Today you are applying everything Strand 1.2 has built so far. A career progression plan is not a folder of notes and it is not three wishes with dates on them. It is a spine: where you are, where you intend to be in five years, and a first long-term SMARTER goal that actually joins the two.

ALT 2 begins here. You leave holding the shape of your own plan, grounded in the Strand 1.2 work you already have, not a list of files you might one day open.

Three terms you will use for the rest of ALT 2. Read each row once, then keep the definitions beside you while you build.

This is the main work. You are building the spine of your Career Progression Plan on the pathway planner, then writing it up as ALT 2 Source Material in your Strand 1.2 folder.

Before you start the grid

Open your earlier synthesis planner or milestones note in the Strand 1.2 folder (often S1.2/pathway_synthesis). Copy any milestone you can still defend into the matching cell on this grid; drop any that was only a summary sentence. If that planner is missing, start from what you do hold: year group, subjects still in play, any part-time work, and one pathway investigation or shortlist already in Strand 1.2. Empty boxes stay allowed; they are information, not failure.

On the planner (about 15 minutes)

• Read the start label as your honest position today: year group, subjects still in play, any part-time work, the pathway investigations and shortlists you already hold.
• Read the end label as a five-year position you can defend, not a fantasy job title. Name a field, a level of qualification or responsibility, and the kind of setting you would be in. Field and level are enough today; an exact employer is not required.
• Place milestones you can stand over across education and training, workplace, and extra training.
• Gaps are information. An empty near-horizon box means you still have something to find out, not that the plan has failed.

Then write ALT 2 Source Material (about 20 minutes)

Open a document called ALT 2 Source Material in your Strand 1.2 folder (save as S1.2/ALT2 source material). Draft all four headings below. Before the bell, sections 1 to 3 should be camera-ready; section 4 can be a short labelled list finished for homework if you run short.

1. Starting position (in class). Where you are now, in 4 to 6 sentences, naming the Strand 1.2 work this rests on (for example your pathways map, a career-field shortlist, a fit assessment, or job-role research notes).
2. Five-year position (in class). Where you intend to be, equally concrete, and which Strand 1.2 findings make that position plausible for you. Field and level first; exact employer optional.
3. Long-term SMARTER goal (in class). One goal that joins start to five-year position. Draft it against all seven letters using the scaffold below. Prefer a goal you would still chase if nobody read it, and one that asks you to get better at something.
4. Milestones already placed (finish in class if you can; otherwise homework). Copy the milestones from your planner into a short list. Under each one, name the Strand 1.2 piece of work it rests on. If a milestone has no evidence behind it yet, say so.

SMARTER write scaffold (replace each line with your own pathway)

• S – Specific: what you will complete or hold, in which field or setting
• M – Measurable: the proof someone else could check (award, hours logged, application submitted)
• A – Achievable: why this is realistic from your starting position and Strand 1.2 evidence
• R – Relevant: how it joins today's position to your five-year field and level
• T – Timebound: the deadline or window (term, academic year, or clear date)
• E – Evaluated: when and how you will check progress
• R – Revised: what you will change if the check shows a gap

Model shape only (do not copy the content; match the structure)

S: Complete a QQI Level 5 PLC in Healthcare Support and secure regular care-assistant hours in a nursing home setting.
M: Level 5 award on results day plus at least eight supervised hours per week logged.
A: Builds on Leaving Cert subjects still in play and a healthcare shortlist already researched in Strand 1.2.
R: Matches a five-year aim of working as a healthcare support assistant with a clear training path.
T: PLC application this academic year; hours in place by the first term of the course.
E: Check each term whether hours and modules still point at the same setting.
R: If the placement field is wrong, switch the weekend hours before year two rather than abandon the Level 5.

Grounding each line in work you have already done is the task, not listing folders.

Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly if you work better alone.

• Read your 1-year column again. If nothing there could start this month, what is the smallest real step you could add before you next open this plan?
• Which single line in your ALT 2 Source Material would still make sense to someone who has never met you? Which line only works inside your own head?

If you want a portfolio note later, add two sentences under your source material naming the weakest box on your grid and what evidence would fill it.

Today you started ALT 2 for real.

• A career progression plan joins where you are to where you intend to be using SMARTER goals, with education and work crossing on the same route.
• You built a spine on the pathway planner: starting position, five-year position, and milestones across three pathways.
• You wrote ALT 2 Source Material (S1.2/ALT2 source material) with a first long-term SMARTER goal, and named the Strand 1.2 work each part rests on.
• Sections 1 to 3 were the in-class non-negotiables; finish section 4 if it is still a short list.

Optional stretch: rewrite your long-term SMARTER goal once more so a stranger could check whether you hit it without asking you a single question.