I am from an Industry • Beacon

What are the facts?

Why we are here

Supporting young people to engage in education or employment after school is key to helping them lead fulfilling lives. It also fosters a more inclusive and productive society. Young people need the right support to transition smoothly into further education, training or employment.

What does Beacon do?

Beacon builds connections between schools, businesses and communities to make education more relevant to the real world. We inspire young people to explore career options and gain workplace experience long before leaving school.

Beacon delivers programs Australia-wide for students from Years 7-12 in schools with an ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) of less than 1,000. We believe that a young person’s socio-economic background or geography should not determine their opportunity for education or career pathways.

How you can support the work of Beacon

Industry and local businesses can host site tours, host programs on-site, and provide employees to participate in programs or host work experience and work placements.

If you want more information on how your business can work with Beacon please fill out the expression of interest form below.

Lack of career awareness

Career awareness is lacking. Young people’s career aspirations are often poorly aligned with available jobs (Musset & Mytna 2018).

Lack of support

The education system needs extra support. The education system is struggling to provide students with the generic and technical expertise they need to compete in the job market (PUC 2016).

Youth engagement

The proportion of young people aged 15-24 in Australia not engaged in employment, education or training is 18% in lower socio-economic areas, compared to 8.7% in the highest (AIWR 2021).

Low confidence

Young people don’t believe they have the skills, knowledge, confidence or experience to navigate transition (FYA 2018).

Who are Beacon’s programs for?

We deliver programs Australia-wide, for students in Years 7-12, more specifically targeting students in Years 9-12 in schools with an ICSEA* of less than 1,000. We believe socio-economic background or geography should not determine the education or career opportunities young people have in life. Beacon programs connect industry with thousands of students across Australia each year. The connection students experience with volunteers provides the opportunity for young people to understand what the world of work really looks like.

Why does Beacon need support?

As a not for profit charity, our work is simply not possible without the support of our volunteers, partners, businesses and industry groups. Contribution from industry not only aides the work of Beacon, our career readiness programs are delivered in conjunction with business volunteers which often provides the light bulb moment that some young people need to begin their journey of career readiness. We continue to advocate for the young people of Australia, but we’re nowhere near done. Our end goal isn’t to change employment outcomes. It’s to change the system itself. We want a future where there is no Beacon. If you are interested in finding out how you can be involved please complete contact us at beacon@beaconfoundation.org.au. If you would like to host a Beacon program complete the Host Business Expression of Interest

Industry Expression of Interest

COLLABORATE WITH US

VOLUNTEER WITH US

ADVOCATE WITH US

*ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) provides an indication of the socio-educational backgrounds of students