Career Development Portfolio in Teaching Profession - Assignment Example

Introduction to Career Development Student’s name: Institution: Instructor: Subject: Introduction to Career Development Task 1 In my personal reflection (attachment 1), I pointed out that my social life; teacher and parents played a big role in shaping my career path and development (Clutter, 2010). In particular, my secondary school mathematics teacher was very effective in influencing my decision to take up the teaching profession. Going forward, several of my secondary school experiences can be integrated in my teaching profession so as to ensure that I am able to support my student’s career growth. I will try to provide many platforms where my students can be able to relate with social happenings around the world. In my initial years in secondary school, I wanted to become a tour guide since I was fascinated by the life of travelling around the world that our tour guide lived. As such, I believe that with more exposure to the world through various platforms; students get a chance to relate with their life interests thus enabling them make informed career choices (Tatham &McIlveen, nd). I will also try to deliver on my role and responsibilities as a teacher diligently. Entering the teaching profession was my choice thus I enjoy being in a learning environment and disseminating knowledge to my students. I was specifically attracted to the teaching profession by the way our mathematics teacher handled his job. His zeal in doing his work was a major cause of my liking for the teaching profession. Lastly, I will encourage teacher, parent and student relationships so as to ensure that students get guidance from their parents and guardians too. From my personal experience, my father played a big role in helping me create a good environment to make up my decision about what career I would proceed on with later in life. So as to be able to take into consideration the backgrounds of my students, I will work towards developing a level ground that will provide an all inclusive environment that ensures that the student’s backgrounds have minimal negative impacts on their career development choices (Barham & Irving, 2011). I will also provide personalized career guidance whenever I see the need to so as to eliminate any instances of negative influences on career development due to student background issues. I will work on developing a network of people from diverse professions that will be instrumental in providing mentorship to my students (Colley, 2001). The network will be comprised of my schools’ alumni and other people that me and my colleagues manage to add to the network. Through the network, I will be able to match students with potential mentors according to their career orientations. Lastly; I will work on ensuring that I stay impartial in a student’s decision making process (Watts & Young, 2014). As such; I will serve the sole role of a guide thus not influencing their decision making and other career related values. Task 2 I interviewed a career counselor in one of the secondary schools in the country (see attachment 2). From the interview; I was specifically interested into how a sustainable educational career development program can be effective in a schools setting. The interview was held in the teacher’s office within the school premises. Upon entering the school compound, I was attracted by the schools mission and vision statements were among other issues highlighting the schools role and responsibility in nurturing talent and student potential in a bid to provide good career guidance and development. In the right wing of the magnificent administration block was the career development office that housed the career counselor and other teaching and non- teaching staff that had various roles in the education career development at the school. During the interview, the following key things were identified. The school has an educational carrer development program that cuts across all academic and extracurricular activities. Under the guidance of the career development office, teachers have integrated career development in teaching programs across all subjects. The career development department has also set up a network program that has professionals from every field. The carrer counselor boasted of how the school has been able to keep in touch with more than 50 % of its students 20 years after they had left the school. With the networking program, the counselor is able to assign mentors to students with respect to their career choices. Thirdly, the school has developed a parent teacher student program that brings together the three stakeholders once per school term to discuss career development amongst other academic and extracurricular activities. The career development office also links up students with various volunteer, training, leadership and work opportunities that it is able to locate around the country with respect to the students’ carrer orientations. The school continuously analyses its career development program, benchmarking it with other highly effective programs in other schools around the country and continually improves it to match the identified issues (Career Industry of Australia, 2015). Its teaching fraternity is also taken to periodic training programs that are aimed at building their capacity to offer efficient career development. From the interview, three key issues were identified that enhance effective educational career development. The importance of career support to students came out strongly in the interview. Through the well structured educational development program, the career department is able to continuously provide the students with information that they require to make informed decisions about their careers (Career Industry of Australia, 2007). From the interview, it was identified that for a school to offer effective educational career development; it must hold a high value for such programs thus developing strategies aimed at enhancing career development in students. By making career development an integral process of the school’s educational programs, it has been possible to provide the much needed support to students that make them have the capacity to make informed decisions (Australian Government, 2010). The importance of exposure in career development also came out strongly in the interview. Key to exposure at the school is the mentorship network that provides students with a chance to associate with people who are currently in their desired career paths (Campbell, Smith, Dugan & Komives, 2012). Additionally, the school links ups students to various opportunities in various industries as per their career objectives. Exposure was identified to be a key process that enables a student to experience various professional lines in a manner that makes it possible for him/ her to make informed career decisions. Lastly, the school has empowered its teaching and non teaching staff to be able to provide impartial guidance to the students in such a manner that minimizes and reduces the influence of personal values and beliefs in the students’ decision making (Clark, 1979). On this point, it is important to highlight the critical role played by teamwork that is realized when all the teachers work towards achieving career development in the students body. From the interview, it was realized that there are concerted efforts by all teachers to enhance career development at school. This has been partially possible due to the fact that all teachers are equipped with key skills and knowledge required for educational career development. Task 3 In my future role as a secondary school teacher, I will have a major role to play in providing career development support to teachers and parents. On this point; it is worth highlighting that the teacher plays a critical role in a child’s development. In my position as a secondary school teacher, I will have personalized interactions with my students for almost 50 % of their time as it is spent in school. According to past experiences