Design of a Career Development Program - Case Study Example

Running header: Design of a Career Development Program Student’s name: Name of institution: Instructor’s name: Course code: Date of submission: Design of a Career Development Program A Description of the School This paper is a proposal for a career development program for an Australian Indigenous school that deals with students aged 15 to 18 years. Most of these students come from remote communities around Australia. This proposal is based on John Krumboltz’s theoretical model, providing details of how guidance and counselling, career education and leisure fit in and how they will contribute to the program. The essay provides details of how the career development program will be evaluated. The key educational priorities of the school in question include numeracy, literacy and the general wellbeing of the students, staff and families represented. The school offers programs for students aged 15 to 18years. The programs offered at the school aim to assist families with students to find an effective and supportive learning and care centre that will contribute positively to the student’s development. There are a range of innovative programs offered by the school that are aimed at having the students engaged with a range of unique learning styles (Robinson, 1997). Due to the special nature of the school in the sense that it is for Australian Indigenous students, the management has allocate each class a professional staff member charged with the responsibility of offering support to staff on a daily basis. These staff members are also meant to foster and build good working relationships. There are a number of leisure and recreational facilities that have been renovated and upgraded so as to provide the students with space for relaxation and also to promote ownership and respect of property. The school generally caters for the educational needs of indigenous students, in this particular case, those aged between 15 and 18 years old. The school is unique because these students come from remote communities around Australia. The school has been making significant and continuous improvement in the way it manages its students’ behaviors. The school promotes cooperation between the students, their families and the institution. Since the staff will be dealing with a special group of students, they are strategically recruited and the resources that are targeted are meant to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the school. This paper is a proposed career development program for the school. It is meant to assist the school in identifying the career needs of the students at the right age and provide them with training and assistance that will lead them to the careers of their choice best suited for them. Theoretical Models The theories of career development are meant to explain why people choose the jobs that they are in. In every culture, the career choice made by a person is influenced by many factors. These factors may include gender roles, environmental factors, social factors, economical factors and the genetics of individuals. These theories have been proposed by specialists such as John Krumboltz to explain what influences individuals to choose the careers that they are in. In developing a career program for the school, I would apply the social learning theory that is widely associated with John Krumboltz. According to this theory of career choice, the career choices made by individuals are largely influenced by their social learning. Social learning will include the experiences and interactions with other people, institutions, events or even situations. Krumboltz therefore proposes that there are four factors related to this theory that influence the career choices that can be made by the students in this school (Haines, Scott, & Lincoln, 2005). These factors include the learning experiences that an individual undergoes, genetic factors, individual skills that an individual uses to approach different tasks and environmental factors. When designing a career development program therefore, it is important that the environment in which an individual lives be taken into serious consideration. The surrounding environment of an individual is important in determining the choices that the person will make concerning various issues in life (Isaacson & Brown, 2000). The social interactions that an individual has with other people are very influential to some of the choices that these individuals make, including career choices. It is important for any person who is designing a career development program for a school to take into consideration the type of social interactions that the targeted group is exposed to (Kosine, Steger & Duncan, 2008). The role of any person designing a career development program is crucial because it helps career counselors and advisors to understand the theories of career development. In the school, the role of advising the students concerning career choices remains dynamic. This is mainly because of the lifelong learning, changing workplaces and the expanding lifestyle options that students are exposed to nowadays (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1996). The social learning theory is therefore very pertinent in the development of career development programs in any school or learning institution. This theory will be used to explain the career development program that has been designed below for this particular school in question. It will help students to make wise and well informed career choices (Rojek, 2005). Program Details of Career Education, Guidance and Counselling and their Contribution to the Program This career development program will include details on career education, guidance and counselling and leisure and how they are useful in guiding students towards making the best career choices. Career education is core to any career development program. Education is a basic tool that is known to shape the careers of many students who undertake it. Career education is important in this career development program because it provides the students with pertinent information and knowledge concerning different careers and what they entail. It is therefore important for the school to have well trained career specialists who will be charged with the responsibility of educating the student about careers. Studies taken show that careers today are not exactly what they used to be many years ago. Some years back, careers were very static and it was not an issue that would be easily discussed. Career advice was not a very common phenomena and it was very rare to find young males and females sitting down with specialists to discuss about what jobs they should do and what jobs they should not do. However, the situation is very different today. Many students are continuously seeking for career advice on a daily basis. They have realized the importance of making wise and well informed career choices to their futures (Robinson, 1997). Career education is important to this program because the students will be urged to acquire newer knowledge and skills that will give them a competitive edge over others in the job market. This career education program incorporates encompasses the development of attitudes, skills and knowledge through a planned training program of different learning experiences. These learning experiences will be incorporated into the curriculum in such a way that they will be provided together with other subjects in class and they can also be taught differently as subjects on their own. Career development should be intentional, developmental, comprehensive and available to all students. The intention of career development should be to inform the students about all career issues such as the career choices they should make and the ones they should avoid. The intention of this career development program should also be to urge the students to seek additional skills and knowledge that will enable them to be competitive in the job market. The other intention of the career education program