Facing a wide array of career paths, students often find themselves at a crossroads, unsure which path to pursue. At CCC Yenching College, the Life Planning Department has been lighting the way for students since the junior years, offering both academic and career guidance. Recently, the school has further adopted an AI system to conduct data analysis, weaving together students’ interests, abilities, and personality traits into a tapestry that vividly reveals their vocational inclinations. This approach gives teachers an eagle-eyed view of each student’s potential, helping them nurture talents that might otherwise fly under the radar.
Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) often find themselves navigating a rockier road than most, facing extra hurdles both personally and socially as they grow up. When it comes to discovering their strengths and setting goals, many feel like they are searching for a needle in a haystack, making career planning an uphill battle. With the support of AI, the schools can now offer more individualised assistance. Instead of picking subjects on a whim or simply chasing good grades, students are encouraged to map out their academic choices based on a clearer picture of their future ambitions, giving them a solid springboard for what lies ahead. The development team behind the system has even shared a successful case, in which the student has found his dream job and utilize his strengths.
Students with SEN Sace Multifaceted Challenges
Vice Principal Mr Siu Him-wai of CCC Yenching College shared that the school champions a whole-school approach to career planning education, rolling out a series of diversified and comprehensive learning activities, along with teacher guidance to help students cast their nets wider when dreaming about the future. The school has observed that students with SEN face an uphill climb when mapping out career plans, wrestling with challenges that come at them from all directions:
Vice Principal Mr. Siu Him-wai (left) has provided career guidance to many students and he was glad seeing them pursue their goals and dreams.
Personal Dimension: Facing prolonged challenges in learning and social interactions, students with SEN tend to build negative or unclear self-concepts. They may lack a clear understanding of their own interests, abilities, and strengths, and show low motivation to explore future possibilities. Some students also demonstrate weaker executive functioning, facing difficulties in organising complex articulation information, establishing long-term plans, and turning goals into practical actions.
Social Dimension: Society often holds stereotypical views toward students with SEN. Employers sometimes let labels cloud their judgement and assume these students are all cut from the same cloth with limited abilities. This kind of snap judgement can slam the door on interview and work experience opportunities, dealing a blow to students’ confidence and draining their drive to hunt for jobs.
On top of that, mainstream career information tends to emphasize academic qualifications and social skills, overlooking the importance of traits such as concentration, consistency, and visual thinking in particular roles. As a result, both employers and students struggle to connect the dots between personal attributes and the demands of specific jobs.
AI Systems Generate Specific Career Recommendations
Vice Principal Mr. Siu shared that the school has timely introduced the to strengthen school’s support and guidance for students’ life planning. ‘The system uses AI technology to comprehensively analyse students’ interests, abilities, and personality traits, and refers to career interest theories such as the Holland Code to generate personalised career pathway recommendations for each student,” he said.
Mr Lau Lok Kin, the founder of Snaildy and a former school-based social worker, witnessed the challenges students with SEN faced when planning their future. Yet, he recognised that many of their perceived ‘weaknesses’ were actually ‘strengths’ in the right setting. ‘For instance, students on the autism spectrum often show a strong attention to detail. If placed in roles such as quality control or data organisation, they can be worth their weight in gold,” he explained. Motivated by this insight, Lau and his team developed the ‘SEN Talent Database’ and the ‘Snaildy Multi-dimensional Career and Learning Support Platform’, an AI-powered system designed to thoroughly analyse students’ multiple intelligences and personal traits.
Mr Lau Lok Kin (right) and Mr Law Wai Yip both are the founders of Snaildy.
Snaildy has developed a set of Career Exploration Card Deck integrated from the Holland Code career interest theory.
The system operates in two stages. First, the guidance teachers use the Snaildy Career Exploration Card Deck to assess the students. Through interactive card play, students can express themselves more comfortably, with reference to the Holland Code career interest theory, teachers can quickly grasp each student’s preferences. From there, teachers jot down regular observations into the system. By combining both sets of data—the structured card-based assessment and day-to-day teacher notes—the platform builds a personalised profile for each student, which is then analysed by AI to generate specific career ambition recommendations tailored to each individual.
Following that, the Snaildy team collaborates closely with schools to pair students with suitable internship organisations. They offer ongoing support throughout the internship period—assisting students find their feet, get to grips with job expectations, and navigating workplace dynamics, striving to ensure a positive experience for the students, the schools, and the host organisations.
The secondary school uses card games to assist students explore career interests.
The platform collects data and transforms it into student profiles, which are then generated into career planning recommendations by AI.
AI Unlocks Potential, Showcasing Students’ Strengths Successfully
Ka Hei (a pseudonym) is a Form 5 student on the autism spectrum. Due to his quiet demeanor at school and unremarkable academic performance, his family was concerned about his future. The AI system analysed Ka Hei’s personal traits and matched him with potential career paths, identifying that the role of a barista aligns well with his strengths—particularly his high attention to detail and strong drawing skills.
In collaboration, Snaildy and the school immediately connected with a local coffee shop to offer an internship opportunity for Ka Hei. During the internship, he demonstrated strong adaptability, especially excelling in the precise steps of coffee brewing, credited with his strength in concentration. His talent in drawing also contributed to his latte art practise. After the internship, Ka Hei shared a photo with his colleagues and expressed his ambition to continue working as a part-time barista, successfully finding a sense of belonging in the workplace.