Frequently Asked Questions

There is a growing body of scholarship, including from the OECD, that supports the importance of career exploration starting “well before the age of 15” to help students develop an understanding of who they are and where they might fit in the world. Traditionally, career development, coaching, and counseling happens later in a student’s life, but research is helping us understand how building an occupational identity, gaining exposure to careers, meeting with people from the world of work, and trying-on career connected learning helps students develop a vision of their future possible selves. Everyone in a child’s life can play a role in helping theme develop the outcome expectations that can lead to successfully achieving their hopes and dreams. 

Inviting students to explore the world of work is a way to provide context for the teaching and learning and how education connects to life after school. It is the context for what students are learning and why the are learning it, and it helps answer the question, “Why do I need to learn this?”

Yes, and no. A curriculum is helpful, but not absolutely necessary. Teachers, counselors and families can integrating career-related learning in their classrooms, offices and places of work.  There are strategies that can be taught for adults to purposefully engage in this process. Professional development, coaching and training can provide the needed insights to integrate career with what you are already teaching; with or without technology. A curriculum can provide more sequential and explicit instruction.  Please read the white paper, Components of a Quality Career Readiness Program, by Steve Regur, EdD, and check out our "Connect the Work" curriculum to get an idea of how to use a curriculum to support career education.

1. First you must begin by educating the adults on the what, why, and how of career-connected learning. In most cases, the adults have never been exposed to the research that supports the importance of this work nor have they participated in exploring the attributes that are critical to the process of career development. 
2. Starting with the element of self-knowledge and self-awareness: conscious examination of personal strengths, interests and values and later including skills, goals, and other personal attributes that lead to a learner portrait. This must begin with the adults first and then and only then can it begin for the students. 
3. World of Work exposure and hands on learning: presentation and integration of information and experiences in the classroom, home, or on the field.
4. Trained adults, coaches, counselors, and teachers, working with students or other adults, have the best opportunity to help individuals make the connection between self-awareness, personal attributes, secondary, post-secondary education, and the world of work to help students, and their parents, make better and more informed choices. 

In his 1909 book, Choosing a Vocation, Professor Frank Parsons identified three factors essential to career decision-making: (1) self- understanding; (2) occupational information; and (3) the ability to draw relationships between the two. These three factors have set the direction and parameters for the field of career development.

There are five complementary theories working as the foundation; Social Cognitive Career Theory, Holland Theory, Work Adjustment Theory, Strengths Theory and Super’s Life Span Theory. There are additional theories that also support the core, Theory of Work Adjustment, Happenstance Theory, Theory of Circumscription and Compromise, Psychology of Working, and others inform our work. 

Specialists in guidance and counseling argue that “there should be some form of career development occurring somewhere everyday,” beginning no later than the middle grades.’ Research suggests that the earlier students learn about their strengths, interests, and values, the better career choices they will make. 

Career development is considered an integral part of adolescent development. It is tightly linked to issues of self-reflection, self-evaluation, self-development and identity formation (Super, 1976). Career development is generally conceived as “a lifelong process through which individuals come to understand themselves as they relate to the world of work and their role in it”  

While a core learning framework is in place, the goal is to support the co-design career-connected learning based on the work you are already doing in your class, school, district. In this way, instead of simply purchasing a software as a service, you build an infrastructure, knowledge base and connection to your existing goals and school mission and vision to leverage the best known approaches for integrating career-connected learning. 

Yes, the goal is to work in partnership with teachers across the district to develop and co-create resources to support classroom integration.

It depends on your integration model. Including business partners can be a valuable method for building social capital, exploring authentic work places and create long-term partners. It can also take a lot of time and energy to establish and quite possibly can only be accessible for some students. As part of the planning process, equity should be accounted for and if all students can access the business partners and what the return on investment will be. This should be a strategic discussion that provides a win/win for both sides. 

1. To help districts implement a sustainable model of career-connected learning so every student can know themselves, know their options and make informed choices about educational and career pathways that will lead to gainful employment.
2. Ensure all students are college and career ready.
3. Ensure all students graduate with a learner portrait they can carry forward into the world of work.
4. Increasing student engagement, promoting higher self-esteem and improving social adjustment.
5. Better prepare students for the changing workplace by increasing their understanding of the relationship between education and employment and by starting to develop their career decision-making skills.
6. Support educational excellence by increasing motivation and improving academic achievement.
7. Enhance family and community involvement by helping parents and concerned adults understand how they can assist their children with career planning.
8. Develop long-term partnerships with business community to ensure we are developing a future talent pipeline to ensure local and regional businesses success.
9. Creating a better connection between adults in the world of work and the students and teachers who are so eager to learn about their work.

The Cajon Valley Union School District is one of the few districts that decided to integrate what is called the World of Work™ initiative that asked teachers to integrate career-connected learning within their classrooms. In my experience deigning, training and deploying this model teachers who integrated career theory within their classrooms and used technology to support this learning, saw the greatest gains, higher levels of engagement and produced students who could articulate their strengths, interests and values and make connections to education and careers that aligned to those personal qualities.  

Comprehensive  - Addressing the full range of career development needs faced by adolescents rather than isolated deficiencies (i.e, lack of information or lack of skills), with special recognition of the acute needs of the disadvantaged;

Developmental - Offering activities and experiences that are age and stage appropriate, beginning early and geared specifically toward the unique needs of youth

Competency-Based - Prioritizing exploration and understanding of strengths, Interests and values, self-concept, values and attitudes 

Integrated - Connecting the link between education and work, both conceptually and in actual practice, making the dynamic interrelationship between the two relevant

Experiential. Integrating experiences that simulate the real workplace environment