should be to provide learning experiences that are aimed at exposing the learners to the vast careers that exist. By doing this, the school will ensure that the students are aware of the many career fields that they can venture into. Another step in this program involves communicating its importance to concerned stakeholders. The career development program is also developmental in nature because it is designed to assist the student develop positive attitudes towards certain careers that can be beneficial to them. The program will look for talents and special skills among the students and help to develop and nurture them. Some students do not realize their full potentials and need help in discovering their hidden skills, talents, abilities and potentials. This career development program uses specialists who will observe students for a short period of time so as to discover their talents and potentials and help them exploit these potentials fully in order to head towards making the right career choices. This career development program is established on the basis that most students usually have potential to be successful and all that needs to be done is to encourage them to utilize these potentials to the fullest so as to be successful. In regard to the social learning theory proposed by John Krumboltz, it is important to know that students learn from each other and they also influence each other to a great extent. The social interactions that they have can either build them or destroy them. The career education that they receive in school will influence the career choices that they make to a very great extent. It is therefore important for the program to ensure that a serene environment is created for the students so that they can learn more on how to make wise career choices (Pichler, 2009). This career development program is also comprehensive in the sense that it covers almost all areas pertinent to the choices made by students in regard to careers. Issues such as leisure activities must not be ignored. These activities also help to bring out the potential in students as well as helping them to relax. Constructive sports help students to realize and even sharpen their abilities during the interactions that they have with others. It is through these interactions and activities during leisure time that the students can discover some of their skills, talents and special abilities. They also have the ability to observe others and learn as much as they can from them. If accompanied by professional advice, this can go a long way in ensuring that the students are informed and capable of making the right career choices. The career development program will be made available to all students. Evaluation of the Program Just like any other program, this career development program will need to be monitored and evaluated from time to time so as to measure its performance alongside its objectives. Since the program has been developed for indigenous students, it needs constant evaluation so as to help it improve and meet its goals and objectives. The evaluation of this career development program will be done by the careers committee who fully understand the objectives that the program was meant to achieve. The first step before evaluating the program should be to understand the objectives of the program so as to determine its level of efficiency. This program can be evaluated by describing its strengths and weaknesses and relating them to the objectives of the program. It is the duty of the evaluation committee to examine the results of the program and set the priorities that need to be improved in the entire program. The process of evaluation has to be done within a given framework that will guide the entire process. The framework should basically include the techniques that will be used to conduct the evaluation and the parameters of the evaluation. The entire evaluation process needs to be planned for so that the required time, resources, scope and schedule can be set aside. As stated earlier, the objectives of the career development program need to be known in advance so that the evaluation committee can use them to determine the effectiveness of the career development program. When evaluation is done, it can be concluded that the career development program is effective only when most or all of the objectives were met during the implementation of the program. If many or all of the objectives were not met, the career development program must have been ineffective and needed a lot of changes and improvements to help it meet the desired goals and objectives. The program can be monitored by monitoring the achievements of individuals who have undergone it and also monitoring the achievements of the participants as groups. Such information can be obtained through obtaining feedback from the students so as to gauge their progress during the program. The evaluation committee should monitor how the career development program was implemented so that they can have tangible facts about the effectiveness of the program right from the implementation stage. After the evaluation has been done, the findings should be made known to the concerned stakeholders so that the necessary actions can be taken. The committee should strive to improve the program and ensure that the proposed changes have been made. References Amundson, N., Harris-Bowlsbey, J. & Niles, S. (2009). Essential elements of career counselling. 2nd ed. Pearson: New Jersey. Crump, D. (2001). Issues in Indigenous educational and vocational counselling. Australian Journal of Career Development, 10 (3), 20-24. Haines, C., Scott, K., & Lincoln, R. (2005). Career development programs for adults. Australian Blueprint for Career Development, pp. 97-105. Miles Morgan Australia Ltd. Retrieved from www.dest.gov.au/sectors/career_development/policy_issues_reviews/key_ issues/australian_blueprint_for_career_dev/ Haines, C., Scott, K., & Lincoln, R. (2005). Career development programs for K-12 schools. Australian Blueprint for Career Development, pp. 86-96. Miles Morgan Australia Ltd. Retrieved from www.dest.gov.au/sectors/career_development/policy_issues_reviews/keyissues/australian_blueprint_for_career. Haworth, J., & Lewis, S. (2005). Work, leisure and well-being. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 33 (1), 67-79.  Isaacson, L., & Brown, D. (2000). Theories of career choice and development. Career Information, Career Counseling, And Career Development, 7th ed., pp. 17-60. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Kosine, N. R., Steger, M. F., & Duncan, S. (2008). Purpose-centered career development: A strengths-based approach to finding meaning and purpose in careers. Professional School Counseling Journal, 12 (2), 133-136. Mitchell, L. K., & Krumboltz, J. D. (1996). Krumboltz"s learning theory of career choice and counseling. Career Choice and Development, 3rd ed., pp. 233-280. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Boss Publishers. Pichler, F. (2009). Determinants of work-life balance: Shortcomings in the contemporary measurement of WLB in large-scale surveys. Social Indicators Research, 92, 449-469. Robinson, G. (1997). A whole school approach to career education: Mapping a school. Australian Journal of Career Development, 6, 3-7. Rojek, C. (2005). An outline of the action approach to leisure studies. Leisure Studies, 24 (1), 13-25.  Appendix Appendix 1- Draft Questionnaire for Evaluation • What were the minimum levels of achievement of the individuals in the career development standards? • Which standards did the program achieve at the individual criteria level? • Which standards did the program achieve at the group criteria level? • Were the activities in the program fully implemented according to the schedule? • Was the structure of the program fully implemented? • What are the priorities that need improvement in the program? Appendix 2- Activities The program will include leisure sports, lectures, seminars and workshops that the students will participate in so as to enrich their career development Read More