and interaction with the course materials, it can be appreciated that children start self realization when they reach secondary school (Magnuson & Starr, 2000). As they turn into adults; the students / children are more informed about their interests in life, strengths and weaknesses. This places them at a good position of being able to make various decisions with regard to their careers. In light of this realization; teachers have a big role to play in guiding and supporting these students as they make up their minds about what they want to do with their lives. On this note, the teacher plays a major role in ensuring that students have the right exposure and information to make informed decisions about their life. Additionally, they give invaluable insight to parents who rely on teacher feedback to make decision diverse issues in their children. Next, secondary school education is more aligned to career development as opposed to primary school education. As an example, students who desire to develop their careers in the engineering field will have to be good at physics, chemistry and mathematics (Tai, 2006). On the other hand, students who would like to develop their careers around medicine would have to be good in biological sciences (Tai, 2006). On the other hand, students who perform well in sports and performance arts are more suitable to develop their careers in the sports and performed arts world. It is at secondary school education that teachers identify the core strengths of their students and nurture those strengths towards careers that are best suited for them. With secondary school teachers being responsible of teaching this career oriented subjects and extracurricular activities; they have a major role in identifying student’s strengths and nurturing them towards their choice careers. Additionally, secondary school teachers ought to pass on this information to the students’ parents so as to enable them provide further career guidance to their children. This is in light of the fact that parents too have a major role to play in educational career development. Teachers are also responsible of molding character and personality that is instrumental in shaping up an individual to be able to handle career dynamics effectively. It is important to highlight that skills by themselves do not guarantee an individual career success. As such, it is important that students be taught about critical life skills like communication, social relationship skills, and other values such as honesty and integrity (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs & Fleishman, 2000). With teachers having the platform to interact with their students for a long duration of time in class and out of class work, it is apparent that they have a major role in carrer development. From the discussion above, it can be acknowledged that it will be my responsibility as a secondary school teacher to provide career guidance to my students. b. Strategy of Integrating Career Development in My Teaching Profession I am majoring in Chinese and learning support in my university. As such, these two will be my teaching subjects once I start working. From my past experiences and lessons learnt over this course, I will use various strategies to integrate career development in my profession. One strategy that I will use to integrate career development as a teacher will be to include personal development lessons in my teaching structure (Savickas, Nota, Rossier, Dauwalder, Duarte, Guichard & Van Vianen, 2009). I am strong believer in the importance of character in enhancing the ability of an individual to fit in the society and progress in his or her career. Some of the ways that I would do this would be to provide them with case studies that trigger them to use some personal values and skills to solve some real life challenges. This will be geared up towards ensuring that the students develop personal traits that will enable them make good career decisions. Additionally, I would allocate the last five minutes of my normal lessons to give the students various insights into career development. This will ensure that I integrate career development programs in the educational curriculum. Next, I will ensure that I get every student to make decision with respect to the career line that they would like to pursue. Whilst working with other teachers; I will be able to identify individual skills, strengths, talents and interests that will in turn be used to provide guidance to parents and students with regard to career development. I will use my knowledge in career development to educate other teachers about various aspects involved in career development and how they can be able to integrate such principles in their teaching. This would make sure that all the teachers work towards a common objective of enhancing career development in the students thus providing a good platform to address the diverse career needs in the students. This will be geared up towards ensuring that my students make decisions with respect to what they want to do with their professional lives later in life. Lastly, I will work on developing a mentorship network just like the one I identified in my interview. I will develop a database that will seek to develop a strong alumni network that will maintain a mentor network. This will be instrumental in providing guidance and support to the students to make informed decisions and also motivate them in their career pursuit. Task 4 Career Development Tip Sheet Provide career guidance and do not use your position to directly influence a student’s decision. Try to make personal relationships with your students. This makes them feel at ease to share with you their personal interest and opinions about life. Try as much as possible to provide students with real life situations that work out their minds and shape their career choices. Try to involve parents in student career development. This will make career development to be more efficient as all stakeholders will work towards a common objective (Perkins & Peterson, 2005). Remember to mould student character as it has significant influence on career progress References Australian Government, (2010). Australian Blueprint for Career Development, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Retrieved on 23rd October 2013 https://cica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Australian-Blueprint-for-Career-Development.pdf Barham, L., & Irving, B. (2011). Constructing the future. Diversity, inclusion and social justice. Available from http://www.thecdi.net/write/publications/ctf_for_icg_web_site_%28with_covers%29.pdf Campbell, C. M., Smith, M., Dugan, J. P., & Komives, S. R. (2012). Mentors and college student leadership outcomes: The importance of position and process. The Review of Higher Education, 35(4), 595-625. Career Industry of Australia (2015). Quality Benchmarking, Retrieved on 23rd October 2013 from https://cica.org.au/quality-benchmarking/ Career Industry of Australia (2007). Guiding Principles for Career Development Services and Career Information Products, Retrieved on 23rd October 2013 from https://cica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Guiding-Principles-for-Career-Development-Services-Information-2007.pdf Clutter, C. (2010). The Effects Of Parental Influence On Their Children ‘S Career Choices (Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University). Clark, B. (1979). Growing up gifted: Developing the potential of children at home and at school. Colley, H. (2001). Righting rewritings of the myth of Mentor: a critical perspective on career guidance mentoring. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 29(2), 177-197. Magnuson, C. S., & Starr, M. F. (2000). How early is too early to begin life career planning? The importance of the elementary school years. Journal of Career Development, 27(2), 89-101. Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35. Perkins, D., & Peterson, C. (2005). Supporting young people’s career transition choices: the role of parents. Fitzroy Vic./Australien. