Module 6
Counseling Children
A. Important Considerations in Developing Career Development Interventions in
Schools
Throughout their history, professional school counselors have been engaged in
helping students, such as Rosita, advance in their career and educational planning. It is
likely that Rosita is not concerned about her future work options on her first day of third
grade, but her total school experience, even at this early age, will serve as a major
influence in the eventual career goals Rosita identified. The American School Counselor
Association creates standards to guide professional school counselors in their work with
students. They note that professional school counselors use “established and emerging
evidence-based counseling theories and techniques that are effective in a school setting to
promote academic, career and social/emotional development” in students.
Direct and Indirect Services contains six standards, such as: design and implement
ASCA aligned large-group, classroom, small-group, and individual interventions; provide
appraisal and advisement; provide short-term counseling; and make referrals when
appropriate. planning and Assessment consists of nine standards, including: create a
school counseling program aligned with district goals; identify gaps in achievement,
student engagement, opportunities, and resources; develop and implement action plans
aligned with student data; and assess and report program results to the school community
(ASCA, 2019). The Mindsets and Behaviors standards were preceded by the National
Standards for School Counseling programs (Campbell & Dahir, 1997) and the ASCA
National Model for School Counseling (ASCA, 2003, 2012, 2014). The earlier standards
also emphasize more explicitly the importance of career development as an essential
element in effective school counseling programs (Dimmitt & Carey, 2007). One could
argue whether this particular evolution in standards is the best relative to career
development interventions occurring in schools.
Unfortunately, career development interventions at the elementary school level
have, at best, a patchwork history of implementation. Despite the reality that children
develop notions about work, careers, and what they view as possible, many school
leaders simply do not understand how this developmental reality impacts student
engagement even at the elementary school level. McFadden and Curry (2018) discovered
this reality in their examination of state leaders’ and school counselors’ roles in career
development at the elementary school level. Specifically, they found that only 4% of state
education leaders included in their research believed that career development efforts were
aligned across elementary, middle, and high school levels. In other words, career
development clearly is not viewed as important by many state education leaders. At>best,
they may claim that it is important, simply not as important as other topics addressed in
the elementary school. Fortunately, elementary school counselors differ from the school
leader perspective. eighty-four percent of the elementary school counselors claim career
development as an important component of their school counseling program. Obviously,
there is a disconnect here.
historically, the national standards represented a comprehensive and holistic view
of career development. By themselves, however, the standards could often seem
overwhelming, especially to novice professional school counselors whose goal was to use
the standards as a developmental framework from which specific career development
programs could be designed and implemented. Fortunately, other national standards, such
as the National Career Development Guidelines (National Occupational Information
Coordinating Committee, 1992) provide guidelines that many school counselors use in
constructing career development interventions. In>2003, the U.S. Department of
education’s Office of Vocational and Adult education (OVAe) embarked upon an effort
to revise the National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG). The specific goals of the
revision project were to update and revise the framework of competencies and indicators
to align with the goals of No Child Left Behind (2001); expand the target audiences to
include K–12 students and their parents, teachers, counselors and administrators,
postsecondary students, and other adults and the business community; provide the target
audiences with accessible career development information, learning activities, and
strategies that lead to informed career decision-making; and create a career development
website to deliver career development information, learning activities, and strategies.
Authors (e.g., Anetoellou & Kounenou, 2016; edwin & prescod, 2018; Gysbers &
henderson, 2001; Lapan, 2004; Mariani, Berger, Koerner, & Sandlin, 2018; porfeli &
Lee, 2012; pulliam & Bartek, 2018; Schmidt, 2003; Welde, Bernes, Gunn, & Ross, 2016)
advocate for making career development programs an integral part of the school
curriculum rather than an ancillary service. Niles, Trusty, and Mitchell (2004) take a
systems perspective to designing career development interventions and emphasize that
professional school counselors must communicate effectively with important subsystems
(students, teachers, administrators, parents, and families) regarding the goals and
objectives of the career development program. effective communication with students
includes conducting a needs assessment to guide professional school counselors in the
construction of career development programs and to serve as a basis for evaluation of
program effectiveness. effective communication with parents and families includes
helping parents understand how they can positively influence their children’s career
development.
Teachers need assistance connecting academic content to career and educational
planning (Welde, Bernes, Gunn, & Ross, 2016). providing and/or delivering classroom
career guidance activities assists teachers in making such connections. professional
school counselors can also help teachers become aware of research data that indicate the
positive correlation between career planning and school success (herr, Cramer, & Niles,
2004). educating administrators regarding these data also helps increase the probability
that the career development program will be an integral part of the school curriculum.
The critical point here is that professional school counselors operate within a political
context that does not always understand and support the need for career services
(Carvalho, pocinho, & Fernandes, 2018). Therefore, professional school counselors must
work as advocates for career development as they deliver systematic and coordinated
career services to students.
Those questioning the usefulness of career development interventions assume that
careerrelated activities take students away from time spent focusing on core academic
subjects. They fail to see how the perception of future possibilities connects to student
engagement, which, in turn, connects to academic performance. In addition, career
education critics naively assume that career education programs pressure students to
identify specific career goals prematurely or to pursue work immediately after high
school rather than pursuing a college education. Many people who are unfamiliar with
how careers develop do not understand why career development interventions are
important at the elementary and secondary school levels. The fact that career education
initiatives were funded with monies external to school districts and that, in many
instances, career education proponents had not generated local support for career
education were also factors contributing to negative attitudes toward the career education
movement (herr>et al., 2004). Thus, career education initiatives often become entangled
in the political issues common to education today (e.g., the “back-to-basics” movement,
the core curriculum only advocates, the push to eliminate teaching of values in education,
and the misconception that career education is the same as vocational education).
Those questioning the usefulness of career interventions in the schools are often
most adamant in their opinion that career interventions are not necessary for elementary
school students. Those arguing against career interventions for elementary school
students often view career decision making as events that occur at particular points
during the course of secondary school education (e.g., when students must select a
curriculum of study, when they leave high school). Such perspectives lack an
appreciation of the precursors to effective career decision-making. Viewing career
development as an event rather than a process sets up students for failure as many
students have not developed the developmental precursors required for effective
educational and career planning. expecting such students to make career decisions when
they are not prepared is no different than asking a student to solve a math problem when
that student lacks the necessary skills and knowledge to do so.
B. Systematic and Coordinated Planning for Career Development Programs in Schools
An important component of Stage 1 involves conducting a needs assessment to
determine appropriate program rationales, goals, and interventions (Niles et al., 2004). As
we have noted, the needs assessment provides benchmarks against which program
outcomes can be assessed. herr et al. (2004) emphasize the importance of incorporating
teachers, students, parents, and community participants in the needs assessment to
increase understanding of, and involvement in, career development programs. Clearly, a
properly conducted needs assessment provides a firm foundation upon which effective
career development intervention programs can be constructed.
Once again, the implicit theme in both sets of recommendations is that
professional school counselors need to be sensitive to the political climate in which they
operate. Moreover, that they have a research and practice base that they can draw on to
inform program development. That clear and broad-based communication of the program
and its goals is essential for program success and stakeholder engagement. That when we
create programs based specifically on students’ needs, then what we offer will be
received more readily and valued more highly. having clearly defined behavioral
objectives that address the specific needs of program participants is useful in marketing
the program and providing outcome data demonstrating program benefits. And, finally,
that evaluation is key to continuous improvement as well as generating the data necessary
for demonstrating value to decision-makers. Not adequately communicating successful
program outcomes will result in the program resources being vulnerable to funding cuts.
If school personnel view the program as an additional burden to their already heavy
workloads, then there is little chance that the program will succeed. Thus, the
“marketing” of the program to all stakeholders becomes an important aspect of program
development and implementation.
Similar to the systems approach advocated by Niles et al. (2004), these
recommendations highlight the importance of taking a team or “whole school” approach
to service delivery. Although there is no one prescription for how the roles and
responsibilities for delivering career development interventions should be distributed, it is
logical that counselors take the lead, but not the sole, role in developing and
implementing career development programs. Counselors are often the only professionals
in the school system with specific training in career development. Therefore, counselors
possess the knowledge of career development theory and practice necessary for
formulating appropriate career development program interventions. Moreover, the
processes typically used in program delivery relate to counselors’ primary areas of
expertise. These processes are counseling, assessment, career information services,
placement services, consultation procedures, and referrals. professional school counselors
can use their knowledge and skills related to career development to empower teachers
and parents/guardians to function as collaborators in career services delivery.
The development of a systematic and coordinated career development program
across grades K–12 requires an understanding of the developmental tasks confronting
students as they progress through school. having an awareness of the tasks students deal
with at all levels of schooling prepares school personnel to work collaboratively in
program development and implementation. A comprehensive understanding of the career
development process also sets the stage for developing program interventions that are
sequential and cohesive. Thus, the following sections of this chapter (and the primary
topics of the following chapters) focus on career development tasks, program goals, and
recommended interventions for elementary, middle/junior high school, and high school
students, respectively.
C. Career Development in the Elementary Schools, Middle School, and High School
Careers unfold and develop throughout the life course. Ignoring the process of
career development occurring in childhood is similar to a gardener disregarding the
quality of the soil in which a garden will be planted. For children, school and play
represent their work. These activities provide essential learning experiences that shape
self-perceptions and understandings of the world, including the world of work. They form
the seedbed from which children begin to identify their preferences and connect
themselves to their futures as workers, first through fantasy and then as a result life
experience and environmental feedback. One approach addressing career development in
childhood is the Children’s Conceptions of Career choice and Attainment model (CCCA)
developed by howard and Walsh (2010, 2011). This important and innovative model is
based on principles of cognitive development and emphasizes the dynamic interaction
between children and their respective environments. The model includes six levels of
reasoning, with each level involving increasingly complex formulations of career choice
and attainment. More specifically, CCCA proceeds from a focus on external, observable
objects or activities of an occupation, to the steps taken to choose and enter an
occupation, to the dynamic consideration of multiple factors involved in pursuing a
career (howard & Walsh, 2011). The CCCA model organizes children’s concepts of
career choice and attainment around three approaches (Association, Sequence, and
Interaction) that children use to reason about career-related processes.
As children continue their cognitive development, they move to the Sequence
level in the CCCA model. Sequence involves the level in which children shift from
fantasy or imagination to the types of activities and tasks that are of interest to them
(howard & Walsh, 2011). Careers not connected to interests are excluded. Using interests
to conceptualize career choice and attainment leads to the child’s consideration of her
strengths and weaknesses relative to occupational requirements (e.g., I like math and get
good grades in that subject, which is a requirement of becoming an engineer). This more
engaged, but still limited, self-reflection is heavily influenced by factors such as
perceived gender appropriateness followed by prestige and social class. The Sequence
approach can be characterized by children being able to identity an activity, event,
situation, and/or condition that leads to the choice and attainment of a job or career.
Children understand choice and attainment as separate processes and can explain the
relationship between them (howard & Walsh, 2010). Level 3, external Activities,
involves children being able to describe a process of learning about jobs and then
choosing one that they like. Children at Level 3 can also describe the external,
observable, and learnable skills that can lead to securing a job (howard & Walsh, 2010).
For example, when Rosita achieves this level, she might explain that she likes science, is
good at it, and, because those characteristics are required for being a scientist, she might
declare that becoming a scientist is a job she wants to do. To become a scientist, Rosita
might further explain that she must complete high school, go to college, study science,
graduate from college, and get a job as a scientist. In this example, Rosita also
exemplifies Level 4, Internal processes and Capacities, in which she can match herself to
a job.
The Interaction approach in the CCCA model occurs when children are able to
define the act of choosing a job or career as a process involving a dynamic interaction of
self-knowledge and personal attributes with environmental opportunities. In Level 5
(Interaction), adolescents describe a dynamic interaction of multiple causes at the
individual, relational, and immediate environmental levels (howard & Walsh, 2011).
Level 6, the final level, is Systemic Interaction, in which dynamic interactions of multiple
causes at the individual, relational, and immediate environmental levels and systemic
levels are identified. At this level, Rosita might share that she likes science, is good at it,
has taken the most advanced course options for science that her high school offers, has
done very well in all of those courses, has received encouragement from her teachers and
school counselor, and has even learned of a scholarship she is eligible for at the local
university, where she could major in pre-medicine. The CCCA model provides useful
information for considering how a child or adolescent’s cognitive development interacts
with environmental factors to influence career development processes. It also provides a
more current explanation that stands alongside classic developmental models, such as
erikson’s (1963).
During the elementary school years, children begin formulating a sense of identity
through greater interaction with the world beyond their immediate families. Interactions
with peers, teachers, parents, and community members shape the child’s self-perceptions.
