Career Development
Career Development Competencies
Career Development Summary
Career development is one of the most significant domains when transition planning primarily due to the complexity behind bridging the gap between career success and career readiness. Meeting both factors requires an entire team with corresponding goals (this includes the focus student). Simply obtaining work experience, while in high school, has some positive post-school success, but obtaining paid employment has tremendous post-school success that includes but is not limited to, independent living, social skills, self-advocacy skills, increased workplace skills which can thus lead to higher-paying jobs (Fabian 2007). The primary goal is to develop the student's skills so that they can eventually obtain paid employment but just as the title states, the student and his/her team are engaging in "career development," which is clearly defined as the process of analyzing the likes, interests, and dislikes of the student via a or possibly multiple career assessment(s), establishing career awareness, career exploration, and career preparation (Morningstar and Clavenna-Deane 2018.)
Career Awareness
Families are usually the initial group of people that exposes a child, with or without disabilities, to the world of employment (Lindstrom et al., 2007). Oftentimes, the child gains his/her interests, strengths, and even dislikes from a pre-established familial influence. Career awareness focuses on the beginning stages of recognizing employment experiences via classroom resources, family, or even a communal foundation. As students (with and without disabilities) get older, they begin gaining a stronger sense of career awareness by understanding their interests, preferences, and strengths and find matching careers. This must be accomplished by first understanding the 3 primary stages of career development and completing a career assessment (these should be ongoing so each member of the transition team is updated frequently), while keeping this as person-centered as possible. The assessment should be a compilation of performance activities, observations, record reviews, and interviews (Timmons et al., 2005). The following two artifacts were collected from SPED 857 where we created a Prezi that defines and explains career development. As I created this Prezi presentation, I used specific examples from the school where I teach in order to provide better connections to the 3 stages. The second artifact details a positive personal profile (PPP) of one of my students; however, it's taken from the perspective of himself, his parents, and his teachers. The fact that everyone was able to collaborate on this PPP demonstrates the unanimity of the entire team to confirm everyone's agreeance of each component area. (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6)
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Career Exploration
After understanding the stages of career development and completing the career assessments, students can begin the career exploration stage. Students will analyze their assessment results and begin exploring careers that match. This stage can be accomplished in a numerous of ways: mentorships, transition classes, work-based learning, job shadowing, career research, and school-based partnerships (Morningstar and Clavenna-Deane 2018). Mentorships establish a relationship between the mentor and mentee in both personal and professional levels in the mentor's field of expertise. The focus student will gain not only a professional relationship but also a personal relationship with the mentor. Transition classes focus on teaching workplace skills with an emphasis in soft skills. Work-based learning provides students with real work experiences where they can apply their academic and technical skills. Job shadowing allows students to directly observe the person at work to gain a better understanding of the job. Career research allows students to research careers on prospective websites. School-based enterprises allow students to own and operate a business within the school. Lastly school-business partnerships allow students to gain work-based experiences in the community. When work experience is directly connected to the community (locally established business), students receive a greater benefit than from businesses that are outside of the community (Carter et al., 2009). All transition specialists and special educators should remember that similar to the career awareness stage, career exploration is also individualized. The first artifact demonstrates necessary resources regarding career awareness, exploration, and preparation. It was created in SPED 857 as a group project where we created a padlet. The multimedia presented in each stage are a combination of websites, videos, and online resources that can be used with students as they begin the career exploration stage. The second artifact is a direct website that can be used during career exploration called Career One Stop. This resource allow students to research careers and gain a better understanding of each. Lastly, the final artifact in this stage is called Virtual Job Shadow. This website provides job shadow opportunities that are virtual which makes it great to utilize during a transition/career class. Virtual Job Shadow also features an entire curriculum and even career assessments (they've partnered with O*NET) that allow the student to understand and actively learn about the career(s). (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6)
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Career Preparation
Career Preparation is the third and final stage of career development. This stage features paid employment, internships, career and technical education (CTE) classes, work study programs, job training, apprenticeships, and cooperative vocational education. One of the important resources that students with disabilities should utilize is CTE. This resource can ultimately bridge the career readiness gap that students with disabilities need; however, there may be a lack of inclusion in CTE classes which explains the lack in students' career development plans regarding career preparation (Lombardi et al., 2018). As students begin the preparation stage, individualization becomes more apparent. With the help of a job coach, students begin to establish natural supports, accommodations to their job tasks, increased self-advocacy, and identification of job analysis and systematic instruction (Morningstar and Clavenna-Deane, 2018). As students begin understanding how to prepare for the job placement, they will learn how to meet/exceed employer expectations, choose whether to disclose or not to disclose their disability and handle workplace problems (Luecking 2009). The following artifacts demonstrate competencies regarding career preparation. These artifacts include documents regarding the inventory of needs' and tasks, a work experience proposal template, a work experience agreement, an individual support plan template, and a work experience evaluation. (6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 6.11)
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Resources
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Fabian, E.S. (2007). Urban youth with disabilities: Factors affecting transition employment. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 50(3), 130-138.
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Carter, E. W., Trainor, A. A., Cakiroglu, O., COle, O., Swedeen, B., Ditchman, N., & Owens, L. (2009). Exploring school-employer partnerships to expand career development and early work experiences for youth with disabilities. download Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 32, 145-159.
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Holmes, R. (2019, December 9) Career Technology Education/Career Pathways. Career Development for Youth 857. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
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Holmes, R. (2019, December 13) Target Student Positive Personal Profile. Career Development for Youth 857. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
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Holmes, R. (2019, November 4) Career Development and Work-Based Learning (Group Padlet). Career Development for Youth 857. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
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Lindstrom, L., Doren, B., Metheny, J., Johnson, P., & Zane, C. (2007). Transition to employment: Role of the family in career development. Exceptional Children, 73, 348–366.
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Lombardi, A. R., Dougherty, S. M., & Monahan, J. (2018). Students with intellectual disabilities and career and technical education opportunities: A systematic literature review. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 00(0), 1-15.
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Luecking, R.G. (2009). The way to work: How to facilitate work experiences for youth in transition. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Company.
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Morningstar, M. & Clavenna-Deane, B. (2018). Your Complete Guide To Transition Planning and Services. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Company.
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Timmons, J., Podmostko, M., Bremer, C., Lavin, D., Wills, J. (2005) Career planning begins with assessment: A guide for professionals serving youth with educational & career development challenges. downloadWashington: Institute for Educational Leadership - National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth.