Life orientation

project
Careers and career
choices
Lawyer
Writer
Art teacher
Lauren Welsh 10SI
25 Aug 2015

Part A

Questions:
1. Where did you study?
2. What are the requirements for this job?
3. What activities are performed in this profession?
4. How much is expected to be earned in your first year in the job?
5. Are there a lot of people in this profession already?
6. What subjects are required for you to take to study this profession at
university?
7. What degree is advisable for this profession?
8. How many years is that degree?
9. What other career paths could you follow with that degree?*
10. What environment would you be working in? Office, home etc.
11. Is it necessary to get a degree for this profession?*
12. What kind of person would you need to be for this job? Personality, traits etc.*
13. Is there a high chance of getting a job in this profession nowadays?*
14. How much would it cost roughly to study at a university for this profession?
15. Do you need to be licensed to do this profession?
16. What are the work hours like in this profession? E.g. Flexible, set work hours
17. Do you get paid for as much work you produce or is it fixed every month?
18. Does this profession offer an intellectual challenge? If so, explain.*
19. Does this job allow you to travel?*
20. What are the future prospects of this profession?*

Lawyer:
1. Where did you study?
The University of Cape Town.

2.

What are the requirements for this job?

In order to be admitted as an advocate (that is a lawyer with the right of appearance

in the High Court of South Africa), at the time that I qualified (during the 1980s); there
were the following formal requirements:
A bachelors degree in any subject, such as a BA, as well as a post-graduate
bachelors degree in Law, (LLB).The most usual combination at that time was to
obtain a BA LLB.
One then had to be admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, which
required a formal application to the High Court. After a successful application, one
was then known as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa.
Although that was sufficient to give one the right to appear in the High Court (that is
to represent clients and argue their cases in court) in order to be admitted as a
member of the Cape Bar (the advocates professional body, one had to complete a
period of approximately six months pupillage with an experienced advocate, and
then pass the Bar Exam. One was then entitled to have rooms (called chambers)
near the High Court in Cape Town.

3.

What activities are performed in this profession?

An advocate usually receives his work directly from an attorney, (another form of
lawyer). A member of the public with a need for a lawyer will usually first approach
and attorney. The attorney takes instructions from the client, and then may brief an
advocate to assist, or to appear before the court on behalf of the client.
Advocates may assist with a wide range of legal problems, such as defending in
court a client who has been charged with a crime, writing an opinion on the chances

of a client successfully suing an insurance company when they have refused to pay
out a claim, appearing in court and representing a client who wishes to obtain a
divorce, assisting a company with their tax, and innumerable others. Some
advocates will take on a wide range of cases, whereas others tend to specialise is a
narrower area, such as Criminal Law or the Law of Insurance.
The main activities that an advocate performs are leading evidence in court, crossexamining opposing witnesses in court, and presenting arguments to the court.

4.

How much is expected to be earned in your first year in the job?

As an advocate is only paid for what he or she does, it is impossible to give a set
amount. Advocates usually receive their work from attorneys, who may choose which
advocates to give their work to (called briefing). In the long run, however, most
advocates command a generous income, although amounts will still differ widely
from advocate to advocate.

5.

Are there a lot of people in this profession already?

Yes, however, the numbers are restricted by the fact that there are fairly stringent
educational and professional requirements to enter the profession.

6. What subjects are required for you to take to study this profession at
university?
When I qualified (in the 1980s) one required English and Afrikaans at the Higher
Grade in Matric, and Latin was a help in that, if one did not have Latin, one had to
complete an intensive Latin course at university before starting with Latin I, which
was a requirement for the LLB degree.

7.

What degree is advisable for this profession?

BA LLB, or BCom LLB

8.

How many years is that degree?

BA LLB is a five year degree, as some LLB subjects may be included in the BA.
A BCom LLB takes six years, two three year bachelor degrees.

9.

What other career paths could you follow with that degree?

BA LLB / BCom LLB

Firstly, one can follow any of the many legal paths. That is, instead of becoming an
advocate, one could become an attorney, a prosecutor, or a legal advisor to various
types of company, such as Insurance Companies and Oil Companies.
One could also become a legal journalist.
Particularly if one has taken a BCom LLB degree, which includes commercial
subjects such as Economics, one could move into any number of business /
commercial areas.