Through exposure to adult life patterns via observations in schools, community activities,
home, and the media, children draw conclusions about their lives. The conclusions
children draw include assumptions about their current and future place in the world.
porfeli, hartung, and Vondracek (2008, p. 28) summarize their review of the literature
pertaining to career development in childhood and note that (a) children know much
more about the world-of-work than many people believe; (b) career aspirations of
children are influenced by gender-based stereotypes, and these aspirations tend to be
stable across the elementary school years; (c) career aspirations are influenced by
occupational stereotypes that move girls away from science, technology, engineering, and
math-related occupations and boys away from femaledominated occupations; (d) children
from economically challenged situations as well as Latinx and Black children tend to
identify less prestigious career aspirations than do their more affluent and Caucasian
peers; and (e) children tend to relinquish more glamorous aspirations for more realistic
ones that are in line with their skills and interests as they progress through elementary
school.
Adolescents in middle school need to engage in broad exploration so they can
continue to clarify their self-concept and learn about educational and career paths. thus,
school counselors must help middle school students develop more sophisticated self- and
career awareness as they encourage students to explore future possibilities. Antonio’s
situation represents what many middle school students experience. Students at the middle
school level are confronted with more advanced developmental tasks than they
experienced during their elementary school years. Erikson (1963) notes that between the
ages of 12 and 18, adolescents must clarify their identities. If identity clarification is not
achieved, then adolescents will experience confusion as they attempt to negotiate the
tasks presented to them.
these tasks present a daunting challenge to young people as they move from
childhood to adolescence and early adulthood. the often stormy experience of
transitioning from childhood to adolescence not only presents a challenge to the young
person experiencing this transition but also to those who are part of the young person’s
social network. Social development expectations encourage the preadolescent to take
strides toward independence. Strides toward independence, however, are often
accompanied by feelings of insecurity, conflict, fear, and anxiety; as Vernon (1993)
states, “Dramatic changes in cognition and the intensification of affect contribute to a
fluctuating sense of self” (p. 10). Bireley and Genshaft (1991) describe early adolescence
as the process of “struggling toward maturity” (p. 1). these descriptions apply today. As a
result of their advancing development, middle school students are preoccupied with
belonging and are influenced significantly by their same-sex peers. thus, counselors
providing career interventions for middle school students need to challenge students to
become active agents in the career development process while at the same time offering
supportive assistance as students acquire additional self- and career information.
Understanding the career development status of middle school students is crucial
for developing goals for career development interventions. As is true at the elementary
school level, counselors in middle school settings should view providing career assistance
to students as central to their work (American School Counselor Association, 2019).
Career assistance provided to middle school students must be sensitive to the contextual,
physical, and emotional transitions that students experience. Akos (2004) highlights the
shifts occurring from elementary to middle school, noting that rising middle school
students encounter “multiple teachers, larger school buildings, block scheduling, lockers,
and new and different peers” (p. 881). these contextual changes occur concurrently with
significant physical and emotional development changes during puberty. researchers have
found that students making the transition to middle school often experience decreases in
self-esteem, increases in psychological distress, and decreases in academic achievement.
Akos, Konold, and Niles (2004) found that middle school students exhibit distinct
patterns of needs as they develop their readiness for career decision making. Some
students reflect developmentally appropriate career indecision or moratorium status,
some indicate the need for more focused and intense personal and career counseling
interventions, whereas others may highlight premature career identity foreclosure and are
disengaged from the career decision-making process. Understanding a student’s career
decision-making needs helps counselors to identify specific career development
interventions that may be most useful in fostering a student’s career development. Here
again, data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s Project on Career
and Occupational Development (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1976)
provide useful information for understanding the career development status of middle
school students from a historical perspective.. For example, survey results from a national
sample of 38,000 13-year-olds indicate that young people at this age have made progress
in crystallizing their self-concepts, as exemplified by the fact that they tend to be able to
identify their strengths and weaknesses. Students at this age also evidence a growing
understanding of the world of work. Often this progress is the result of students
participating in school activities, hobbies, and/or part-time work. Students at age 13 tend
to be equally knowledgeable about highly visible occupations and can link at least one
school subject to a job. Most students at this age indicate that they have at least started
the process of thinking about a future job. Interestingly, their choices for future jobs tend
to be occupations requiring college degrees or lengthy training periods beyond high
school, rather than jobs now held by the majority of the workforce (i.e.,>those not
requiring a college degree). Of most concern in the data provided by the National
Assessment of Educational Progress’s Project on Career and Occupational Development
is the fact that racial minority students and students living in economic poverty tend to
lag behind other students in their career development. thus, the effectiveness of current
career development interventions provided to middle school students is variable.
During his meetings with his counselor, Antonio discussed how working in the
community service group helped him feel less lonely and better about himself in general.
Antonio enjoyed planning and organizing the group’s service activities. He had quickly
become a leader in this group and enjoyed this role as well. Antonio confided to his
counselor that he had often dreamed about being a CEO for a company that does
something to help others. He stated that “being in charge” and “helping others” were two
things that were fun and important to him. Antonio’s counselor carefully listened to
Antonio’s important self-referent statements. the counselor helped underscore for
Antonio how this self-knowledge could be used to direct Antonio’s further exploration of
career options. Specifically, Antonio’s counselor suggested that he use the computer
information delivery system available at the school to find out which occupations would
provide him with opportunities to “be in charge” and “help others.” After generating a list
from the computer, Antonio met with his counselor to discuss the options on the list and
determine where he could get more information about the options that interested him the
most.
More specifically, as students transition to high school, they focus more directly
on the tasks of identifying occupational preferences and clarifying career/lifestyle
choices. according to Super (1957), the tasks of crystallizing, specifying, and
implementing tentative career choices occur during early (ages 12 to 15), middle (ages 16
to 18), and late (ages 18 to 24) adolescence. Ultimately, specifying and implementing
become critical goals for high school students. Super, Savickas, and Super (1996)
describe specifying as follows: “through broad exploration of the occupations,
individuals eventually complete the task of specifying an occupational choice by
translating the privately experienced occupational self-concept into
educational/vocational choices” (p. 132). Simply put, implementing involves taking
action toward achieving the specified goal. In many ways, Elly’s concerns are, in fact, in
line with developmental expectations. Elly has acquired experience through volunteering
at summer camps and the daycare center located in her church. these are important
experiences that Elly seems to be minimizing as she describes her angst relative to future
possibilities. Such activities provide the foundation for greater self-understanding
(crystallizing), which, in turn, provides important information for specifying. there is
little doubt that these experiences have added to Elly’s self and world-of-work
information. perhaps one thing she could benefit from now is a conversation with her
counselor about what she has learned from engaging in these activities thus far. Her
counselor could help reinforce the important learning she has acquired from her
volunteering, for example. In many ways, Elly has accumulated a significant reservoir of
important self- and occupational information that will serve her well in developing her
postsecondary plans.
