Does it ever feel like you can’t get a handle on the various parts of your Careers Framework or Careers program? Or maybe you aren’t sure how comprehensive your district’s Careers Framework is, or if your district even has one?
Are your students actively engaged in learning about various careers and professions throughout all your schools, even down into elementary schools?
I know I would be hard pressed to articulate what all our teachers are doing outside of our high school career and technical education program. For most of us, I would hazard to guess that we believe careers education is happening in our schools. But we aren’t sure exactly how or where it is being implemented.
Careers education – all grades
Most districts include some type of Career and Technical Education, or vocational, curriculum in place at the high school level. Some even manage a few exploratory classes in middle school, but few districts are able to push that type of learning into elementary classes.
I know individual teachers in elementary schools often have guest speakers that talk about their work. Some teachers invite their students’ parents to speak to the class about what they do. These are great activities and could be components of a Careers Framework.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that we start training our kinders and primary students for careers.
But I am saying that we need to provide even our youngest students with exposure to various types of jobs and careers at a young age. And more importantly, we should be able to support our schools and teachers who are doing the work. Am I right?
The answer is to develop a framework to align the career opportunities and activities within your district. I love me a good framework. Yes, I do.
Central office administrators can structure a comprehensive program using a Careers Framework.
Definition of Careers Framework
So what, exactly, is a Careers Framework? It is a structure on which a district can build a comprehensive and articulated learning path around careers and the world of work.
A Careers Framework can incorporate opportunities currently available in the community and the needs of the community. In rural communities, the variety of career opportunities may be limited. But a comprehensive framework will address how to provide learning beyond what currently exists in the community.
Why have a Careers Framework?
What’s so special or necessary about having a framework? A framework can provide many benefits.
- Aligned effort across district
- Easier curricular integration – curriculum guides, makerspaces, STEM night
- Communication resources and deliverables
Alignment
The last thing any district or school needs is a hodgepodge of activities that is labeled an initiative. A Careers Framework can help you avoid that scenario.
It is a resource that allows teachers and administrators to understand the careers learning focus at each level – elementary, middle, high. And, depending on how granular a district develops the framework, it might even provide that focus down to individual grade levels or disciplines.
The alignment that a Careers Framework brings means that an educator can trace the progression of student learning and experience in a logical manner through the grade spans.
Curriculum Integration
A solid Careers Framework allows integration with existing curriculum. None of us in education need another thing on our plate. This is especially true for teachers who already have more content than they can reasonably teach in a year.
A framework for a careers initiative can be a resource for teachers. A teacher can use the framework to choose what types of experiences or activities to use for her grade level or course. She can then see where those opportunities naturally fit within her curriculum.
A Careers Framework also provides opportunities to integrate with other initiatives or programs within a district or school. For example, if schools have a Makerspace (you can find more on Makerspaces here and here), stock the space with activities, materials, and equipment that promote career exploration.
Similarly, many schools who are incorporating more STEM or STEAM activities, often schedule STEM/STEAM nights parent nights. Parents join students to participate in a variety of STEM-related activities. Many of these activities could include a career component.
Communication
It should also provide a communication piece for parents and the community. (I believe this is an important piece of our overall work, but we often overlook it). When appropriate, I think a district should develop resources that can be used with staff internally as well as communicated to external stakeholders.
A communication resource on the Careers initiative can provide answers to questions that stakeholders have not yet asked. If done appropriately, a Careers Framework infographic can explain what the initiative is about and how it supports the district’s vision.
The framework can also be conversation starter with the business and industry communities. If a business and industry advisory committee already exists in your district, then the members can offer insight into actually developing the framework.
A Careers Framework
So what might a Careers Framework look like? I advocate for simple. Here’s one that I believe is simple and provides the flexibility that individual schools might need to implement a successful program.
Career Awareness
At the elementary level, you would need to put into place elements that bring awareness of career opportunities to students. As I mentioned earlier, we aren’t trying to pigeonhole someone into a career track in grade 2. But we are trying to show them as many options as we can.
Career Exploration
Students in middle school can continue to benefit from the same types of activities as they experienced in elementary school, but the number and intensity of those experiences may increase. In middle school, students often take exploratory courses, which provide more opportunities for looking in depth at specific careers.
At this point, I think it is important for students to see first hand what various careers look like IRL (I can’t believe I used that bit of shorthand there!). Field trips, even virtual field trips, can be the best way to provide our students with these types of experiences.
Career Preparation
Once in high school, students often have developed a strong curiosity about specific career clusters – say Health Sciences – and begin exploring these careers in depth with courses tailored to teach specific skills required in the career.
Work-based learning (WBL) plays a big role in the Framework at the high school level. WBL can include internships and apprenticeships. Students sometimes are paid for their work; other times the work is credit for the accompanying course.
Special Note on the Career Fairs
Although Career Fair is included with each grade span, the fairs would look different at each level, I think. At the elementary level, I envision that it could be integrated with an existing program, such as an Open House event or Harvest festival.
At the middle and high school levels, the fairs might look more similar and more traditional. You could have various business, industry, or government organizations set up booths for each student to visit.
Or you could do that with middle school students, but by high school, the career fairs could be structured differently. Students could sign up for different sessions, depending on their interests, and spend longer periods of time with the representatives from their chosen career clusters or fields. A mini-careers conference day for teens.
Another option for high school students would be to have them visit various career representatives on the job site. Logistically, this option might be more difficult because of busing, number of students a work site can accommodate, etc.
A Cumulative Careers Framework
In the table above, each grade span is designated with a specific component – either awareness, exploration, or development. In a cumulative framework, the assigned component represents the highest level for the grade spans.
For example, in middle school, students would most likely not go beyond ‘exploration’ activities. They would not be placed in internships, but they might still participate in ‘awareness’ activities, which is specifically assigned to elementary school.
Similarly, high school students could participate in awareness, exploration, and development activities.
Each grade span incorporates all the previous components and activities.
The Takeaway
I like having structures to help organize the work that I do, don’t you? A Career Framework helps me to organize and clarify my understanding of how a district can integrate career opportunities for students of all ages.
We can have many, many activities occurring throughout our districts in regards to careers. A Career Framework helps me and others align the workout throughout the district. That’s a nice bonus, isn’t it?
How can you apply this Framework to the work happening in your district? Could you use it as a planning tool? Have you implemented a different type of career framework in your district? Let me know in the comments below.
I’m working on other posts where I delve into each of the components of the Framework, so check back soon.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Click here to download a PDF of the Careers Framework.
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