10. What environment would you be working in? Office, home etc.
An advocate usually works from an office (chambers) close to a major High Court,
although it is possible to do some work from home. Most advocates will spend a
large proportion of their time in court, leading evidence, cross-examining witnesses
and presenting arguments to the court

11. Is it necessary to get a degree for this profession?

Yes, to be an advocate, one requires a post-graduate LLB degree.
12. What kind of person would you need to be for this job? Personality, traits
etc.
An advocate needs a logical / analytical brain, the ability to think quickly on his or her
feet, the ability to form logical arguments and communicate them effectively to
witnesses and the court. An advocate must also be able to understand people and
their motivations, and be able to apply the law to complex sets of facts.
Ideally, an advocate should be a person who enjoys dealing with people, is not afraid
of speaking and arguing in front of an audience, and is especially not afraid of
confrontation, both in and out of the courtroom. An advocate must also be able to
deal with extreme pressure and the difficulties of working in a high stress
environment where vast sums of money, or even a clients liberty, may be at stake.

13. Is there a high chance of getting a job in this profession nowadays?

Provided one is successful in obtaining the necessary educational and professional
qualifications, there is indeed a high chance of getting a job in the legal profession.

14. How much would it cost roughly to study at a university for this
profession?
BA LLB, is a five year degree, so at approximately R40, 000 per year in tuition fees,
one is looking at about R200, 000 excluding possible accommodation fees. When
one factors in loss of income, the amount increases even further. However, this may
quickly be recouped if one becomes a successful lawyer.

15. Do you need to be licensed to do this profession?

Yes, an advocate has to be admitted as an Advocate of the High Court, and should,
preferably, also be admitted to the Bar.

16. What are the work hours like in this profession? E.g. Flexible, set work
hours
A successful lawyer works long hours. Court appearances are obviously governed by
court hours, and lawyers usually work full office hours plus more work (preparation)
after hours. Urgent applications, such as bail applications, may be made out of
normal court hours.

17. Do you get paid for as much work you produce or is it fixed every month?
An advocate is paid for the work completed, there is no fixed salary. Junior attorneys
are often salaried, but once they become a partner in the firm, they begin to receive
a percentage of the firms profits.

18. Does this profession offer an intellectual challenge? If so, explain.

Being an advocate involves extreme intellectual challenges. An advocate needs to
apply complex law to often extremely complex sets of facts. An advocate also has to
understand people think and how they are motivated. Furthermore, the Law is
constantly evolving through court decisions, and is also constantly being amended
by changed by acts of parliament and regulations, so it is necessary for a lawyer to
keep up to date with the latest developments in the Law.

19. Does this job allow you to travel?

A successful advocate may be briefed to appear in any court in the land, and those
who deal with International Law may well travel to other countries, but, on the whole,
it is not a profession where travel is an important part of ones career. More often
than not, a lawyer is largely bound to his or her office and the citys courts.

20. What are the future prospects of this profession?

As long as there is human conflict, there will be a need for lawyers. Lawyers, for
example, resolve disputes between individuals, between companies, between
individuals and companies, between individuals and the State, and even between
States. The future prospect of the profession is good.

Writer:
1. Where did you study?
The University of Cape Town.

2.

What are the requirements for this job?

As mentioned above, there are no formal requirements to become a writer, although

good command of the English language and interesting life experiences obviously
help. The real requirement to be a successful novelist, is to have ones books
published by one of the large, well known publishers, such has Penguin or Random
House, although this is extremely difficult.

3.

What activities are performed in this profession?

There are many different types of writers, such as journalists who write for
newspapers and magazines, writers of short stories, or novelists who write novels.
Writing a novel usually involves some degree of research. For example, if one is
writing a court-room drama, one needs to understand fully police procedures, court
procedures and related matters. These days, this can often be done largely on the
Internet, but it may still be necessary to interview an experienced police officer and
lawyer for help, or at the very least obtain an experienced lawyer to check that what
one has written contains no errors and seems real. One then sits down at a
computer (although there are writers who still use type writers or pen and paper) and
writes the novel using a suitable word processing program such as Word. This could
take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. When the first draft is complete, it is
usual to put it aside for a few weeks before re-reading and then re-writing where
necessary. Some writers will go through this process two, three, or even more times.
There are no rules when it comes to writing a novel. Some writers do a large degree
of planning before starting a novel, such as writing sketches of all the characters
they intend to use and setting out the plot of the story from beginning to end, while
other writers simply start with chapter one and allow the story to develop as the
characters interact.
The most difficult part is then getting the novel published by a suitable publisher.
Some writers will approach a publisher before starting their novel, merely giving an

