Career Exploration
By Lyndsi Drysdale and Cassidy Bell | February 2018
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, 2016) identifies several “must have career competencies.” The top-ranked employability skills are: critical thinking and problem solving; professionalism and work ethic; teamwork and oral and written communication.
How are schools preparing students to enter the workforce with these employability skills? It is important to start as young as elementary school, growing skills from a very early age.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) suggests teaching academic habit and encouraging growth of soft skills that employers are seeking. These lessons can include social and prosocial skills, goal setting, self-regulated learning and motivational approaches.
One of the goals for these lessons is to assist students in connecting their academic achievements with potential careers. The life span theory has a focus on moving from one stage to another in life based on achievements from the previous stage (Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996).
Researchers Choi, Kim and Kim (2015) used the integrated contextual model of career development as a motivational approach for promoting school success in adolescents based on the idea that youth who develop career awareness are more likely to be motivated in skill development and that skill development itself contributes to increased motivation. During this study they provided six interventions over a two-year period.
The researchers taught six career development skills:
References
American School Counselor Association. (2018). Academic habits and college and career readiness. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/2018-webinar-series/webinar-learn-more-pages/academic-habits-and-college-and-career-readiness
Choi, Y., Kim, J., & Kim, S. (2015). Career development and school success in adolescents: The role of career interventions. The Career Development Quarterly, 63(2), 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12012
Conley, D. T. (2010). College and career ready: Helping all students succeed beyond high school. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118269411
National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2016, April 20). Employers identify four "must have" career readiness competencies for college graduates, Retrieved from http://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates/
Super, D. E., Savickas, M. L., & Super, C. M. (1996). The life-span, life-space approach to careers. In D. Brown, L. Brooks, & Associates (Eds.), Career choice and development (3rd ed., pp. 121-178). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
How are schools preparing students to enter the workforce with these employability skills? It is important to start as young as elementary school, growing skills from a very early age.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) suggests teaching academic habit and encouraging growth of soft skills that employers are seeking. These lessons can include social and prosocial skills, goal setting, self-regulated learning and motivational approaches.
One of the goals for these lessons is to assist students in connecting their academic achievements with potential careers. The life span theory has a focus on moving from one stage to another in life based on achievements from the previous stage (Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996).
Researchers Choi, Kim and Kim (2015) used the integrated contextual model of career development as a motivational approach for promoting school success in adolescents based on the idea that youth who develop career awareness are more likely to be motivated in skill development and that skill development itself contributes to increased motivation. During this study they provided six interventions over a two-year period.
The researchers taught six career development skills:
- Developing positive, career-related self-efficacy
- Forming a vocational identity
- Learning effective social, prosocial and work readiness
- Gaining a better understanding of oneself and the world of work
- Crystallizing personally valued vocational interests
- Empowering all students to achieve academically and become self-regulated learners
References
American School Counselor Association. (2018). Academic habits and college and career readiness. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/2018-webinar-series/webinar-learn-more-pages/academic-habits-and-college-and-career-readiness
Choi, Y., Kim, J., & Kim, S. (2015). Career development and school success in adolescents: The role of career interventions. The Career Development Quarterly, 63(2), 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12012
Conley, D. T. (2010). College and career ready: Helping all students succeed beyond high school. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118269411
National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2016, April 20). Employers identify four "must have" career readiness competencies for college graduates, Retrieved from http://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates/
Super, D. E., Savickas, M. L., & Super, C. M. (1996). The life-span, life-space approach to careers. In D. Brown, L. Brooks, & Associates (Eds.), Career choice and development (3rd ed., pp. 121-178). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.