Although it remains to be seen what the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will
be upon postpandemic employment statistics, in 2018, the employment rate was higher
for those with higher levels of educational attainment (National Center for Education
Statistics, 2019). For example, the employment rate was highest for young adults (those
ages 25 to 34) with a bachelor’s or higher degree (82%). the employment rate for young
adults with some college was higher (79%) than the rate for those who had completed
high school (72%), which was, in turn, higher than the employment rate for those who
had not completed high school (59%). the same pattern was observed among both young
adult males and young adult females. Despite these high postsecondary enrollment rates,
the percentage of people with a bachelor’s or higher degree was 37% in 2018 (U.S.
Department of Education, 2019). this aspiration versus attainment gap has existed for
some time in the United States.
Many students default to enrolling in college while possessing no clear goal and,
often, lacking in the academic readiness to succeed. this is a dangerous combination of
deficiencies. the trend toward “college for all” aspirations emerged from three
revolutionary changes (rosenbaum & person, 2003, p. 252). First, the labor market
dramatically increased its skill demands and augmented the earnings advantages for
college graduates. Second, college enrollment became dramatically more accessible in
recent decades. third, community colleges instituted an open admissions policy. although
there has been a popular concern about school counselors being too restrictive by
encouraging some students not to attend college, now the opposite may be true. the point
here is that school counselors need to do a better job of informing students, parents, and
school personnel that jobs leading to rewarding careers exist in a wide variety of fields,
including technical specialties, financial services, construction, and trades. Unfortunately,
too little is known about jobs in these areas. Moreover, because 31% of college entrants
(52% of whom are students with high school grades of C or lower) actually earn no
college credits (rosenbaum, 2001), these students are in reality work-bound, and they do
not benefit from the “college for all” approach. thus, we believe that professional school
counselors should help students make choices from a full range of options, including
those occupations not requiring a college degree.
Baker and Gerler (2008) emphasize the importance of school counselors
providing “transition enhancement” assistance to secondary school students as they
progress toward further education, training, or employment. Because such transitions are
a regular part of high school students’ development, Baker and Gerler recommend that
counselors view transitions as a process rather than as events or a sequence of events. the
basic needs of students coping with the transition process can be classified into the
categories of support, awareness, and skills. Students need emotional support to lessen
the anticipatory anxiety they may experience as they consider the transitions they will
encounter. Moving from the familiar to the unknown creates anxiety in all people.
However, it is reasonable to expect this anxiety to be fairly high among adolescents who
have lived their lives primarily in the arenas of home and school. postsecondary work,
training, and education present new challenges and experiences. although some of these
challenges may seem somewhat intimidating, counselors can remind students that the
competencies they have developed thus far in their lives will also be helpful to them as
they negotiate the postsecondary transition experience. reassuring students that it is
“normal” to feel a bit anxious during a transition also provides emotional support to
students as they move forward in their career development plans. In many respects,
school counselors are the human development specialists in the schools. Educating
stakeholders about the developmental process that students will experience as they move
through school helps students, teachers, administrators, and parents develop the
awareness to think proactively about the tasks students will encounter. thus, infusing the
academic and school-counseling curricula with developmental concepts helps students
acquire the awareness that fosters a planful approach to coping with career development
tasks.
Understanding the career development process for adolescents also provides
school counselors with information regarding whether a student is on course in her career
development and academic development. Much of Super’s research focused on
understanding how adolescents can develop their readiness to address the various career
development tasks confronting them. the term initially used by Super (1955) to describe
career readiness in adolescence was career maturity. Because the career development
tasks confronting adolescents emerge from expectations inherent in academic curricula
and society (e.g., family, teachers), the career development process during this life stage
is more homogeneous than in adulthood.
Rather than being a singular process of exploring and committing to a set of
values, goals, and beliefs, identity formation occurs across several domains, such as
occupation, religion, politics, and sexuality. In many respects, these domains parallel
Super’s (1980) notion of life-role self-concepts (e.g., worker, leisurite, student, and
homemaker) and reinforce Hansen’s (1999) call for holistic career development
interventions in the schools. In addition, the individual’s identity status within each
domain is not static but rather an ongoing process involving back-and-forth movement
across stages (Muuss, 1998).
Marcia (1980) notes that although any of the identity statuses can become
terminal, the foreclosed person experiences the greatest risk of closed development. thus,
career development interventions for preadolescents and adolescents (who by definition
enter into these life stages with a relatively diffused identity) should be carefully
designed to foster exploration and identity development related to the career domain. For
example, Kolodinsky et al. (2006) described the ways in which a career fair designed to
expose students to nontraditional workers resulted in both greater exploration and a
broader understanding of potential occupational options for student participants.
Specifically, these researchers designed a one-day fair with 11 females employed in
nontraditional occupations such as border patrol officer, emergency medical technician,
computer repair technician, cable technician, firefighter, military officer, and water
treatment technician, and four males employed as hair stylist, nurse, respiratory therapist,
and receptionist, respectively. Each discussed and demonstrated his or her experiences
with nontraditional careers. after listening to and interacting with the presenters, students
demonstrated increased occupational self-efficacy and relinquished stereotypical beliefs
about what is “women’s work” and what is “men’s work.” they also demonstrated
increased interest in specific occupations represented by the workers.
D. Goals of Career Development Interventions at the Elementary School Level, Middle
School Students, and High School
Obviously, there is tremendous variability in the quality of the life patterns to
which children are exposed. Television, for example, often provides children with
examples of men and women in gender-stereotyped roles and occupations (e.g., only
women working as nurses, only men working as auto mechanics, women taking the
primary or sole responsibility for homemaking and parenting). Children use this
information to draw conclusions about the life patterns that are appropriate for them. As
children are increasingly exposed to stereotypical behaviors and expectations, they begin
to eliminate nontraditional life patterns and occupations from further consideration.
