About the campaign

Inspiring the Future Australia is a national campaign for career inspiration, that aims to broaden the horizons and raise the aspirations of students everywhere. This is done through this free, secure website, that runs a powerful matching software that enables teachers and volunteers from the world of work to connect freely and easily.

Based on the original Inspiring the Future campaign in England, ITF Australia believes that young people need and want industry engagement to help them navigate their futures. Young people aspire to be what they see around them in their everyday life but it’s difficult to aspire to a future that you never see and don’t know exists.

Through ITF young people get to see exciting futures, by meeting a variety of role models doing interesting jobs. This helps to inspire and motivate them, as well as help them to understand that aiming high, working hard and making an effort in school can help them realise their dreams. Check out reports on ITF events under "News" and further information by clicking on any of the six boxes at the bottom of the Home Page representing some of the more popular ITF activities.

Join the Campaign

Watch our Australia launch video

ITF Australia was officially launched in April 2017 by both NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes and NSW Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres. Members from industry, education and the broader community also came out to support the initiative.

See the popular Career Speed Networking activity in action, as well as hear from teachers, volunteers, students and supporters alike why ITF Australia is an exciting and productive thing to get involved in.

At the heart of Inspiring the Future are volunteers sharing their stories and advice, to inspire schools students; broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations.

This is facilitated through our secure platform. You can find out more about how it works here.

Behind the campaign

The Australia ITF campaign has been licensed by Education & Employers, and is run by organisation Schools Industry Partnership (SIP). SIP is a not-for-profit incorporated association based in Western Sydney governed by a volunteer board representing key stakeholders and partners in our mission, from school systems, TAFE, local government, chambers of commerce and employers within the community. The express purpose of our organisation is to support education and career pathways.

We work with young people to help them discover their career passion and how to transform their skills leading to real jobs.

Established in 1995, SIP has been involved in a variety of different services and programs under various funding arrangements. Some of these ventures include Work Inspiration, the Bright Futures campaign, and Career Advice Australia.

Under current funding, SIP also delivers the Work Placement program, Smart Skilled & Hired and Transition to Work services. On a broader mission to inspire young people to reach their full potential, SIP aims to grow ITF to be it's flagship offering, helping young people around the nation through real connection with the world of work.

Learn more about Schools Industry Partnership

Our Australian Partners

Department of Education NSW

The Department of Education in NSW is a founding sponsor of Inspiring the Future Australia and has particularly assisted with the roll-out of the campaign in Western Sydney and regional NSW.

North Adelaide State Secondary Schools' Alliance (NASSSA)

NASSSA is currently rolling out the ITF campaign in South Australia, and has had great success especially with our Inspiring Women campaign.

NASSSA is a confederation of ELEVEN schools in Northern Adelaide. It was formed to maximise the learning opportunities, career pathways, retention and educational outcomes for all students in alliance schools in northern Adelaide. By collaborating, combining resources and mobilising community and industry support across all alliance schools, NASSSA aims to improve outcomes for all students. NASSSA is focused on identifying and supporting educational innovation so that students in alliance schools successfully transition from school to employment, training and further education. NASSSA is a key link between schools and community, university, Registered Training Organisations and industry partners across northern Adelaide.

Australian Schools Industry Partnership (Aussip)

The Australian Schools Industry Partnership (AusSIP) is a non-profit business that identifies, fosters and supports a range of quality opportunities that engage the local community in the successful transition of all our young people to a productive adult life. It is currently funded by the NSW Government to manage and provide work placements for Year 11-12 students from Parramatta to the Northern Beaches. AusSIP is a foundation delivery partner for ITF in it's service region.

Our International Partners

Schools Industry Partnership has partnered with the UK based Education and Employers charity to run their Inspiring the Future campaign across Australia.

About Education & Employers charity

The Education and Employers charity was launched on the 15th October 2009 with the aim of ‘ensuring that every school and college has an effective partnership with employers to provide its young people with the inspiration, motivation, knowledge, skills and opportunities they need to help them achieve their potential and so to secure the UK’s future prosperity’.

The charity works to achieve this by working in close partnership with leading national bodies representing schools, colleges and employers. ITF in the UK currently has a database of over 43,000 registered workplace volunteers and has facilitated more than 1.5 million connections with school students. They also undertake high quality robust research on education and employer engagement that informs education policy and practice. They collaborate with other leading research institutions to ensure that research produced by academics around the world is easily accessible to practitioners, employers and policy-makers.