Work, Livelihood and Career

The One Thing

Home Science applies scientific knowledge, creativity, practical skills and social understanding to improve individual, family and community well-being. It supports diverse forms of work and livelihood, including employment, entrepreneurship, household work, volunteering and community service.

Reactions, Processes and Experiments

Key Terms

• Work: Any purposeful physical or mental activity performed to produce goods, services or personal and social well-being; it may be paid or unpaid.
• Livelihood: The capabilities, resources and activities through which individuals or families earn a living and support their quality of life.
• Career: The long-term sequence of education, training, work experiences and occupational choices followed by a person.
• Career pathway: A planned route connecting education, skill development, work experience and employment or entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Home Science: An interdisciplinary field that applies science, technology, arts and social sciences to enhance the well-being of individuals, families and communities.
• Employability skills: Transferable abilities such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, time management, digital literacy and adaptability that help a person obtain and retain work.
• Entrepreneurship: The process of identifying an opportunity, organising resources, accepting calculated risk and creating a product or service for income or social benefit.
• Vocational skill: Practical, occupation-specific knowledge and ability used to perform a particular job or service.
• Formal work: Employment that generally has defined conditions, regular payment and legal or institutional recognition.
• Informal work: Work carried out without many formal employment protections, often through casual labour, home-based work or small self-employment.
• Unpaid household work: Essential activities such as cooking, cleaning, caregiving and household management performed without direct wages.
• Food and nutrition: A Home Science domain involving food preparation, diet planning, nutrition education, food safety, food processing, product development and nutrition-related services.
• Human development and family studies: A domain concerned with child development, family relationships, counselling, education, care services and community-based support.
• Resource management and interior design: A domain involving management of time, energy, money and materials, along with housing, interiors, event planning and consumer services.
• Textiles and apparel design: A domain covering fibres, fabrics, clothing construction, fashion design, merchandising, quality control and textile entrepreneurship.
• Communication and extension: A domain involving communication design, journalism, media, public relations, educational communication and the transfer of knowledge to communities.
• Career planning: The process of understanding personal interests and abilities, exploring occupations, setting goals and preparing an action plan.
• Self-employment: Working independently by operating a business, consultancy, production unit or service activity.
• Professional ethics: Standards of honesty, responsibility, fairness, confidentiality, safety and respect followed in the workplace.
• Work-life balance: The healthy management of work responsibilities, personal needs, family relationships, rest and leisure.

Easily Confused

• Work and livelihood: Work is any purposeful paid or unpaid activity; livelihood is the wider combination of capabilities, resources and activities used to earn a living and support quality of life.
• Career and career pathway: A career is the long-term sequence of occupational experiences; a career pathway is the planned route of education, skills and experience leading towards that career.
• Formal work and informal work: Formal work generally has defined conditions, regular payment and legal or institutional recognition; informal work usually has fewer formal protections.
• Vocational skills and employability skills: Vocational skills are occupation-specific; employability skills are transferable across different careers.
• Self-employment and entrepreneurship: Self-employment involves working independently; entrepreneurship additionally involves identifying opportunities, organising resources, accepting calculated risk and creating products or services.
• Paid work and unpaid household work: Paid work provides direct wages; unpaid household work provides essential family and social benefits without direct wages.
• Net income and profit: Net income is total income minus total expenses; profit is total revenue minus total cost in an enterprise.
• Career planning and career choice: Career planning is the continuing process of assessment, exploration, preparation and review; career choice is the selection of a particular occupational goal.
• Work-life balance and career success: Work-life balance concerns the management of work with personal and family needs; career success also requires subject knowledge, practical competence, communication, digital literacy, creativity and ethical behaviour.

What Gets Asked

• Define and distinguish key concepts such as work, livelihood, career, career pathway, formal work, informal work, self-employment and entrepreneurship. Marks are lost when work is treated as only paid employment or livelihood is defined merely as a job.
• Classify Home Science career opportunities into the five broad domains: Food and Nutrition; Human Development and Family Studies; Resource Management and Interior Design; Textiles and Apparel Design; and Communication and Extension. Marks are lost when examples are placed in the wrong domain or when a domain is omitted.
• List career opportunities and employment settings. Relevant settings include government departments, schools, hospitals, nutrition and health programmes, non-governmental organisations, research institutions, industries, media organisations and private enterprises. Marks are lost when the answer gives only household occupations and ignores professional, community and research roles.
• Explain career planning as a process: self-assessment, exploration of career options, selection of a goal, identification of required qualifications, skill development, practical experience, application or enterprise planning, and periodic review. Marks are lost when career planning is presented as a one-time choice rather than a flexible process.
• Apply the financial equations: Net income = Total income - Total expenses, Profit = Total revenue - Total cost, and Break-even quantity = Fixed cost / (Selling price per unit - Variable cost per unit). Marks are lost when income is confused with profit or when fixed and variable costs are interchanged.
• Discuss responsible and sustainable work. Answers should include professional ethics, occupational safety, hygiene, fair wages, equal opportunity, non-discrimination, responsible resource use, recognition of unpaid household work and sustainable livelihoods. Marks are lost when career success is discussed without ethical, social or environmental responsibility.