1. Career Development Interventions in Middle Schools
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Chapter 11
Career Development Interventions in Middle Schools
Developed by:
Jennifer Del Corso

2. Developmental Tasks of Middle School
Achieve new and more sophisticated relations with peers
Achieve emotional independence from parents and other adults
Set vocational goals
Prepare for marriage and family life
Develop skills for civic competence 2

3. Developmental Tasks of Middle/Junior High School continued
Acquire a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior
Set realistic goals and make plans for achieving these goals 3

4. Career Development in Middle School
Career assistance provided to middle school students must be sensitive to the contextual, physical, and emotional transitions that students experience
Akos, Konold, and Niles (2004) found that middle school student exhibit distinct patterns of needs regarding their readiness for career decision making: from career indecisions to premature career identity foreclosure
Data from the National Assessment of Education Progress indicate that adolescents experience mixed success in coping with the career development tasks they confront in middle schools

5. Middle School Student Attitudes
Currently 93% of middle school students report that their goal is to attend college;
Only 44% eventually attend college, and
Only 26% graduate with a college diploma within six years of enrolling (Conley, 2012)

6. ASCA National Standards
Acquire skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions
Employ strategies to achieve future success and satisfaction
Understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and training, and the world of work

7. Career Development Goals for Middle School
Enhance self-understanding
Learn how to engage effectively in education and occupational exploration
Career Planning 7

8. Career Development Goals for Middle School Students (cont.)
Herr, Cramer, and Niles (2004) offer four career planning considerations for middle school school students.
1. Provide students with a broad opportunity to explore their personal characteristics as well as those educational options
2. Provide a wide array of methods to accommodate differences due to career maturity, interests, values, and abilities
3. Provide concrete hands-on direct experiences
4. Provide career programs to help students explore their feelings, needs, and uncertainties as they search for a personal identity. 8

9. Career Development Interventions in Middle Schools
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
Important to help students understand issue related to equity and access to career choice
Interventions should help students construct their ideal future life and then discuss how prepared they feel for taking on those future tasks

10. Career Development Interventions in Middle School (continued)
Psychoeducational activities for middle school students include:
Classroom guidance lessons on careers and personal identity
Job shadowing
Attending career fairs
Occupational Information Interviews
Small groups
Exposure to real world work experiences

11. Career Development Interventions in Middle School (continued)
Clustering systems can be used to guide career exploration by using the clusters to organize career information resources.
Patterns of life-role salience can be addressed by helping student reflect on the various life roles they have or they can create a life-role portfolio
Middle school students need assistance in career and educational planning.
An educational and career planning portfolio is one technique that school counselors can use to help middle school students plan effectively.

12. National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (2015) Clusters
Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
Architecture and Construction
Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications
Business Management and Administration
Education and Training
Finance
Government and Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality and Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
Manufacturing
Marketing
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics 12