Gottfredson (2002) contends that this gender-based elimination process begins as early as
age 6. Gottfredson also suggests that between the ages of 9 and 13, children begin to
eliminate those occupations from further consideration that they perceive to be less
prestigious for their social class. Such variables as gender and prestige rankings interact
with self-perceptions of abilities and interests, as well as with family and community
expectations, to shape the decisions young people make about potential occupational
options. Geography also factors into this equation because children in rural areas tend to
be exposed to different (and often fewer) occupational options than children in more
urban locations (Lee, 1984). Because elementary school children have not yet had the
opportunity to fully explore their options and potentialities, an important goal of career
development interventions in elementary school is to counteract environmental factors
that pressure students to prematurely commit to educational and occupational options
(Marcia, 1966). The use of nontraditional role models (e.g., male nurses, male secretaries,
female physicians, female engineers) and exposure to a broad range of occupational
environments in career development interventions is encouraged during the elementary
school years. The same is true for any assessments used at this level. Tracey and Caulum
(2015) report their successful efforts in minimizing gender bias in the development of the
Inventory of Children’s Activities, an instrument used to assess holland types in children.
Encouraging students to participate in activities relating to their interests nurtures
a sense of autonomy, the anticipation of future opportunities for exploring, and the
beginning of planful behaviors (Watts, Super, & Kidd, 1981). When interests connect
with skills and capacities, a positive self-concept emerges, which, in turn, provides the
foundation for coping with the career development tasks of adolescence (Super, 1994).
As children move toward adolescence, they must accomplish four major career
development tasks. Specifically, they must (a) become concerned about the future, (b)
increase personal control over their lives, (c) convince themselves to achieve in school
and at work, and (d) develop competent work habits and attitudes (Super,>Savickas, &
Super, 1996, p. 131). Unfortunately, when these four tasks are compared with data from
the National Assessment of educational progress’s Career and Occupational
Development project (a survey of approximately 28,000 9-year-old children), one might
conclude that elementary school students have been only marginally successful in
accomplishing these tasks. Results from this survey indicate that children have limited
self-knowledge and limited occupational information and take limited responsibility for
their behavior and future career decision making. Clearly, these results provide cause for
concern because children who are not able to accomplish the career development tasks
they encounter in the elementary school are at risk for even more difficulty when they
encounter the career development tasks presented to them during their secondary school
experience. Thus, there is the need to consider how career development interventions
might be provided to elementary school students in a more systematic and effective
fashion.
Based on the career development literature and the National Career Development
Guidelines, the following career development goals can be identified for middle school
students: increase self-awareness, foster a positive self-concept, increase understanding
of the school-to-work transition, strengthen interpersonal skills, learn how to acquire
educational and career information, develop an understanding of the different life roles
that people play, and learn about the career planning process. A variety of career
development interventions can be constructed systematically by using the ASCA
Standards and National Career Development Guidelines.
In addition to these important considerations, professional school counselors need
to remain cognizant of the ways in which gender and racial stereotyping related to
occupational options can artificially constrict the range of options students are
considering. Clearly, counselors must deliver career development interventions that
aggressively attack these discriminatory influences. Moreover, Zhang, Yuen, and Chen
(2018) found that students in their study reported a need for much more career-related
support to be available to them. Zhang and colleagues suggest infusing social cognitive
career theory, Super’s theory, and career chaos theory into teacher training programs so
teachers can help fill this void.
The extensive body of literature related to adolescent career development helps
counselors identify appropriate career development goals and interventions for high
school students. In constructing interventions to foster the development of these
competencies, Herr, Cramer, and Niles (2004) recommend attending to several potential
issues confronting high school students. For example, it is essential that students
construct and know how to implement a career plan. School counselors must also address
the fact that students differ in their readiness to address career and educational planning
tasks. thus, career interventions need to be flexible enough to account for these student
differences in readiness for career decision making. Finally, students must develop
awareness related to postsecondary options, specifically the pros and cons of each option
under consideration (e.g., joining the military, enrolling in community college, attending
a 4-year university).
E. Career Development Interventions in the Elementary Schools, Middle School, High
School
The National Career Development Guidelines (see Appendix e) provide a
framework for establishing career development goals and interventions. Because self-
awareness provides the foundation for processing career information, career development
interventions in the primary grades can focus first on helping students develop more
sophisticated self-knowledge. For example, in grades K and 1, students can increase their
self-knowledge by describing themselves through drawings, writing sentences describing
the things they like and the things that are important to them, and bringing some of their
favorite things to school to show to their classmates. Sharing their self-descriptions with
others helps students to clarify their self-concepts. each of these activities can also
emphasize the importance of appreciating the similarities and differences that exist
among students in the classroom. Differences among students can be described as
valuable contributions to the learning process because we often learn more from students
who are different from us than from those who are like us in our interests, skills, or
backgrounds. Activities that encourage students to focus on clarifying their global self-
concepts can be emphasized and can be easily infused into the curriculum during the first
years of school. Differences in cultural traditions among students can be highlighted and
celebrated.
In clarifying her self-concept, it is likely that Rosita would benefit from
understanding that her family situation is not something that she caused. emphasizing her
positive relationship with her grandmother may be useful as well. In processing the
contextual differences among students, it would be important for Rosita’s teacher to
discuss the different ways to define family. This may help Rosita focus on what she has
rather than what she has lost regarding her family structure. Activities that help students
learn more about themselves can be supplemented with activities that focus on
educational and occupational exploration as children progress through the primary and
intermediate grades. For example, in the primary grades students can identify the
occupations of their family members (e.g., parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles) as
well as the level and type of education each family member attained. As students share
this information, the relationship between education and work can be stressed (e.g., some
jobs require a college education, and others may require a different type of training such
as trade school or an apprenticeship). Differences in family members’ occupations can be
discussed as strengths (e.g.,>it takes people working in a wide variety of occupations to
make our society function effectively). To>counteract occupational sex-typing, men and
women working in nontraditional occupations can be invited to school to discuss their
work. (To expand Rosita’s awareness of occupational options, it would be useful for
Rosita to be exposed to Latinas working in professional occupations.)
Next, the planning committee should identify a timeline for completing specific
tasks (e.g.,>writing and mailing letters informing parents and teachers of the date, time,
place, goals, and objectives of the career day). Concerning the timing of the career day,
counselors may want to connect the career day to the NCDA’s Career Development
Month (usually in November). The NCDA sponsors a poetry and picture contest during
National Career Development Month and offers resources that counselors can use to
prepare for activities such as a school-wide career day. Clearly, the planning committee
must systematically select speakers for career day. Using holland’s occupational
categories (i.e., Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, enterprising, and Conventional)
as a guide for identifying representative occupations may be useful. Surveying teachers
and parents, contacting the local chamber of commerce, and soliciting suggestions from
the planning committee members are ways to identify potential career-day speakers.
