Chapter 12 Career Development Interventions in High Schools

1. Publisher to insert cover image here Chapter 12 Career Development Interventions in High Schools Developed by: Jennifer Del Corso

2. Developmental Considerations for High School Students As students transition from middle school to high school, they focus more directly on the task of identifying occupational preferences and clarifying career/lifestyle choices. According to Super (1957), the essential tasks are crystallizing, specifying educational preferences, and implementing tentative career choices.

3. Preparation for Career Transition: After High School Over 70% of high school seniors expect to hold professional jobs- “the silent dream” This trend toward “college for all” aspirations emerged from a labor market that needed increased skills, more accessible enrollment to college, and community colleges instituted an open admissions policy. Important to teach students about a variety of rewarding careers that exist in a variety of fields including those occupations that do not require a college degree.

4. Coping with Transition Adolescents must acquire workforce readiness to cope successfully with their school-to-work transition. Important to provide “transition enhancement” assistance to secondary school students as they progress toward further education, training, or employment.

5. Coping with Transition(Continued) Secondary school students need emotional support to lessen the anticipatory anxiety they may experience as they consider the transitions they will encounter. Transition skills build upon the self-awareness, occupational awareness, and decision-making skills students have developed throughout their educational experience

6. Helping Students Prepare for Workforce Readiness All students can attend college, but low-achieving students should be cautioned about the need to take remedial courses once they enter college Even if high school students have college plans, they must prepare for work College plans require substantial efforts and good academic planning in high school

7. Helping Students Prepare for Workforce Readiness (cont.) Many good jobs do not require a college degree High school students improve their chances for obtaining good jobs by: having better academic achievement, taking vocational courses, getting job-placement assistance from teachers and developing “soft skills” such as interpersonal competence and good work habits

8. Marcia’s Taxonomy of Adolescent Identity Identity-diffused: person has not yet experienced an identity crisis or exploration and has not made a personal commitment to an occupation -- or a set of goals, values, and beliefs. Foreclosed: person has not yet experienced an identity crisis or exploration but has committed prematurely to an occupation and a set of goals, values, and beliefs.

9. Marcia’s Taxonomy of Adolescent Identity Moratorium: person is engaged in an active struggle to clarify personally meaningful values, goals, and beliefs. Identity-achieved: person has sorted through the process of identity clarification and resolved these issues in a personally meaningful way.

10. Career Developmental Goals for High School Students Develop more advanced self-knowledge Develop skills for engaging in educational and occupational exploration Strengthen decision making skills Construct and implement a career plan Develop an awareness for postsecondary options after graduation

11. Career Development Interventions in High School a) orient students’ comprehension of careers, b) develop students’ planning and exploration competencies, c) coach students to develop effective career management techniques, and d) guide students in behavioral rehearsals to become prepared for coping with job problems Savickas (1999) proposed career development interventions for high school students that foster self-knowledge, educational and occupational exploration, and career planning.

12. Career Assessments in High School Career maturity/readiness: Career Maturity Inventory (CMI); Career Adaptability Inventory (CAI) Interest inventories: Self-Directed Search (SDS) and Strong Interest Inventory

13. Career Choice Readiness (Super, 1990) Having a planful attitude, Gather information, Exploring the world of work, Knowing how to make good career decisions, and Being able to make realistic judgments about potential occupations.

14. Career Development Interventions for At-Risk Students Educational systems in the U.S. poorly prepare minority students and student with disabilities to enter and succeed in higher education Such disparities reflect serious deficiencies in the educational systems in the U.S. McLaughlin, Sum, and Fogg (2006) report that exposure to work experiences in high school is lined to both greater success in the workforce and in postsecondary education More white teens-sometimes twice as many- held summer jobs in 2006 compared to nonwhite teens

15. Career Development Intervention for At-Risk Students (Froeschle) Mentorship Small Group Solution-Focused Counseling Psychoeducational Career Lessons Implementation of solution-focused skills within the classroom