Today is the first lesson of Strand 1.2: Understanding my Progression Opportunities.

Most people leave school with a quiet ranking already in their head: university at the top, everything else underneath. That ranking is often wrong, and it is hard to unpick once you have treated it as fact. This lesson starts by locking in what you already believe, then maps eight real pathways side by side so none of them is treated as a leftover.

Three terms you will use for the rest of this strand. Skim each row; they land again inside the pathways map.

Set up first (about 2 minutes). Open a new document in your Strand 1.2 folder called Pathways Map (or S1.2_Pathways_Map_Baseline if your school uses that name). Date it at the top and mark it clearly: Baseline: to be rewritten later in this strand. This baseline sits in your Digital Portfolio as Strand 1.2 evidence you will return to later; it is not a final plan.

Part 1: lock in four predictions (about 8 minutes). Open the activity and mark each statement true or false on what you honestly think right now. Do not look anything up. Under a holding heading My opener predictions in that same Pathways Map document, write each T/F answer as you go. You will need them later in the strand when these claims come back.

Part 2: the eight pathways (about 10 minutes, teacher-led on the board). This strand uses eight named post-school pathways (the LCW course framing of common routes). None of these is only for if something else falls through. Jot the eight pathway names as a working list in your Pathways Map (names only for now). In Part 3 you will turn each name into one personal sentence, not a definition. Follow the board walk:

1. Apprenticeships
2. Traineeships
3. Further Education and Training (FET)
4. Higher Education
5. Entrepreneurship
6. Travel
7. Community
8. World of work

Part 3: write your baseline Pathways Map (about 15–17 minutes). For each of the eight pathways, write one sentence on what that route could look like for you personally (not a definition: a picture of you on it). Keep your four opener predictions underneath under the heading already started in Part 1.

This map is not a decision. It is the starting photograph you will hold up against a later rewrite once you know more.

Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly on your own.

• Look at your eight sentences. Which pathway did you write least confidently about, and is that because you know little about it, or because you have already ruled it out?
• Today's map is a starting photograph, not a decision. What would make a later rewrite of this map actually useful, rather than just longer?

If you want a short portfolio note, add two lines under your Pathways Map: the pathway you know least about, and one question you want answered about it before the strand moves on.

In this lesson you opened Strand 1.2 and built a baseline, not a plan.

• You locked in four true/false predictions about apprenticeships, PLCs, apprentice pay and Further Education before anything was taught
• You met eight post-school pathways: apprenticeships, traineeships, FET, Higher Education, entrepreneurship, travel, community, and the world of work
• You wrote a dated Pathways Map in your Strand 1.2 Digital Portfolio folder: one personal sentence per pathway, plus your four opener predictions, marked as a baseline to rewrite later in the strand

That map is Strand 1.2 baseline evidence in your Digital Portfolio. It is not a final decision and does not carry separate exam weighting on its own.

Optional stretch: pick the pathway you know least about and write one more sentence naming a real Irish source you could check next (a provider name, a guidance page, or a person you could ask).