For schools
Bring career navigation into your school, free of charge
Career Compass is free for under-resourced schools in the Free State pilot. Your learners get what well-resourced schools take for granted: structured guidance, real assessments and a plan.
The offer
What your school receives
- Structured career guidance sessions delivered at your school, timed to the academic calendar and national application windows
- Digital career assessments for participating learners, with a personal report for each
- Guided interpretation and a Career Action Plan for every Grade 11 and 12 participant
- Application support: university, TVET, NSFAS and bursaries, before closing dates
- A school-level dashboard showing participation and progress
- Subject-choice support sessions for Grade 8 and 9 learners
There is no charge to under-resourced schools. Delivery is funded through our partner and sponsorship model, which you can read about on the Partners page.
Your side of the partnership
What your school provides
The programme works because schools are partners, not venues. Your side of the arrangement is simple and costs nothing.
A coordinator
One teacher, often the Life Orientation teacher, who acts as our contact point and helps schedule sessions.
A venue and time slot
A classroom or hall and agreed time slots, usually within Life Orientation periods so no teaching time is lost.
Consent administration
Help distributing and collecting parental consent forms, which we provide, before any learner is assessed.
Learner lists
Basic participation lists for the grades taking part, so we can prepare assessments and track completion.
Feedback
A short coordinator feedback form at the end of each cycle, which feeds directly into how we improve.
Follow-through
Willingness to let us return for follow-up sessions, because one visit is a talk, a sequence is a programme.
Common questions
What principals and teachers ask us
A standard visit runs within one or two Life Orientation periods. The full programme for a grade is a sequence of short sessions across the year rather than one long event: an orientation session, an assessment session of about 60 minutes, an interpretation session of about 60 minutes, and a 30-minute action planning session. We schedule everything with your coordinator so that teaching time is protected.
Learner information is stored in our secure learner database and managed in line with POPIA. Data is used only for programme delivery, follow-up support and aggregate reporting. We never sell learner data, never share identifiable information with third parties without consent, and schools may request their learners' records or removal at any time.
Yes, always. We provide plain-language consent forms in advance, and only learners with signed consent complete the assessments. Learners without consent can still attend the general career guidance sessions, they simply do not complete the individual assessment or have data stored.
No. We bring the devices needed for assessment sessions and the assessments are designed to work in low-connectivity settings. If your school has a computer room, we will happily use it, but it is not a requirement.
Career Compass covers Grades 8 to 12. Grade 8 and 9 sessions focus on subject choice, because decisions made there open or close doors later. Grade 11 and 12 sessions focus on assessments, action plans and actual applications, timed to national closing dates.
Contact us through the contact page and choose "A school" as your enquiry type, or email hello@namela.org with your school's name and town. We respond within two working days. Pilot places are limited to ten Free State schools in Year 1, with priority given to schools in under-served settings.
Ten pilot places. One is your school's.
Tell us about your school and we will take it from there.