outline of that they intend to write. This is referred to as a proposal. Other writers
will first complete their novel and then approach a publisher. This is usually done by
sending a short introductory letter to the publisher and including a short summary of
the story (called a synopsis), as well as the first few chapters, usually referred to as
sample chapters. The publisher then either makes an offer to publish the novel, or
rejects the author. (Unfortunately, the latter is the most common, and many novels
are rejected by many publishers before they are finally accepted. Many will never be
accepted, when the author is then left with the choice of self-publishing or various
other alternatives.) If a publisher accepts the novel, he will send an offer to the
author to enter into a publication contract. This will usually include a sum of money
being paid to the author (known as an advance against royalties), and will set out
the way in which the authors royalties will be calculate and paid. Royalties are the
percentage of the price of the book that is paid to the author, the balance of the price
of the book being shared between the publisher and the book seller.
Many authors will choose first to obtain a literary agent, who will then help the author
to find a suitable publisher. Where an author has an agent, the agent will also
receive a percentage of the authors royalties; however, having an agent is usually a
good idea, as agents are experienced in dealing with publishers and will usually
negotiate a more favourable contract. Publishers are also more likely to look
favourably on an author who is represented by an agent, and many of the large
publishers will not even accept sample chapters from un-agented authors.

4.

How much is expected to be earned in your first year in the job?

Income is dependent solely on the number of books sold. If no-one buys the book,
the author earns nothing at all. If millions of people buy the book, well, JK Rowling is
not a poor woman anymore

5.

Are there a lot of people in this profession already?

Yes, there are literally millions of authors, many of whom will never be published by a
large publisher.

6. What subjects are required for you to take to study this profession at
university?
As set out above, there are no formal requirements to become a writer, but obviously
studying the language that one intends to write in would be of assistance.

7.

What degree is advisable for this profession?

BA in the language one intends to write in

8.

How many years is that degree?

A BA is a three year degree.

9.

What other career paths could you follow with that degree?

BA in languages
A BA in languages is a general purpose degree. One could move into the field of
journalism, carry on to do a teaching diploma and become a school teacher, obtain a
Masters or PhD degree and become a university lecturer. One could also move into
Human Resources, usually employed in the Personnel Department of most large
companies.

10. What environment would you be working in? Office, home etc.
With a portable computer, a novelist may work from anywhere, home, library, even
coffee shop

11. Is it necessary to get a degree for this profession?

No, all one needs is a command of the language that one writes in, and have an
interesting story to tell.

12. What kind of person would you need to be for this job? Personality, traits
etc.
Most importantly, a writer needs a creative mind. A writer should be determined to
succeed, no matter what the odds are. He or she must also be self-motivated and
dedicated to the task, and be content to spend most of each day alone with his or
her thoughts and words.

13. Is there a high chance of getting a job in this profession nowadays?

Anyone can write, but the chances of becoming a truly successful novelist published
by a major publishing company are extremely small. Put another way, an extremely
low percentage of those who write novels are able to make their living in that way.

14. How much would it cost roughly to study at a university for this
profession?
One does not require a degree to become a write, however, a BA in languages is a
three year degree, so would cost approximately R120,0000.
15. Do you need to be licensed to do this profession?
No

16. What are the work hours like in this profession? E.g. Flexible, set work
hours.
A novelist may work extremely flexible hours, but a successful novelist will have
deadlines to work to for future works.

17. Do you get paid for as much work you produce or is it fixed every month?
A novelist earns royalties according to the number of books sold, so there is no
salary at all

18. Does this profession offer an intellectual challenge? If so, explain.

A novelist needs to be creative in his or her thinking. Turning the basic outline of a
story into a fully-fledged novel requires dedication and, in a different way to legal
work, certainly presents an intellectual challenge in that a story must follows a logical
course, and be true to human experience.

19. Does this job allow you to travel?

A successful novelist may travel the country or even the world to promote his or her
book; however, for most of the time, and for less successful novelists, this would be
unlikely. If one wants to travel, journalism would be the best branch of writing to
move into.

20. What are the future prospects of this profession?

With the rise of computers, the Internet and self-publishing (particularly in electronic
format via the Internet), there are many who believe that there are far too many
wannabe writers and that the profession is not a good one to enter. However, as
long as people wish to be entertained, whether in the form of books, magazines,
television programmes, films and even computer games, there will be a need for
people to tell their stories, initially in a written form.

Art teacher:
1. Where did you study?
I studied at what was known as the Mowbray Teachers College and had to do
the general 2 year diploma course for teachers which included all the subjects
that one needs for primary school teaching thus only one hour per week for art
(as for most subjects). Then I specialised in my 3 year for an additional diploma
which was called HIGHER PRIMARY ART & CRAFT DIPLOMA and that was
absolutely WONDERFUL. We had the best lecturers ever and we did art from
morning till night. We didnt want to go back home at all. This qualification
enabled us to teach at Primary and Secondary Schools as well as at Art Centres.
rd

Then I upgraded my qualification many years later when the course was
presented at the same venue but now it had a different name, CAPE TOWN
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION and again we did ART for a whole year, with
WORLD HISTORY as a compulsory extra subject to make the course more
academic. The new Diploma is called HDE (Higher Diploma in Education) I
think thats what it stands for
Both these courses obviously included teaching practise, psychology, history of
art, studying of child art and how it reflects the emotional, physical and mental
growth of children and young adults.

