You're invited to be part of something big

What impact could you make with Ponder in 2023?

The Ponder Program exceeded everyone’s expectations last year (even ours). What will this year bring? Let’s write the future together.

In the beginning, there was a need...

Delivering quality Career Education has long been a challenge for educators. The whole point of high school is to prepare students for what comes next, but how do teachers do that when there’s little in the way of frameworks or adjustable content?

Teacher: “Do you know where I can get a scope & sequence without spending 6 months creating my own?”

Us: “No, but if we designed one, would you use it?”

Teacher: “YES! That would be amazing!”

So we built the Ponder Program – a 40 week career education framework for Years 7-12 that’s flexible and easy for schools to deliver.

2022 was our best year ever

As a social enterprise in the Career Education space, we couldn’t have done so much without you.

Your contributions, advice, feedback, and support of our programs in 2022 meant that we not only developed a program that transforms how career leaders make an impact at school, but have the funds and resources to put into the development of even better content, for even more schools.

Here’s a little of what was achieved last year:

+175 Ponder Schools

Starting with a modest goal of 100 high schools trying Ponder, by early December over 175 high schools had chosen to use Ponder for their Career Education program.

But we know there’s so many more schools we need to reach. Are you one of them?

87,500 Students Impacted

20,000 students watching weekly videos and quick careers lessons seemed huge in January 2022.

But we know that over 87,500 students today have ‘Ponder’ as part of their schooling.

We can’t even imagine the impact this will make.

CDAA Commended

After a thorough review of the program’s rationale, content, structure, and delivery, the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) awarded Ponder ‘Commended Program’ status in recognition of the quality and impact of the program in Australian schools.

The first career development program to achieve this.

(Are you a Ponder school already? Thank you for working with us)

100% of profits went back into programs

Ok, our graphic might be a little bit of fun, but the serious side is we put ALL of our profits back into developing new programs last year. Literally.

So when we say we’re a social enterprise making a difference in career education, we’re doing it with everything we’ve got.

And it shows… teachers are often shocked when we tell them we’re a small team (delivering innovations that make us look like we’re a company 10x our size).

We're school-funded and student-focused

In a world full of ‘EdTech’ companies running on investor funding (and under pressure to deliver a huge profit), Study Work Grow is different.

Right from the start we’ve been…

100% Australian-owned and entirely funded by educational memberships
Student-focussed. For us, it’s all about improving outcomes
Social enterprise by design (a great way to be)
Followers of the ‘JEDI’ values (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion)

Most importantly, we don’t collect student data, sell it, or share it.

Want to see what's coming in 2023?

(We’re so excited about the impact we can make with your help)

Refresh

Ponder content refresh & expansion

Ponder is built on the Australian Blueprint for Career Development ('the blueprint') and ACARA's General Capabilities.

Teachers loved the videos, PDFs, and lesson content in 2022, so for this year we're updating them and expanding the range available. Making it even easier for career leaders to engage with students about their future possibilities.

Refresh

Relevance

Subject Selection

Subject Selection is always a challenge for educators each year.

That's why we're delivering innovative new ways of informing, discussing, and guiding students (and their parents) through this process. With alignments to the new Career Clusters resources & quiz, it means students can make choices that match their interests, skills, and values - a much more positive way of making this important choice.

Relevance

Starting Young

Ponder Primary

In 2018, the Victorian Parliament looked into Career Education in the State of Victoria, and just like other states and territories, found that students need to learn Career Management skills earlier in their school life.

To help with this, we're expanding Ponder to primary schools - so that students can stop thinking about the same 10 jobs (nurse, doctor, firefighter), and start thinking about the things they love, things that interest them, and things they would be good at. So more young people can make better informed decisions about their future.

Starting Young

You're important

Uplifting Career Practitioner Profiles in School

From Study Work Grow's humble beginnings in 2007, we've always been about supporting educators. Transitions are often an afterthought in many schools (we know, because we work with over 500 across Australia and 1100 educators). So part of our role as a social enterprise is to uplift and highlight the role of Career Practitioners in high school - so you can get more recognition for the critical contribution you make in supporting students with life-changing decisions.

You're important

Teaching the Teachers

Plentiful Professional Development (PD)

Teachers are only as good as they're taught.

That's why we're embarking on regular webinars, recordings, in-person forum meetings, and content pieces that help educators stay ahead of a rapidly changing career education space.

Teaching the Teachers

Education Everywhere

Flexible, scalable, adjustable content

It's not just about city schools or technology-driven learning. We've made our educational content flexible, adaptable, and easy to use in every classroom setting, everywhere in Australia.

Because every student (from Broome to Bruny Island), should have a well informed start to their career.

Education Everywhere

Want to know more?

See our Social Impact Statement

Our vision is for every Australian student to get the education, support, and guidance they need to make positive decisions about their future.

Want create positive impact for young people this year?

Far too many students get to the end of high school and still don’t know ‘what they want to do with their life’.

We want to change this.

And that change starts by supporting educators with the time, resources, and frameworks they need to prepare students for the future. You can help with this by joining our community as a member school, supporter organisation, or by sharing our message. When students know where they’re heading and what inspires them, our whole society benefits.

Like to work with us or find out more?

We welcome the chance to talk with educators and people who share the same values as us. If you’d like to start one of our membership programs or to talk with us, reach out now. We’d love to hear from you.