Architecture Australia

“Sliding doors” moments: Pathways to public practice

Public sector roles constitute an important avenue for the diversification of career pathways for architects. Yet there are few models for career paths involving public sector work visible in the profession. This dossier mentions several examples through which architects are being connected with public sector career opportunities, including through secondments and internships. However, there is a strong argument for addressing this occlusion at the point of professional education and making career pathways involving public sector work more visible to students. While practice-based experience is an integral part of the pathway to professional registration in Australia, increasingly, universities are being encouraged to provide work-integrated learning and to explicitly address the employability of graduates. This is also an opportunity to shape broader cultural change in the profession. The following article by Moore, Fergus and Dodd describes the Public Practice course they delivered at Monash University to address this opportunity. As they explain, their teaching exposes students to

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