2. What are the requirements for this job?

I think one has to be extremely committed because it is a battle in most schools
where they think art has little value.
An art teacher has to be a bit of an artist herself, and must love children.
She has to be very careful not to put her own stamp on the work of the pupils in
other words, she should not work for the result only, but needs to inspire and draw
out from each individual something unique. If all the artworks look the same, it
means that the teacher simply used the pupils to do her own ideas. She should
inspire them by asking questions rather than TELLING them what to do.
The success of a good art lesson is measured by the individuality of the pupils work.

3.

What activities are performed in this profession?

Apart from the teaching of art, the poor old art teacher is often used to baby sit
other classes when another teacher is absent. This merely shows how little the
subject is valued.
Other activities include doing designs for stage sets, or even costumes for plays, or
being the school photographer, and in my case, also cutting hair of the odd boy
whose hair is considered to be too long.
All calligraphy jobs come to the art teacher, but thank goodness, computers are now
available for lettering jobs.
4.

How much is expected to be earned in your first year in the job?

A beginner teacher at high school level with a degree and a teachers' diploma would
probably earn about R15000 a month. Depends on which subject, and how difficult it
would be to get subject teachers.
5. Are there a lot of people in this profession already?
Yes, there are, but there is a massive shortage of teachers in this country.

6. What subjects are required for you to take to study this profession at
university?
.
The subjects related to the methods and skills of teaching, and most importantly, the
subjects which the teacher wants to teach.
7. What degree is advisable for this profession?
The degree appropriate to the subjects. To teach a subject up to Matric level, you
need to have at least second year credits in the subject. You can take your degree
and then take a Post-graduate teaching diploma, or you can take a four-year
teaching degree or diploma (which would be a mix of subject and method.)

8. How many years is that degree?

Depending on the subject - most would be three year degrees. After this there is a
teaching diploma which takes a year.

9. What other career paths could you follow with that degree?
Depends on the degree. If you had a science degree you could probably move in
science related field; if you had a humanities degree, you could go into various fields,
but you would probably have to undergo further courses to achieve some level of
competence and fluency in the fields you want to enter.

10. What environment would you be working in? Office, home etc.
Schools, classrooms, sports facilities.

11. Is it necessary to get a degree for this profession?

You can get an appropriate diploma, but a degree is preferred.

12. What kind of person would you need to be for this job? Personality, traits
etc.
You have to lead by example so be enthusiastic and passionate about your job as a
teacher.
You have to be very well prepared and also be able to respond to unexpected
happenings during a lesson which might turn your original idea around. Sometimes
it has happened in my classes that a pupil comes up with something so wonderful
and unexpected that it changed the entire course of the lesson and in doing so
enhanced it ! (Flexibility).
Try to be original as much as you can i.o.w. try not to teach the same lesson over
and over and over.
Allow yourself to experiment with different media and refer to established artists in
order to keep your pupils challenged. Be adventurous.
Always be positive about your pupils work. Find something worthwhile to say about
it. That is beautiful is not enough. You have to QUALIFY why you praise
somebody. Empty praise has no value. They know that.
Keep yourself informed by attending exhibitions or galleries.

13. Is there a high chance of getting a job in this profession nowadays?

Yes, the country is crying out for new teachers - we are currently under-staffed, and
each year there are more teachers leaving the profession (from retirements as well
as resignation) than there are teachers currently being trained in the universities.
14. How much would it cost roughly to study at a university for this
profession?
I think about R30000 a year.

15. Do you need to be licensed to do this profession?

If you want to be a teacher in a school, you have to be qualified by having a
teachers qualification at least that was the case with me. Nowadays I dont know.

16. What are the work hours like in this profession? E.g. Flexible, set work
hours
Art teachers in regular schools work a normal school day and perhaps also some
afternoons after school if there is an art club or something like that.

17. Do you get paid for as much work you produce or is it fixed every month?
In a government school you get paid what any other teacher gets paid fixed
amount according to your years of experience.

18. Does this profession offer an intellectual challenge? If so, explain.

Yes, there are always intellectual challenges, although as a teacher you have to
engage fully and personally with the learners you come into contact with.

19. Does this job allow you to travel?

Not really - although you might get to go to subject related conferences.

20. What are the future prospects of this profession?

You can aspire to move into school management and leadership, with the ultimate
goal of becoming a Principal and this being able to influence the school into the
directions you want. Or you can aspire to becoming a high skilled and competent
classroom teacher, which is also an important growth target for all teachers.