1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
You have spent weeks building real investigations: pathways, courses, job roles, rights, payslips, labour-market trends. A half-page that only restates those half-pages teaches nobody anything.
Today you look back at that work and pull three genuine insights out of it, then place each one as a dated milestone on a planner. That grid is the first cut of your career progression plan.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms you will use on the planner and in your portfolio write-up.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Synthesis: a conclusion drawn from several pieces of work, not a summary of them | Each insight must say something new that your earlier pages make possible | From FET and apprenticeship notes: a named Level 6 course is the realistic bridge before applying |
| Milestone: a concrete step with a rough date, on a real pathway row | If it cannot sit on the grid with a horizon, it is still only a summary sentence | Apply for a summer retail role in hospitality by Easter to test customer-facing work |
| Career progression: education and workplace steps interleaved from now toward a future position | Your three milestones are the beginning of the full career progression plan you will finish for ALT 2, adding detail to it in the lessons after this one | 1-year: finish maths bridge and weekend retail hours → 3-year: QQI Level 6 traineeship → 5-year: apply for a named apprenticeship consortium role |
3 - Place Three Insights on the Planner ~35 mins
Open your Strand 1.2 folder. Scan what you actually built: pathways map, apprenticeship or FET investigation, HE comparison, job-role research, additional training shortlist, rights or labour-market notes, digital workplace work.
If a document is missing, still place the milestone from what you remember and mark the source line as gap: [missing investigation] so the empty cell is honest evidence, not a fake plan.
Summary versus conclusion
Summary: "I looked at apprenticeships and two HE courses." That only restates files you already have.
Conclusion: "A named ICT apprenticeship on the consortium list fits my skill evidence better than the CAO course I shortlisted, so within one year I will complete the maths bridging I still need and contact two employers on that list." That is a milestone you can place.
On the pathway planner
You can place, move and delete milestones as often as you like on the grid. Nothing is fixed until you copy your three into Strand Synthesis Draft.
Each milestone you keep should come from a real piece of your own work, so name the document to yourself as you place it or mark the gap. Word it specifically enough that you could act on it, and watch where your milestones land: an empty 1-year box means your plan is still a daydream, and three milestones on one row means you have not interleaved education and work yet. Gaps are information too.
Portfolio write-up
Open or create Strand Synthesis Draft in your Digital Portfolio (Strand 1.2 folder). Copy your three milestones across. Under each, write one line naming which document led you to it, or the gap you marked. This is the first cut of your career progression plan and the spine you will build into ALT 2 later on.
First cut: three progression milestones
4 - Think About It ~10 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, or think them through quietly.
- Which of your three milestones was hardest to place on the grid, and what does that tell you about how solid the insight really was?
- If one insight could not sit on any row or horizon without becoming vague, what Strand 1.2 evidence is still missing?
If you want a short portfolio note later, add it under your three milestones in Strand Synthesis Draft: one sentence on the insight that nearly failed the grid test.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
Today you looked back at your earlier investigations by building something new, not by restating them.
- Synthesis means a conclusion your earlier work supports, not a list of files you wrote
- A real insight can sit as a dated milestone on an education, workplace, or extra-training row
- An insight that will not sit on the grid was still only a summary sentence
- Your three milestones in Strand Synthesis Draft are the first cut of your career progression plan
Next time you will turn this spine into fuller SMARTER goals across the same horizons.
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