Get involved as a teacher

Inspiring the Future (ITF) connects teachers with volunteers across Australia, from a huge range of jobs and levels through a secure online platform. Use ITF as your best resource, to engage your students with the practical applications of their learning, overcome barriers in their future and learn more about careers and pathways to get there.

Volunteers have signed up to share their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm about their jobs and experiences with your students. You can invite them into your school to help young people to make better-informed decisions about their futures and the part education plays in it.

By signing up on our secure platform, Teachers are able to select and invite people who best meet the needs of their students from a range of sectors, professions and experience. When you're inviting volunteers to take part in an activity at your school, it's always best to invite at least double the people you need as volunteers often have busy schedules and may not be able to come.

Child Protection Requirements

Making sure your students are safe is paramount so we ask that all volunteers agree to comply with any Child Protection requirements in their State or as asked by the school. This most commonly entails showing photo ID, filling out a simple form or getting a free volunteer working with children check. You can learn more about the requirements in your state here. ITF volunteers must be supervised by a teacher at all times while on school premises.

Why use ITF?

Help students relate school to work

You've heard more than one student ask "Why are we learning this? I won't need this when I leave school." When you use Inspiring the Future to find and invite volunteers into your classroom or school, you bring real industry and career advice directly to your students.

Volunteers can speak about how they use your subject in their job or even reflect on what things they wish they paid more attention to in school. 74% of young people said that attending an Inspiring the Future activity motivated them to study harder!

Raise aspirations and broaden horizons

For most young people, the inspiration for choosing a career or pathway after school is limited. They see what their parents do, maybe family friends do and see certain jobs in the media.

However, the landscape of careers is vast and continually changing! Hearing from different people with different careers helps expand the options and ideas students have about careers and their future.

Every ITF volunteers story of how they got to where they are today is different and many aren't doing what they expected to be doing when they left school.

Challenge stereotypes or barriers

Unfortunately, you don't have to look far to see and experience the inequalities in opportunity and situation that many students experience. Engaging with people from the world of work who have previously overcome barriers like gender and cultural stereotypes, family difficulties and socio-economic disadvantage helps current students see outside their current situation.

This is particularly addressed in our Inspiring Women and Primary Futures activities, that directly aim to help students feel confident about undertaking non-typical pathways.

Popular Inspiring the Future activities

Inspiring Women

A focused activity to inspire and motivate female students to overcome gender stereotypes and other barriers. This activity most commonly involved a student-run panel discussion, with the possibility of informal speed career networking or a more formal career talk.

Primary Futures

Intended to bring careers into the minds of Primary aged students, Primary Futures challenges gender and cultural stereotypes through a fun 'What's My Line?' activity. Volunteers sit on stage with a large number and answer 'yes' and 'no' questions about their career from primary students. Students then guess what job each volunteer does, before a great reveal where volunteers come in wearing their uniform or holding a prop from their job and say something about what they do, and the importance of literacy and numeracy in their work.

Inspiring Apprentices

This activity is intended to educate and inspire young people about the possibilities of apprenticeships and traineeships. It involves a career speed networking session, where volunteers rotate around tables with different student groups, and a mini-expo for employers to showcase their pathways and opportunities.

Mock Interviews

A very popular activity amongst Careers Advisors, mock interviews involves volunteer simulating the interview experience for young people and giving helpful feedback for them to improve. This often happens in a large room where volunteers interview a few students throughout the session.

Guest Speaking

Share your experience, advice or expertise on a particular topic in a formal talk either in a classroom, assembly or other career activity.

Informal Conversations

Share your experience and advice in an informal way, not up the front! Chat with students during a speed career networking activity, casual panel discussion or career conversation. This could also be a skills demonstration or help with a project depending on your passion and availability.