Grade 9 Subject Choices and Career Planning

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering Grade 9 subject choice considerations, career planning concepts, and personal development factors.

National Senior Certificate (NSC)

The qualification examination that learners study towards from Grade 10 to 12 following their Grade 9 subject choices.

Career

A long-term professional journey determined by passions; the path to achieve professional goals and ambitions, or the occupation/job/profession chosen for the rest of one's life.

Job

Work performed to earn money to support basic needs, which can be full-time or part-time, may be short-term, and involves specific agreed-upon duties between employers and employees.

Career Field

The area or industry in which a person can work, such as Education, IT, or Arts.

Electives

Subjects that a learner chooses to take as part of their FET course.

FET

An acronym standing for Further Education and Training.

Strengths

Natural talents or aptitudes that a person possesses, which can be developed and turned into skills.

Career Goals

The desired professional paths that guide high school subject selection to satisfy specific university course admission requirements.

Abilities and Skills

A person's potential that enables them to attain a particular level of competence, pertaining to whatever they can do with ease.

Competence

The level of capability achieved when a person uses determination to develop their natural abilities into skills.

Interest

A personal attribute that develops and changes as a person matures, defined as that which a person wants and likes to do.

Weaknesses

Areas where a person lacks natural strength, which can be worked on and converted into strengths or evaluated against key job requirements.

Social Skills

Attributes that determine how a person relates to people and their attitude towards others, encompassing communication, basic behavioural patterns, common sense, personal affectivity, contributory relationships, and social accomplishment.

Personality

The set of characteristics that make a person wholly distinctive from others, representing who they are, how they are interpreted, and how they behave.

Career

A long-term professional journey determined by passions and the path to achieve professional goals and ambitions, or the occupation, job, or profession you choose to follow for the rest of your life.

Job

Work performed to earn money to support basic needs; it can be full-time or part-time, may be short-term, and has specific agreed upon duties between employers and employees.

Career Field

The area or industry in which a person can work, such as Education, IT, or Arts.

Electives

Subjects that learners choose to take as part of their Further Education and Training (FET) course.

FET

Further Education and Training; the educational course undertaken from Grade 10 to Grade 12.

National Senior Certificate (NSC)

The qualification that learners ultimately write examinations for after studying their selected subjects from Grade 10 to Grade 12.

Strengths

Areas where a person has a natural talent or aptitude, which can be improved and turned into skills through chosen subjects.

Career Goals

The specific professional ambitions a person aims to follow, which dictate the high school subjects required to satisfy university course prerequisites.

Abilities and Skills

A person's potential that enables them to attain a particular level of competence, pertaining directly to whatever they can do with ease.

Competence

The capability achieved when a person applies determination to develop and convert their natural abilities into skills.

Interest

A personal attribute that develops and changes as one matures, defined by what a person wants and likes to do, signifying enjoyment of an activity rather than superior performance.

Weaknesses

Areas of personal difficulty or limitation that a learner can identify to either work on and convert into strengths, or evaluate against essential job requirements.

Social Skills

The attributes that determine how a person relates to and treats others, based on communication ability, basic behavioural patterns, common sense, personal affectivity, contributory relationships, and social accomplishment.

Personality

The sum of what a person is that gives them a wholly distinctive character, encompassing why they are the way they are, how they appear and are interpreted by others, and the characteristics determining how they behave.