When inviting potential speakers to participate, it helps to identify the time and place of
the event, the purpose of the career day, the specific topics to be discussed, and the
format (e.g., “show and tell” versus lecture) for discussing the work-related topics. Once
workers agree to participate, Beale and Williams (2000) recommend sending speakers a
confirmation letter containing the vital information for their participation. As the day
approaches, school announcements should be made that remind students and school
personnel of the event.
Students in grades K and 1 can begin the process of learning about work by
focusing on occupations with which they have the most immediate relationship (e.g.,
occupations of family members, occupations in the school setting, occupations in their
neighborhoods). Then, elementary school students can gradually learn about occupations
that are more remote (e.g., occupations in the community, occupations in the state,
occupations in the nation, and occupations throughout the world) as they progress from
grades 2 to 5. Using a proximity–distance scheme to guide students in the acquisition of
occupational information helps students understand the relevance of work in their lives
and the ways in which various workers contribute to society. At>each level of proximity,
the relationship between work and the educational requirements for performing specific
occupations can be highlighted. Students can also discuss what is required to perform
occupations successfully. Job-content skills (the specific skill requirements for each
occupation), functional skills (the skills that are transferable across occupations), and
self-management skills (e.g., being reliable, getting along with coworkers, being
trustworthy, completing assignments on time) can be integrated into these discussions as
well.
It is important to note, however, that students also need to be well prepared for the
field trip. Strengthening the pre-visit interest and motivation of students will increase the
chances of the trip being successful. Ways to accomplish this involve engaging students
in pre-trip classroom career activities. For example, in preparing bulletin boards related to
the field trip, students can bring in pictures of workers and services provided in the
worksite. Students can engage in classroom discussions on what to look for during the
field trip. preparing sample questions that students can ask of workers (e.g., how long
have you been doing this kind of work? What do you like best/least about your job? how
long did you have to go to school to do what you do?) helps to guide student learning for
the field trip. (It is also important to let students know that questions such as “how much
money do you make?” are inappropriate.) having workers come to the classroom (in their
work clothes) can also raise student interest and motivation for the field trip. here,
counselors should keep in mind the importance of providing examples of
nonstereotypical workers (e.g., a female physician, a male nurse, a Black female CeO).
Additional preparatory activities can include drawing pictures of the worksite, looking in
the Yellow pages or surfing the Web to identify the number of related worksites in the
area, and talking about whether students have ever visited a similar worksite.
Educational and occupational exploration activities can be infused into the
curriculum in a variety of additional ways. For example, assignments highlighting the
various types of work required in different geographic locations can be integrated into the
social studies curriculum. Language arts assignments (e.g., short-story writing) can also
be constructed to help students learn more about what workers do in different
occupations and to express their important selfcharacteristics (e.g., writing an
autobiography). The art curriculum can include drawing, painting, and photographing
workers in various occupations. Activities to help students learn about the career
planning and decision-making process include having students read biographies and then
discuss the important career decisions made by the people whose biographies they read.
Students can be encouraged to consider what constitutes a “good” career decision rather
than a “bad” career decision as they discuss the biographies they read. In>addition,
students can use a timeline to chart the important events that influenced the decisions that
the people they read about made in their lives. encouraging students to read stories about
people working in nontraditional occupations can contribute to counteracting the effects
of occupational sex-typing. Discussions can include the ways in which culture, gender,
and social class may have influenced the career development of the person in the
biography.
All of these suggestions must be viewed within the context of reality, however.
One dimension of that reality is that elementary school counselors receive little support
for delivering career services to their students. For example, perkins (2012) examined
school counselors’ perceptions of elementary school counselor roles. participants
included 124 elementary school counselors and 65 elementary school teachers who
completed the School Counselor Role Survey, which assessed their perceptions of the
importance of school counselor roles. Two primary research questions were addressed:
(a) “What value do stakeholders place on elementary school counselor roles?” and (b)
“Do stakeholders’ perceptions differ on the values placed on elementary school counselor
roles?” Career development received the lowest overall mean score. essentially,
elementary school counselors and teachers were neutral concerning the value of
elementary counselors engaging in the delivery of career services to their students.
participants also indicated that they do not view career roles for elementary school
counselors to be as important as personal/social and academic roles. This is discouraging
and ignores another important reality: that students in elementary school are already-
forming beliefs about their future possibilities. When students are encouraged to view
school as their important work as opposed to an irrelevant chore and begin to link their
actions and choices to “having a job someday” (as our elementary school counselor stated
at the beginning of this chapter), then their motivation and level of school engagement
increase. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true and more likely when school counselors
are not engaged in career development. We agree with those, such as pulliam and Bartek
(2018), who call for more counselor engagement in career development at the elementary
school level.
Thematic consideration of middle school–level career development competencies
reveals the importance of students acquiring the necessary knowledge, skills, and
understanding to advance in their career development. Interventions that combine
psychoeducational activities and experiential tasks help students cope with the career
development tasks confronting them. Examples of the former include teaching students
about the relationship between education and work (e.g.,>by interviewing workers of their
choice and asking the workers how academic subjects connect their work tasks) and the
importance and interaction of life roles (e.g., by asking students to identify how they
spend their time in the course of a typical week and then to identify the values they
express in how they spend their time). It is also important to help students understand
issues related to equity and access in career choice (e.g., by sponsoring a career fair
comprised of nontraditional workers representing a wide range of occupations, such as
female carpenters, Black female engineers, etc.). Finally, helping students develop
awareness regarding the career development tasks they will confront now and in the
future (e.g., by having students construct their ideal future life and then discuss how
prepared they feel for taking on those future tasks, what they can do between now and
then to become better prepared for them, etc.) and the ways in which they can access and
evaluate occupational information (e.g., by educating students about ways to identify bias
in occupational information) are central to effective educational and career planning in
secondary school. these interventions can easily occur in group and/or classroom
guidance activities. the American School Counselor Association National Model (ASCA,
2020) provides a guide for identifying topics to incorporate in psychoeducational
activities with students. Examples of experiential tasks include job shadowing, attending
career fairs, conducting occupational information interviews, and engaging in activities to
clarify interests, values, and skills. Both psychoeducational and experiential activities
help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and understanding needed to develop the
attitudes and skills of readiness for educational and career decision-making.
To help guide students in their exploration, counselors can administer career
assessments. In selecting career assessments, it is important that the reading level,
language, cultural context, and normative samples are appropriate for the school
population with which the assessments will be used. Interest inventory results can foster
more systematic thinking about the activities in which students enjoy participating.