Theoretical Models The theories of career development are meant to explain why people choose the jobs that they are in. In every culture, the career choice made by a person is influenced by many factors. These factors may include gender roles, environmental factors, social factors, economical factors and the genetics of individuals. These theories have been proposed by specialists such as John Krumboltz to explain what influences individuals to choose the careers that they are in. In developing a career program for the school, I would apply the social learning theory that is widely associated with John Krumboltz.

According to this theory of career choice, the career choices made by individuals are largely influenced by their social learning. Social learning will include the experiences and interactions with other people, institutions, events or even situations. Krumboltz therefore proposes that there are four factors related to this theory that influence the career choices that can be made by the students in this school (Haines, Scott, & Lincoln, 2005). These factors include the learning experiences that an individual undergoes, genetic factors, individual skills that an individual uses to approach different tasks and environmental factors.

When designing a career development program therefore, it is important that the environment in which an individual lives be taken into serious consideration. The surrounding environment of an individual is important in determining the choices that the person will make concerning various issues in life (Isaacson & Brown, 2000). The social interactions that an individual has with other people are very influential to some of the choices that these individuals make, including career choices.

It is important for any person who is designing a career development program for a school to take into consideration the type of social interactions that the targeted group is exposed to (Kosine, Steger & Duncan, 2008). The role of any person designing a career development program is crucial because it helps career counselors and advisors to understand the theories of career development. In the school, the role of advising the students concerning career choices remains dynamic. This is mainly because of the lifelong learning, changing workplaces and the expanding lifestyle options that students are exposed to nowadays (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1996).

The social learning theory is therefore very pertinent in the development of career development programs in any school or learning institution. This theory will be used to explain the career development program that has been designed below for this particular school in question. It will help students to make wise and well informed career choices (Rojek, 2005). Program Details of Career Education, Guidance and Counselling and their Contribution to the Program This career development program will include details on career education, guidance and counselling and leisure and how they are useful in guiding students towards making the best career choices.

Career education is core to any career development program. Education is a basic tool that is known to shape the careers of many students who undertake it. Career education is important in this career development program because it provides the students with pertinent information and knowledge concerning different careers and what they entail. It is therefore important for the school to have well trained career specialists who will be charged with the responsibility of educating the student about careers.

Studies taken show that careers today are not exactly what they used to be many years ago. Some years back, careers were very static and it was not an issue that would be easily discussed. Career advice was not a very common phenomena and it was very rare to find young males and females sitting down with specialists to discuss about what jobs they should do and what jobs they should not do. However, the situation is very different today.

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