBD) and the South African Career Development Association (SACDA).
The story · Since 2021
How Careers Week came to be.
National Careers Week did not decide on Term 3, Week 8 by chance. The week, and the rule of in-school delivery for all grades, are the outcome of a three-year consultative process across the basic education sector - so careers education could finally be planned, structured and reach every learner.
- Launched
- 2021
- Consultation
- 3 years
- Officials consulted
- 600+
- Now in
- CAPS · all grades
Where it started
An inter-departmental idea, launched in 2021.
The gap it had to close
But career exhibitions were reaching only a few. Most rural and marginalised schools were excluded by simple supply and demand, receiving few visitors in their academic calendar, and only a small group of learners were ever selected to attend. Even at Grade 12, officials reported, many learners had no idea of a career path - they were navigating the career space blind.
The consultation
How Term 3, Week 8 was chosen.
The week was not picked in a boardroom. It was tested and confirmed through a three-year process across the basic education sector, step by step.
- 11 September 2021
The concept goes to the ICDC
The careers week concept was presented to the Interdepartmental Career Development Committee (ICDC) - the DBE, DHET, DEL, DSD and DPSA - which embraced an inter-departmental civil programme and established a Steering Committee (the partner departments) and a Coordinating Committee (the SETAs), chaired by SACDA.
- 22021 – 2024
A three-year consultation through E4E
Within the basic education sector, a three-year consultative process ran through the Education for Employability (E4E) programme, funded by the European Union - building toward general consensus on adopting careers week into the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for all grades, from Early Childhood Development onward.
- 37 March – 10 May 2024
395 provincial & district officials consulted
The proposal to place careers week in the curriculum - for each grade - was consulted with 395 provincial and district education officials across four provinces, testing whether the timing and structure would work in real school calendars.
- 415 – 26 April 2024
205 curriculum writers at Birchwood
The proposal was then consulted with 205 education officials during the advanced curriculum writers' workshop at Birchwood. Full support was received, with the request that careers week be adopted specifically in Term 3, Week 8.
- 525 April 2024
NCW Coordinating Committee backs the shift
The recommendation to shift careers week to Term 3, Week 8 was taken to the NCW Coordinating Committee, which supported aligning the week to the schools calendar.
- 62 May 2024
NCW Steering Committee: unanimous
The Steering Committee gave unanimous support for Term 3, Week 8 as the week that best aligns with the school calendar and the time already identified in the curriculum for careers, for all grades.
- 716 May · 17 June · 10 October 2024
Curriculum Working Group welcomes it
The proposal served three times at the Curriculum Working Group - which includes stakeholders such as teacher unions - with clarity provided at each session on requests for further information. The Group welcomed the national careers week in all grades in term 3 week 8 to structurally link basic education, PSET and industry.
- Outcome
Adopted for the strengthened curriculum
Through support of the European Union, the national careers week is embedded in the strengthened curriculum, including vocational and occupational subjects and guidelines have been developed to support schools in implementing the programme on school premises, ensuring at least a further 77 hours of careers exposure by Grade 12 planned in a structured manner, not ad hoc.
Why this week
Two principles: place and time.
The relaunch formalises careers education under two principles that came directly out of the consultation - one about place, one about time.
In-school premises only
Career exposure is delivered on school grounds, bringing it directly to the most excluded schools - the ones that typically receive few professional visitors. The only exception is an optional provincial (or virtual) celebration to showcase best practice.
Term 3, Week 8 - for all grades
This is the time in the school curriculum that was identified, through the E4E consultation, for careers week across all grades (excluding the Grade 12 examination focus). Fixing the week lets careers be galvanised in the curriculum and planned year after year.
Allocating a day for career talks each grade, each year, adds up: 61 hours of careers exposure by Grade 9, and 77 hours by Grade 12. The formal week addresses the fragmentation of careers education and could prove to be the missing link for consistent, well-planned, high-impact careers guidance across all grades.
Into the curriculum
Why it belongs in CAPS.
Choosing a week was only half of it. The bigger decision was to adopt careers week into the curriculum itself - the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) - for every grade. That is what turns careers education from a once-off event into a planned, guaranteed part of every learner's schooling.
Structured, not ad hoc
Current career exhibitions are ad hoc and limited. Embedding careers week in the curriculum gives every grade structured, planned careers support in the same week each year - the difference between a lucky few and every learner.
Equity for every school
A curriculum slot reaches the rural and underserved schools that supply-and-demand exhibitions leave out. If it is in CAPS, it happens everywhere - not only where a provider chooses to go.
Guaranteed hours of exposure
Because it is timetabled for all grades, careers week accumulates a minimum of 61 hours of careers exposure by Grade 9 and 77 hours by Grade 12 - measurable, repeatable time that no ad-hoc event can promise.
Woven into real subjects
Through support of the European Union, the national careers week is embedded in the strengthened curriculum, including vocational and occupational subjects, with guidelines to support schools - so the structured careers programme lives inside teaching and learning, not alongside it.
Answers a national imperative
Adoption responds to the National Skills Development Plan - Outcome 2 (linking education and the workplace) and Outcome 8 (supporting career development services) - directly bridging the gap between the classroom and the economy.
Builds toward teacher & learner resources
With the week fixed in the curriculum, the next focus is teacher guides, lesson plans and learner workbooks, plus a sector-cluster quiz - streamlining delivery so schools can run it well, year after year.
Formal inclusion in the curriculum addresses the current fragmentation of careers education and could prove to be the missing link for consistent, well-planned, well-managed, high-impact careers education and guidance across all grades.
Why career talks
The most evidence-backed hour of the week.
A single day of career talks in the week is not a nice-to-have. It is the part of careers education with the strongest international evidence behind it - which is why it sits at the heart of the relaunch.
In December 2019, six international organisations published joint research on the importance of Investing in Career Guidance. In 2021 this became the standing Inter-Agency Working Group for Career Guidance (WGCG) - Cedefop, the European Commission, the European Training Foundation, the ILO, the OECD, UNESCO and the World Bank.
It builds better attitudes to school
The WGCG's Investing in Career Guidance notes that taking part in career guidance activities is linked with more positive attitudes towards school - and that an easy way to enrich guidance is to invite employee volunteers to talk about the jobs they do.
Guest speakers are especially valuable
An OECD policy brief singles out career talks with guest speakers as a form of career exploration of particular value - letting students hear directly from people in work about their jobs, careers and pathways through education and training.
The benefits compound after four talks
OECD longitudinal studies found learners who attend four or more career talks earn up to 10.6% more on average than comparable peers, are more likely to enrol in PSET, and are more likely to find or create employment - with benefits growing after four talks.
- 10.6%
- Higher average earnings after 4+ career talks
- 4+
- Talks where benefits start to compound
- 77 hrs
- Careers exposure by Grade 12
Career guidance is critical for people to be able to transition smoothly between learning and work, and for them to attain mobility within the labour market. Career guidance helps individuals to reach their potential, economies to become more efficient and societies to become fairer.
Ensuring every learner gets at least one career talk each year is only possible when departments, SETAs, employers and communities rally behind schools in the same week. That is what Term 3, Week 8 makes possible.
Be part of the next chapter.
See how to run Careers Week in your school, or register to receive the guidelines, lesson plans and templates for Term 3, Week 8.
Sourced from the National Careers Week Relaunch Concept Note and the EU-funded Education for Employability (E4E) programme, drawing on research by the Inter-Agency Working Group for Career Guidance (WGCG) and the OECD.