Aptitude tests can also help students acquire accurate estimates of their abilities. Interest
and aptitude assessments are often administered to students during the middle school
grades. the combination of interest inventory results and aptitude test results provides a
useful foundation for the exploration process. Students will find it useful to explore
occupational areas for which they have high interest and high aptitude. When the results
of an interest inventory suggest that a student has no area of above average or high
interest, it may be that he needs exposure to activities across several interest areas to
determine what will interest the student. thus, a key to making assessments (especially
interest inventories) useful is that students must have the experiential base to draw upon
to respond to assessment items. Students with limited exposure to a variety of activities
will be forced to guess at appropriate responses to questions requiring them to identify
their likes and dislikes. (One counselor shared with us that he attempted to administer an
interest inventory to his daughter when she was in sixth grade. Her reading level at that
time far exceeded the reading level of the inventory, but her experiential base was such
that she did not understand many of the items presented to her on the inventory. It very
quickly became evident that the inventory results would not serve to foster her career
development.) When school systems have a systematic career development intervention
program in place for all grades, it is safer to assume that middle school students have
been exposed to activities that have addressed bias in occupational choices and that have
fostered student self- and career exploration. When no such programs exist, counselors
must be especially cognizant of the possibility that many students will need more
remedial career development interventions prior to being administered career
assessments.
Providing middle school students with exposure to work facilitates the acquisition
of knowledge, skills, and awareness related to the career development domains within the
National Career Development Guidelines. teaching students how families of occupations
can be clustered according to factors such as skill requirements, interests, and/or training
helps students organize the world of work and connect their characteristics to
occupational options. For example, Holland’s classification system links the six
personality types, described in Chapter 2, to group occupations. Realistic occupations
include skilled trades and technical occupations. Investigative occupations include
scientific and technical occupations. Artistic occupations include creative occupations in
the expressive arts. Social occupations include the helping professions. Enterprising
occupations involve managerial and sales occupations. Conventional occupations include
office and clerical occupations. Occupations are classified according to the degree to
which the activities of the occupation draw upon the Holland types. the three most
dominant types reflected in the occupation are used to classify each occupation. (the
Inventory of Children’s Activities [ICA-3]) described in Chapter 10 is very useful in
assessing Holland types in a way that minimizes gender bias.)
Clustering systems such as the career clusters and Holland’s system can be used
to guide career exploration by using the types to organize career information resources,
career fairs, curricula experiences (e.g., students can be assigned the task of writing an
essay about occupations that fall within their dominant Holland type), job-shadowing
experiences, participation in extracurricular activities, avocational pursuits, college
exploration, and part-time employment experiences. Specific educational plans can be
developed for specific career pathways (e.g., careertech.org). In an interesting study, Ali,
Brown, and Loh (2017) found that domain-specific career interventions for middle school
students that focus on jobs tied to the local economy may be a useful way to engage
students in career exploration. Specifically, they found that when middle school students
are exposed to activities connecting health science careers to doing well in math and
science, both student interest and career self-efficacy increases as related to health
science careers. In another study that examined career exploration interventions,
Glessner, rockinson– Szapkiw,and Lopez (2017) found that an intervention combining a
virtual experience and a local college visit for middle school students (99 girls, 74 boys)
resulted in higher levels of college and career self-efficacy than for students not receiving
the interventions.
By completing the educational and career planning portfolio on a regular basis,
students, their parents, and school counselors can trace students’ academic, co-curricular,
extracurricular, and career exploration activities. When portfolios are completed at least
annually, they provide the focus for goal identification and further intentional educational
and career planning. We> encourage you to examine the portfolio in Appendix B as well
as the portfolio available through your access to Navigator (Kuder, 2015), a career-
planning system for middle and high school students. Using the most recently completed
portfolio, the student, his counselor, and his parents can review past career goals and
determine whether they continue to make sense, and whether there are ways they may
need to be revised based on new experiences the student has had. the latter, in particular,
can be used to set goals for the forthcoming year. Using a career and educational
planning portfolio in this way helps the student learn how to make career decisions
systematically.
To help students focus on the interrelationship of life roles and to engage in
planning related to their salient life roles, the educational and career planning portfolio
can be expanded to a liferole portfolio by addressing students’ readiness for life roles
beyond those of student and worker. Students can be encouraged to plan, explore, and
gather information for each of the major roles of life. For example, students who
anticipate being parents in the future can plan for this role by considering how parenting
interacts with other roles. Students can explore different styles of parenting by
interviewing parents about their parenting practices and philosophies. Students can also
gather information about the skills required for effective parenting (perhaps by taking a
class). through these activities they can learn the things that are important to consider in
making decisions about parenting. Finally, students can reality-test their interest through
participating in childcare activities. thus, the life-role portfolio serves as a stimulus for
counselor and student meetings focused on planning, exploring, information gathering,
decision making, and reality testing vis-à-vis the major life roles. When the portfolio is
used over successive years, it also provides developmental documentation of activities
and decisions related to major life roles.
The emphasis on knowledge, skills, and understanding that emerged in the middle
school– level competencies is continued in the high school competencies. the high school
competencies, however, challenge students to become more focused on making career
plans by translating their self- and career information into career goals. Savickas (1999)
proposed career development interventions that foster the sort of self-knowledge,
educational and occupational exploration, and career planning described in the high
school competencies. Specifically, these interventions focus on (a) orienting students’
comprehension of careers, (b) developing students’ planning and exploring competencies,
(c) coaching students to develop effective career management techniques, and (d) guiding
students in behavioral rehearsals to become prepared for coping with job problems.
To orient ninth-grade students to the planning tasks they will encounter as they
move through high school, Savickas (1999) recommends using a group guidance format
to discuss items on career development inventories, such as the Career Maturity
Inventory (Crites, 1978) or the adult Career Concerns Inventory (Super, thompson,
Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1988). Using inventory items to orient students to the tasks
they need to address to manage their career development effectively helps provide a
stimulus for planning and exploring behaviors (Savickas,>1990). For example, the adult
Career Concerns Inventory (aCCI) (Super et al., 1988) measures developmental task
concern for the career stages of Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance, and
Disengagement. reviewing the career stages and tasks within the aCCI teaches high
school students about the general process of career development. Using aCCI items,
adolescents can identify those career development tasks they are likely to encounter in
the near future. Strategies for coping with current and near-future career development
tasks can be identified. In this way, high school students’ understanding of time
perspective or “planfulness” can be enhanced.
