Career Education

The Key to Success in Life

What is Career Education?

Career a series of paid or unpaid

occupations or jobs that one holds throughout his or her life.

Career development lifelong process involving

psychological, sociological, educational, economic, cultural, physical factors as well as chance factors that interact to influence the career of the individual.

Career development programmes in schools is about helping students lead a productive and satisfied life.

Career Educationa systematic attempt to facilitate students’ career development through various types of planned educational experiences & strategies such as providing career information, infusing career-related concepts in the academic curriculum, field-trips to industries & businesses, guest speakers from various occupations, career classes, internships andapprenticeships etc.

Career counselling a service provided to client(s) who seek assistance with career choice or career adjustment problems.

Why do People Work? (Group work)

• Work is a means by which we sustain life.• Work is one way by which we relate to society.• Work provides us with status, recognition, affiliation etc.• Work helps an individual to develop self-esteem • Satisfaction derived from work is an important determinant in a person’s total satisfaction.• We spend most of our waking hours working & continuously make efforts to enhance our career satisfaction.• Dissatisfaction at work can spread to other aspects of life such as relationships with friends and family.

The Changing Nature of World of Work

How has the world of work changed in our lifetime?

What are some of the changes you think will strongly influence the world of work in the next 10 years? (Group work)

Some generalizations on changes in the workplace:

• Work will continue to change & will be dramatically different in the future.

• New jobs will be created & old jobs eliminated. New jobs will require more technological sophistication.

• The academic skills required to be successful will escalate.

• Workers will change jobs more often.

• Internet will become a primary job search & recruitment tool.

• Training & retraining will become a life requirement. Much of this will take place in virtual reality workplaces.

In order to help our students make satisfying career choices & help them prepare for the world of work, it is important to understand how work will continue to change.

How well do we prepare our students for this change?

Career Development Theories

Why do we need to study theories of career development?

• Career Development theories help make sense of experiences.

• It provides a rationalized set of assumptions or hypothesis that allows us to explain the past and predict the future.

• It may provide “direction” and as theories are tested and prove “true”, theories may be said to expand knowledge.

Career Development Theories

Structural Theories Developmental Theories

Trait & factor

Holland’sTheory

Socioeconomic Theory

Super’s Theory

Krumboltz’s Social

learning Theory

Decision Making Theories

Gottfredson’s Theory

Trait and Factor

This theory began with Frank Parsons, who proposed that a choice of a vocation depended upon

• Accurate knowledge of yourself • Thorough knowledge of job specifications • The ability to make a proper match between the two

Two major assumptions of trait and factor theory are

• Individuals and job traits can be matched.

• Close matches are positively correlated with job

success and satisfaction.

Vocational Personalities and Environments(Holland’s Theory of Types)

John Holland suggested that "people can function and develop best and find job satisfaction in work environments that are compatible with their personalities."

Holland based his theory of personality types on several assumptions

• People tend to choose careers that are reflective of their personalities.

• Because people tend to be attracted to certain jobs, the environment reflects their personalities.

Holland classified personality types and work environments into six types:

Type Activities Occupations

Realistic Working with tools and machines

Farmer, Carpenter, Mechanical Engineer

Investigative Working ideas and theories

Chemist

Artistic Creating things Painter, Writer

Social Helping people Social Worker, Counselor

Enterprising Leading others Sales Representative, Entrepreneur

Conventional Organizing data Auditor

Each of us has elements of all six types, but one type is usually evidenced most strongly.

Socioeconomic Theory

Socioeconomic theory is also known as the "chance" or "accident" theory.

This approach to understanding career development suggests that many people follow the path of least resistance in their career development by simply falling into whatever work opportunities happen to come their way.

Super's Theory

Donald Super and other theorists of career development recognize the changes that people go through as they mature.

Super formalized stages and developmental tasks over the life span:

\Super's Stage.doc

People change with time and experience, and progress through the vocational development stages\Vocational Dev. Stage.doc

The six factors in vocational maturity

• Awareness of the need to plan ahead

• Decision-making skills

• Knowledge and use of information resources • General career information

• General world of work information

• Detailed information about occupations of preference

Krumboltz's Social Learning Theory

John D. Krumboltz developed a theory of career decision-making and development based on our social learning, or environmental conditions and events, genetic influences, and learning experiences.

