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When it comes to sparking curiosity about careers, what better way to engage young people than through a platform they already love? At Careers Wales, an organization that provides free career guidance in Wales, we wanted to create something that would make exploring careers fun and engaging. That’s how CareersCraft was born: a digital resource built within Minecraft Education Edition that helps children aged 8-14 explore career paths, develop key skills and connect their learning to real-world opportunities.
If you’re not familiar, Minecraft is one of the most popular video games in the world, allowing players to build, explore and interact in an immersive world. In Wales, Minecraft Education Edition is widely used in schools via the Welsh Government’s Hwb platform, making it an ideal choice to introduce career exploration through a medium young learners already enjoy.
Here, we’ll share how we brought CareersCraft to life within the world of Minecraft – and how we designed this resource to seamlessly link virtual learning adventures with real-world career exploration, both in Wales and around the world.
The vision behind CareersCraft
The idea for CareersCraft grew from a desire to make career education relatable and exciting for children as young as 8.
We wanted to create something that didn’t feel like traditional learning but still delivered meaningful outcomes. Early engagement is crucial to shaping young people’s perceptions of the world of work, expanding their understanding of possibilities and helping them connect classroom learning to future careers.
The challenge was how to make those connections in a way that resonated with children. Minecraft’s popularity, combined with its educational potential, made it the perfect platform. Working with an external developer, we designed CareersCraft to be a resource that combines career exploration with the Welsh curriculum while celebrating the country’s rich culture and landmarks.
Using Welsh landmarks to teach career skills
CareersCraft is all about connecting young learners to Wales’s cultural heritage and the diverse career opportunities available to them. It is designed around the six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs) in the Wales curriculum:
- Expressive Arts
- Health and Well-being
- Humanities
- Languages, Literacy and Communication
- Mathematics and Numeracy
- Science and Technology
Each area is represented by a location in the game, inspired by iconic Welsh landmarks. For example:
- At Caernarfon Castle (Humanities), players explore how jobs have evolved over time.
- The Wales Millennium Centre (Expressive Arts) introduces transferable skills in creative careers.
CareersCraft also links directly to the Careers Wales website, where learners can find more information about different jobs. This helps learners explore career options by connecting them with the Welsh labour market and bridging the gap between the virtual and real world.
Designed for schools
CareersCraft is freely accessible via the Hwb platform, ensuring all schools in Wales can benefit from it. The resource has been designed for use in schools, so we’ve also developed teacher guides and printable pupil workbooks tailored to each landmark in CareersCraft. These guides help teachers plan lessons and provide extra activities for students to do alongside CareersCraft.
Recognition and global reach
Since its release, CareersCraft has had over 7.5 million downloads worldwide and earned a 4.2/5 rating from more than 61,000 reviewers on the Minecraft Marketplace.
The resource has also been recognized for its innovation, winning the UK Career Development Institute (CDI) award in 2021 for ‘Use of Technology in Career Development.’ Most recently, it was showcased at the OECD’s global conference Future Dreaming in Careers Guidance for its innovative approach.
Recent developments & feedback
CareersCraft continues to grow, introducing new locations and activities to inspire young learners and introduce them to specific sectors. Recent additions include:
- Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, another World Heritage Site, showcasing engineering careers.
- Bluestone National Park Resort, highlighting roles in hospitality such as chefs, spa assistants and countryside rangers.
To celebrate these updates, Careers Wales hosted an event at Bluestone National Park Resort with pupils from Templeton Community Primary School. During the event, students explored the new Bluestone location in CareersCraft, completed in-game challenges and participated in tailored careers sessions delivered by Bluestone staff. A personalized tour of the resort connected the virtual experience with real-life career opportunities.
Feedback from participants highlighted the resource’s impact:
Oliver Furneaux, a teacher at Templeton Primary School, said:
“The children have thoroughly enjoyed today, as have I, and I think CareersCraft is an excellent resource. The children liked that the session was so interactive and that they’ve been using Minecraft, which they love anyway. Having potential jobs they can do in the future built into a Minecraft world creates a really interesting and engaging way for the children to learn.
“It’s definitely something I can take back to the school and share with the other teachers and classes, and schools within our local area as well. With Bluestone built into the resource, it is a fantastic way for the children to see how they might stay and work in the area in the future.”
A pupil from Templeton Primary School said: “I’ve loved that you get to go places, and it looks the same as in real life. We’ve learnt about jobs that are actually real and it’s really cool how to get to experience them.”
Looking ahead
CareersCraft’s journey is far from over. Future updates will focus on key sectors like renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and finance. Additionally, a new development will showcase the value of using Welsh in the workplace, reflecting the resource’s availability in Welsh as CrefftGyrfaoedd.
Visit the CareersCraft page on Minecraft Education to download the CareersCraft world.
