Career navigation programmes
Three programmes, one learner journey
From the first subject-choice conversation in Grade 8 to a matriculant's first application, our programmes hand over at exactly the right moments.
Programme details
Career Compass
Career Compass takes structured career navigation into the school day, starting where the stakes first appear: the Grade 8 and 9 subject-choice window, when a single uninformed decision can quietly close doors for life.
Learners complete digital career assessments, receive a personal report, and work through guided interpretation sessions with trained facilitators. Grade 11 and 12 learners then build a personal Career Action Plan and get hands-on support with university and TVET applications, NSFAS registration and bursary searches, all timed to national application windows.
What a learner walks away with
- A named interest profile grounded in an actual assessment, not guesswork
- Matched qualification pathways: degrees, TVET programmes and short courses that fit
- A personal Career Action Plan with three directions and concrete next steps
- Applications actually submitted before closing dates, with help at every step
- Bursary and funding options surfaced at the point of decision
Post-School Pathways
The end of matric is not the end of the decision. For many young people, it is where the real uncertainty begins: results in hand, no counsellor in sight, and a maze of applications, funding rules and closing dates.
Post-School Pathways works with matriculants and youth aged 18 to 35 who are out of school and need direction. We run assessments and guided planning sessions in community venues, then support each participant through the practical steps: late applications, second-chance routes, TVET college admissions, NSFAS appeals, learnerships and realistic work pathways.
What a participant walks away with
- A clear picture of their realistic options, including routes they had not considered
- Applications to university, TVET college or training programmes, submitted properly
- NSFAS and bursary applications handled step by step, including appeals
- A plan that survives a rejection, with second and third routes mapped
- Six months of follow-up, so nobody disappears after the first meeting
Digital Career Access
Digital Career Access is not a separate workshop. It is the technology layer that makes the other two programmes work at scale, and keeps every learner visible from first assessment to final placement.
It holds the digital career assessments learners complete, the secure learner database that stores each journey, and the dashboards that show schools, funders and our own team exactly what is happening: who has been assessed, who has a plan, who has applied, and who needs follow-up.
What the engine provides
- Digital career assessments that work on low-cost devices and across language backgrounds
- A secure learner database, managed under POPIA with parental consent
- School-level dashboards showing progress against every target
- Funder reporting drawn from live data, not reconstructed afterwards
- The evidence base for our published impact reporting
How they connect
A relay, not three separate races
Career Compass starts the journey in school. Post-School Pathways picks it up after matric. Digital Career Access carries the baton the whole way, keeping every learner's record and progress in one place.
For a Grade 9 learner
Career Compass helps them choose subjects with their eyes open, so that Grade 12 options stay open too. Their assessment results live in Digital Career Access and follow them through school.
For a 22-year-old with matric
Post-School Pathways picks them up where school left off: a fresh assessment, a realistic plan, funded applications and follow-up until they land somewhere that fits.
Schools take part free of charge
Career Compass is free for under-resourced schools in the Free State pilot. Find out what your school provides and how to join.