Career Exploration and Career Preparation

Supporting career exploration and preparation programs at the district level

This is the third article in the series on Career Awareness, Exploration, and Preparation.

Does your district have a balanced and comprehensive career exploration and career preparation programs for your middle school and high school students?  

Let’s be real, though.  How many of you work in small districts? Providing many career exploration and career preparation options for students can be a challenge.  Often we have only one or two teachers who have a career and technical education license.  

Or space may be in short supply.  Many career and technical education programs require lots of space.  For example, a culinary program requires a teaching kitchen and classroom space.

Let’s not forget budgets.  Often, our budgets cannot support additional teachers to offer career and technical education courses. 

However difficult, as district leaders, we must leverage our resources to provide the best type of career exploration and development program we can to our students.

A Natural Progression

The first article in this series provided a framework that we can work from.  For elementary students, career awareness activities are our focus. We explored elementary options in our second article in the series.

For a PDF of the Careers Framework, click here.

We continue and build on awareness in middle school through adding career exploration activities. High school students continue with career awareness and career exploration experiences. However, we also add specific career preparation courses through a career and technical education program.

Most people are familiar with career preparation activities for high school students.  Indeed, most high schools and some middle schools already provide career and technical education (CTE) programs for their students.  

Fortunately, most of us won’t be starting a career education program from scratch.  These programs already exist in most of our schools.  

Our role is to understand the foundational pieces that make a strong career and technical education program in our secondary schools. In addition, we should ensure that our middle and high schools have appropriate support from the central office.

Let’s get started with some background knowledge.

Career Exploration and Preparation Overview

We can find similar exploration and preparation components in both middle schools and high schools.  However, because of the age of the students, liability issues, employment laws, etc., the components may look differently or be implemented differently at each school.

Middle School Career Exploration

Career Exploration courses

Most middle schools have at least a few courses that allow middle school students to explore various career options.  Often, this is a general course or module that includes lots of career options.

Some schools might offer true introductory courses for various fields such as healthcare or culinary.  These courses don’t offer the specific content that many high school courses do. Rather they provide the student with information about the various jobs and careers in the field.

STEM and Makerspace opportunities

STEM courses (other than your basic science courses) and Makerspaces often end up on the middle school elective “wheel,” too.  These types of classes are typically hands-on and inquiry-based.  

The types of activities that students complete could allow them to sample various career fields.  For example, with the Makerspace, students can engage in career exploration projects in a low-stakes environment.

High School Career Preparation

Career and Technical Education and STEM Courses

Personally, I think strong career and technical education (CTE) programs usually contribute to strong high schools overall.  When a school has it going on, you will most likely find high quality CTE/STEM departments as conponents.

Most high school students take some CTE and/or STEM-related courses during their four years.  These courses are terrific for helping students prepare for future careers.

What I like about CTE and STEM is that there are courses for everyone.  The range is astounding. From culinary arts to auto mechanics to cosmetology to fire fighting to veterinary science to robotics to masrony….the list goes on.

Career Preparation for students is in full-swing in high school.  If possible, career pathways should be sequenced to provide students with richer and deeper learning in their selected career.

Work-Based Learning Opportunities

Often, high school teachers (and some middle school teachers) arrange job shadowing opportunities for their students.  Students can observe real life work situations, which offers a low-stakes way to see if a career interests them.  

For example, students might shadow various healthcare workers at a local hospital. Other students might shadow an engineer or an attorney.

Work-Basked Learning or WBL goes much deeper than job shadowing.  In WBL experiences, students participate in internships, apprenticeships, or actually have jobs in various CTE and STEM fields.  

These experiences are supervised by teachers or WBL coordinators, providing students with rich career preparation experiences.  The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) supports career and technical education programs. As the ACTE framework indicates, WBL means students are participating in activities that job-specific and grow in intensity throughout the experience.

Career Exploration and Career Preparation Options For All

Career Fair 2.0

Both middle school and high school students can benefit greatly from career fairs. They are a great way to continue bringing career awareness opportunities to students.

While there is value in the typical career fair setup – booth or table displays by each organization participating – other types of fairs may be more useful, especially at the high school level.

A Twist on the Traditional Career Fair

Often students spend a couple of hours moving from booth to booth, picking up candy and other swag. Instead, let’s have them choose three areas and spend 30 minutes at each booth.  Better yet, have the presenters stationed in individual classrooms, rather than a gym or hallway. Students can participate in richer discussions with experts from the field and perhaps participate in some career-related activities.

Just Flip It

You’ve heard of ‘flipped’ classrooms?  What about a ‘flipped’ career fair? 

Again, students would only be able to choose a couple of career areas to pursue. Instead of the presenter coming to the school, we send the student go to the work site. Students then learn about all the types of careers that the business includes.  This type of fair requires much more planning and is probably more costly since transportation fees must be included. However, the benefits to the student are great.

The benefits to students involved in a flipped career fair? A better understanding of what type of environment they would be working in and what type of duties and responsibilities they would be performing.  

Curriculum Integration and alignment

In my post on career awareness for elementary students, I discuss the importance of finding the appropriate standards and curriculum units to integrate career activities and experiences.  The same holds true for middle and high schools.  

For example, teachers – not just CTE teachers – should incorporate career-related activities throughout their curriculum, making connections to appropriate standards or topics.  As with elementary schools, the work could include adding guest speakers, exploring through virtual field trips, or apply skills in a Makerspace.

Another example would be an English Language Arts teacher assking a blogger to be a guest speaker. Not all career activities have to be STEM or CTE-related.

Alignment to industry standards

At the high school level, some programs and pathways may culminate in a student being eligible for industry credentials.  We can support schools, programs, and students by working to make sure these programs adhere to industry standards. This will possibly allow students to graduate with credentials that they can leverage in career fields of their choosing.

District Leadership for Career Exploration and Preparation

So many possibilities for careers are available now. We have to be proactive about providing our secondary students with career exploration and preparation experiences.  

Budget, number of students, space, and licensure requirements may limit the number of courses or programs that we can offer students.  Central office administrators should leverage the resources available to support career programs.

For district’s fortunate enough to have CTE and/or STEM Directors, curriculum integration and alignment activities will be easier to ensure. 

What should we do if we work in a district without the resources to provide CTE and STEM director positions?

At a minimum, our curriculum review process should include career exploration and career preparation integration and alignment activities.

As district leaders we must also support and, perhaps, initiate Career Fairs and work-based learning experiences.  We should support schools in locating grants for career and Makerspace activities.

Final Thoughts

Leadership and support from district administrators is critical for robust career exploration and preparation programs for our secondary schools. 

In summary, let’s focus our energies on

• curriculum integration and alignment,
• developing appropriate courses and work-based learning experiences, and
• supporting STEM and Makerspace activities.