People choose their careers based on what they have learned. Certain behaviors are modeled, rewarded and reinforced.

Decision-Making Theories

Some decision-making theories hypothesize that there are critical points in our lives when choices are made that greatly influence our career development.

These decision-making points are such events as educational choices, entry-level job positions, or changing jobs. Other decision-making theories are concerned with ongoing choices across the life span. The decisions that we make are influenced by our awareness of the choices that are available to us and our knowledge of how to evaluate them.

Cognitive Theories(Gottfredson’s Theory)

Cognitive theories of career development are built around how individuals process, integrate, and react to information.

The ways in which individuals process information are determined by their cognitive structures.

These structures influence how individuals see themselves, others, and the environment.

Cognitive theories suggest ways to help clients build or refine a hierarchy of thinking and decision-making skills that influence career development.

Group TaskRead and discus the theories assigned to your

groups. Each group will be assigned a different theory.

Then share it in a new group. This new group will be formed by having a member each from all the different groups.

In the new group, discuss and write down

a)What you like about each theory:b)Any disagreements/ reservations you may

have on the soundness of each theory:c) What are some similarities between the

theories:d)What are the major differences between the

theories:e)Applicability of each theory in the Bhutanese

schools:

School Career Development Programme

What should a school career development programme consist of?

1)Self Knowledge

2)Career exploration/ planning skills

3)Decision making skills

1. Knowledge about self

• Interests (Interest Inventory/Exercise)

• Values

• Aptitude

• Skills & abilities

• Employability skills: If you were an employer, what would you look for in your prospective employees?

• Personality traits (personality inventory/ Myers-Briggs theory)

2. Career Exploration/ Planning

Occupational information: Where can we find it?

Offices of statistics

Human resources development agencies (ministries/departments, etc) Labour Department /Ministries

Libraries

Publications

Media (radio, Television, newspapers, Internet, etc.)

Experiences from - Being a volunteer

Job-shadowing

Part-time work

Temporary jobs etc.

Teaching students to look for information they need

If you’re looking for a job, what kind of information will you be looking for in order to make a sound decision?

Questions to Ask:

1) WHAT IS THIS JOB LIKE?

• Nature of the Work• Working Conditions• Personal qualities required

2) HOW DO YOU GET READY?

• Qualifications needed

4) HOW MUCH DOES THIS JOB PAY?

• Earnings

3) HOW MANY JOBS ARE THERE? WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

• Employers• Job Outlook

5) ARE THERE OTHER JOBS LIKE THIS?

• Related Occupations

6) WHERE CAN YOU FIND MORE INFORMATION?

• Sources of Additional Information

3. Career Decision-Making Skills

Goal setting Exercises

Take a minute to reflect on how you decided to join the teaching profession

What do you think were some of the dominating factors in your decision making process?

1. Knowing your decision making attitude1 DEPENDENT

2 DELAYING

3 AGONIZING

3 INTUITIVE

5 IMPULSIVE

6 PARALYTIC

7 APATHETIC

..\Scales-DECISION making.doc(Handouts on Decision making attitudes)

2. Decision-Making Process

Three Important steps in the career decision-making process:

STEP 1: Self-assessment Knowing what you enjoy (your interests), what’s important to you (your values), what you are good at (your skills and abilities), and what you’re like as a person (personality traits)

STEP 2: Career Exploration

Gathering accurate information about careers.

STEP 3: Decision-making

Making a decision about which possibility seems “right” for you.

..\Decision making Figure.doc

Principles- Exercise

School Career Activities

What can we do in our schools to facilitate career information?

..\Probable Career Activities in the School.doc

What are the pros & cons of each of the activities listed?

Which of the activities do you think will be practicable in your school?

Group task:

Prepare a plan for any one school in your group.

Write down the rationale and objectives, action plan that includes information on who will be involved/their responsibilities, when each activity will be carried out, where they will take place, how much it will cost, how will you find out if it was successful.

Confirmation of TheoriesApplication in Schools

In your home group:

• Select three key points from the theory

• State how relevant they are to our culture?

• State an incident/experience in the school which could have been addressed by the points stated

Form a new group with a member each from different home groups

D ISCUSS

AND

COMPARE