Polly Simons

NATIONAL Skills Week kicks off on Monday, highlighting the many opportunities offered by vocational education and encouraging people to learn more about the career paths it provides. According to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, about 4.5 million people were enrolled in vocational education and training (VET) across Australia in 2015, of which about 278,600 of these were apprentices and trainees. “A lot of people don’t understand the diversity of careers that vocational education and training offers,” says Kirstin Casey, general manager of SkillsOne, which is driving the annual event in partnership with stakeholders.

ONCE upon a time, academic results were the best indication of the career you could expect after graduation. Ace every test and you could be assured that the right doors would open when it came to finding your first full-time job. Increasingly, however, top marks are no longer enough to get you into the job of your dreams. “Soft skills” – those nebulous abilities such as communication skills, collaboration and conflict resolution – are replacing technical knowledge as the go-to abilities for employers seeking the next generation of leaders.

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BACKYARD pools have come a long way since the standard kidney-shaped pools of your childhood. Today’s generation of pools are as stylish as they are convenient, come in all shapes and sizes, are self-cleaning, self-maintaining and can be operated from your mobile phone. Thanks to developments in technology, they can even be used all year round – which means you could be enjoying your new outdoor space well before summer arrives.

PEOPLE can put more thought into buying their first car than researching their tertiary study options. But just like cars, there can be enormous differences between courses, so it pays to do your research.

WHEN Annette English dropped her son, Hugo Morgan, off for his first day as a Year 7 boarder at Sydney’s Knox Grammar School, the 12-year-old wasn’t the only apprehensive one. The mother of three from regional NSW had already seen two daughters through boarding school but worried that Hugo didn’t conform to the sports-loving stereotype of country boarders.

WHETHER you call it teleworking, telecommuting, anywhere working or simply working from home, there’s no doubt the idea of working outside the office is gaining momentum. “We’ve been talking about it for a very long time,” says Dr Yvette Blount, research coordinator of Macquarie University’s Australia Anywhere Working Research Network, which has been investigating the rise of teleworking since the network was established in 2012.