Middle School Career Counseling
career_guidance.pptx | |
File Size: | 1601 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Summary Statement:
The role of the school counselor is multi-faceted and requires a great deal of flexibility and awareness to create a comprehensive program. Of the many expectations that exist, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has clearly defined national standards that includes three domains; Academic, Career and Personal/Social. The career domain specifically states that students will, “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 career goals with success and satisfaction”, and “understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work”.
In the state of Washington, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has specific expectations for career development stated in a Middle School/Junior High Guidance Lesson Curriculum Map. Within this document are a listing of topics and curriculum that correspond with lesson themes. The curriculums that OSPI uses are; Navigation 101, Career Guidance Washington, Sparking the Future, My Dreams, My Story, My Voice, and Career Ready Lessons.
While many standardized curriculums exist, one component that may or may not always be taken into consideration is the changing skill set that 21st Century Careers require. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, student outcomes for being effective in 21st century careers include Specific Life and Career Skills (flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity, accountability, leadership and responsibility), Learning and Innovation Skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, and Information, Media and Technology Skills.
Middle school counselors work with students at an age when academic preparation for high school really begins, and an age when adolescents are really beginning to define their identity and their self-concept. Culture is a major influence on this process and includes a students’ gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, geographic location, socioeconomic status, disabilities, belief systems and values.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System is a lens through which a students’ world and can be understood. According to Bronfenbrenner, an adolescent’s micro system is the intimate social and immediate physical setting that an individual is operating in. This might include family, classrooms, peer groups and neighborhoods. A mesosystem is the interaction that occurs between two microsystems, and includes the idea that an individual has different roles in their lives and these roles are constantly changing. For example, the interaction between home and school. An exosystem is the larger community or environment that an individual isn’t directly involved but still has direct and indirect impacts on the student. For example, a relationship between a parent and their workplace, available transportation or the education system.
Understanding an adolescent through Bronfenbrenner’s ecological lens helps to understand what creates a students culture and how a school counselor might best create interventions and guidance at an individual student level. At an individual level this could include; collaborating with parents, helping students to understand and develop their own identity, and recognizing the effect of career on family and society. On a school level this might include; peer tutors and mentors, curriculum that recognizes 21st Century skills, collaboration amongst teachers, counselors and administrators, initiatives that promote learning opportunities for all students, and opportunities to help establish and create engagement amongst students and families. At a community level connecting students with community mentors, and understanding the role of culture and how it impacts a student are all helpful ways to build community into a school career development plan.
There are many different tools of the trade available from organizations and websites that can help guide counselors in creating and implementing a comprehensive school counseling program guided by ASCA National Standards.
Helpful Websites
ASCA National Standards: Developmental Crosswalking Tool
Missouri Center for Career Education – Guidance & Counseling Grade Level Standards
Partnership for 21st Century Skills – Framework for 21st Century Learning
State of New Jersey Department of Education – NJ World Class Standards
Helpful Organizations
Missouri Center For Career Education (MCCE)
· www.missouricareereducation.org
National Career Development Association
· www.ncda.org
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
· www.k12.wa.us
Related Journal Articles
The role of the school counselor is multi-faceted and requires a great deal of flexibility and awareness to create a comprehensive program. Of the many expectations that exist, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has clearly defined national standards that includes three domains; Academic, Career and Personal/Social. The career domain specifically states that students will, “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 career goals with success and satisfaction”, and “understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work”.
In the state of Washington, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has specific expectations for career development stated in a Middle School/Junior High Guidance Lesson Curriculum Map. Within this document are a listing of topics and curriculum that correspond with lesson themes. The curriculums that OSPI uses are; Navigation 101, Career Guidance Washington, Sparking the Future, My Dreams, My Story, My Voice, and Career Ready Lessons.
While many standardized curriculums exist, one component that may or may not always be taken into consideration is the changing skill set that 21st Century Careers require. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, student outcomes for being effective in 21st century careers include Specific Life and Career Skills (flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity, accountability, leadership and responsibility), Learning and Innovation Skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, and Information, Media and Technology Skills.
Middle school counselors work with students at an age when academic preparation for high school really begins, and an age when adolescents are really beginning to define their identity and their self-concept. Culture is a major influence on this process and includes a students’ gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, geographic location, socioeconomic status, disabilities, belief systems and values.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System is a lens through which a students’ world and can be understood. According to Bronfenbrenner, an adolescent’s micro system is the intimate social and immediate physical setting that an individual is operating in. This might include family, classrooms, peer groups and neighborhoods. A mesosystem is the interaction that occurs between two microsystems, and includes the idea that an individual has different roles in their lives and these roles are constantly changing. For example, the interaction between home and school. An exosystem is the larger community or environment that an individual isn’t directly involved but still has direct and indirect impacts on the student. For example, a relationship between a parent and their workplace, available transportation or the education system.
Understanding an adolescent through Bronfenbrenner’s ecological lens helps to understand what creates a students culture and how a school counselor might best create interventions and guidance at an individual student level. At an individual level this could include; collaborating with parents, helping students to understand and develop their own identity, and recognizing the effect of career on family and society. On a school level this might include; peer tutors and mentors, curriculum that recognizes 21st Century skills, collaboration amongst teachers, counselors and administrators, initiatives that promote learning opportunities for all students, and opportunities to help establish and create engagement amongst students and families. At a community level connecting students with community mentors, and understanding the role of culture and how it impacts a student are all helpful ways to build community into a school career development plan.
There are many different tools of the trade available from organizations and websites that can help guide counselors in creating and implementing a comprehensive school counseling program guided by ASCA National Standards.
Helpful Websites
ASCA National Standards: Developmental Crosswalking Tool
Missouri Center for Career Education – Guidance & Counseling Grade Level Standards
Partnership for 21st Century Skills – Framework for 21st Century Learning
State of New Jersey Department of Education – NJ World Class Standards
Helpful Organizations
Missouri Center For Career Education (MCCE)
· www.missouricareereducation.org
National Career Development Association
· www.ncda.org
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
· www.k12.wa.us
Related Journal Articles
education-career_planning_ms_counselors.pdf | |
File Size: | 47 kb |
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the_heart_of_the_school_counselor.pdf | |
File Size: | 260 kb |
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Future Directions and Trends:
As the world of technology continues to evolve and change, the face of future careers will also change. School counselors will need to be responsive in creating effective curriculum to prepare students from a variety of cultures and backgrounds for future academics and careers.
As the world of technology continues to evolve and change, the face of future careers will also change. School counselors will need to be responsive in creating effective curriculum to prepare students from a variety of cultures and backgrounds for future academics and careers.