My Future
Radar Maker will shortly be releasing My Future, a free, fully animated and interactive career guidance package for South African schools.
The software was developed in collaboration with a career guidance specialist as a practical response to the severe shortage of career information and guidance in schools.
The software brings learners through a complete course in the factors and process of making the right career decisions, both in school and beyond. It follows the stories of seven characters from different backgrounds, examining the decisions they make and the consequences they face. By answering a series of questions relating to their personality and interests, the learners are given a host of potential career types to match their personality. They can then research these options in a career database to find out what the career entails, the qualifications they require and the college options available to them. There is also a detailed course pack for teachers, who are able to monitor each student’s results through an admin section.
Education is possibly the greatest challenge facing South Africa. The combined effects of poverty and ill-health, an overburdened education system and the continued failure by the government to implement efficient policies have left the country in crisis. Currently, only 14% of black and 17% of coloured South Africans over the age of 20 have a high school or higher qualification. The national pass rate for the end of school exams is around 65%, but only around 15% of the population study further at university. Of these, only 22% obtain an undergraduate degree.
These figures expose a serious problem that will lead to major skill shortages in the coming years. While the chief causes are structural and administrative (lack of school facilities, over-sized classrooms and underpaid teachers), the lack of career guidance education in schools means that students aren’t planning properly and end up making the wrong education choices. My Future was developed to assist teachers with little or no prior experience in career guidance, and covers the full RNCS life orientation curriculum.