To help increase self-knowledge and to encourage educational and occupational
exploration, counselors can facilitate student participation in informational interviews. to
prepare for these experiences, counselors and teachers guide students in composing
interview questions that relate to the high school–level career development competencies.
Students can ask specific questions such as: What do you enjoy most about your work?
For example, questions>pertaining to the importance of interpersonal communication,
positive work attitudes, and the relationship between educational achievement and career
planning can be identified. What are the most important skills in your work? What is a
typical workday like for you? What advice do you have for me as I consider your work
for myself? What training is required to do your work?
To help increase self-knowledge and to encourage educational and occupational
exploration, counselors can facilitate student participation in informational interviews. to
prepare for these experiences, counselors and teachers guide students in composing
interview questions that relate to the high school–level career development competencies.
For example, questions>pertaining to the importance of interpersonal communication,
positive work attitudes, and the relationship between educational achievement and career
planning can be identified. Students can ask specific questions such as: What do you
enjoy most about your work? What are the most important skills in your work? What is a
typical workday like for you? What advice do you have for me as I consider your work
for myself? What training is required to do your work? high school students clarify and
articulate their career goals. For example, when salience for the work role is high, youths
view work as providing meaningful opportunities for self-expression. In such cases, high
school students are often motivated to develop the career maturity necessary (e.g., to be
planful, to explore opportunities, to gather information) for making good career
decisions. When work-role salience is low, however, adolescents often lack motivation
and career decision-making readiness. In the latter instances, counselors need to begin the
career development intervention process by arousing the individual’s sense of importance
for the worker role (Super, 1990). Disputing irrational beliefs, exposing young people to
effective role models, and providing mentors are examples of activities that foster career
arousal.
An important task in acquiring adequate self-knowledge for effective educational
and occupational exploration is clarifying values. Clarifying values is important because
values are indications of the qualities people desire and seek in “the activities in which
they engage, in the situations in which they live, and in the objects which they make or
acquire” (Super, 1970, p.>4). Because values reflect the individual’s goals, they provide a
sense of purpose and direction in the career planning process. However, though many
agree that values clarification is critical to choosing an occupation, relatively few put
forth the effort to examine their values in a systematic way. Values card sorts (e.g.,
Career Values Card Sort Kit, Nonsexist Vocational Card Sort) and instruments such as
the Career Orientation placement and Evaluation Survey (COpES) are instruments that
are useful in values clarification. Interest inventory results can also be used to identify
work-related activities that provide opportunities for values expression.
Although we realize that group and classroom career interventions represent the
most reasonable way for school counselors (who, on average nationally experience
student–counselor ratios of 476:1) to provide career assistance to students, overreliance
on group approaches can foster a one-size-fits-all mentality. Clearly, such a mentality
does not lend itself to addressing individual and group differences in career development
processes. as we have noted in previous chapters, students from collectivistic cultures
approach the career development process differently from those who adhere to more of
an individualistic worldview. Due to prejudice, students who are ethnic/racial minorities,
who have disabilities, whose gender orientation renders them sexual minorities, who are
members of economically challenged groups, and so on must cope with the career
development challenges they experience as a result of discrimination. School counselors
must empower students to address these challenges constructively. thus, effective school
counselors understand the processes and the potential effects of discrimination and
contribute to helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and awareness necessary for
managing their careers in a world in which some people try to limit the opportunities
available to others. Surely, individual career assistance and targeted group interventions
addressing topics such as the importance of offering and receiving emotional and
informational support, challenging occupational stereotypes, and empowering students to
acquire the skills/attitudes essential for confronting discrimination are necessary, but
addressing such issues also requires school counselors to be actively engaged in
advocating with employers, school personnel, and community members in efforts to
eradicate discrimination in workplace, school, community, and family settings.
F. Parental Involvement
Parents have substantial influence over the career development of their children.
parents provide the greatest amount of indirect and direct exposure to work for their
children. Most adults can recount numerous instances in which they recall their parents
conveying positive and negative expressions of their work experiences. These
expressions influence children vicariously as they formulate their understanding of an
area of life they have yet to encounter directly. Thus, children rely on adults and peers for
information. As has been noted, children use the information they receive to make
preliminary decisions about the appropriateness of the occupational options of which they
are aware.
Young (1994) suggests that the influence parents exert on the career development
process is most effective when it is planned, intentional, and goal oriented. however,
many parents possess minimal knowledge regarding career development theory and how
environmental factors influence the career development process of children. Thus, it is
important that counselors help parents learn ways to contribute positively to the career
development of their children. Counselors can begin by providing parents with
information about the career development process (e.g.,>during elementary school,
children are encouraged to expand their awareness related to self and the world of work).
Counselors can also explain to parents how the environment affects options children are
willing to consider. For example, the influence of occupational stereotyping within the
media and gender-role stereotyping can be discussed with parents. Finally, counselors
can help parents identify specific strategies they can use to facilitate career development
in their children. engaging in conversations in which parents provide accurate
occupational information and challenge occupational stereotyping represents an obvious,
yet important, way that parents can foster positive career development in their children.
parent–child career conversations regarding career development should foster a sense of
curiosity, openness to possibilities, awareness of options, and a positive attitude toward
the world of work.
Helping parents become aware of their own attitudes toward work and
occupations, exposing children to work opportunities in the home and community, and
providing support to children as they engage in career decision-making tasks are all ways
to help children cope effectively with the career development process. By empowering
parents with knowledge and information that can be used to help their children cope
effectively with career development tasks, counselors make an important contribution to
the career development of the students with whom they work. Both Rosita and her
mother could benefit from learning more about the career development process. helping
Rosa understand how careers develop would give her information that she could use to
manage her own career development more effectively. Coaching Rosa as to the ways she
could help Rosita with her career development would not only help Rosita but would also
help Rosa feel more effective as a parent. Strengthening the bond between Rosa and
Rosita would help Rosita develop the trust and autonomy she needs to move forward in
her development.
New parents often wonder which occupations their children will select later in
life. What many parents do not realize is that children begin charting courses toward
specific occupations early in life. Occupational selection represents the confluence of
genetic and environmental influences that shape the career course. Like any
developmental task, the career development process can be approached systematically
and intentionally, or it can be approached haphazardly and passively. Most parents would
prefer that their children receive systematic career development assistance oriented
toward providing children with the competencies required for managing their careers
effectively. For elementary school children, the task is to learn more about themselves
and the educational/occupational options that are available. By providing support,
dispelling bias in occupational perceptions, and helping children acquire accurate
information about themselves and the world of work, counselors provide children with.
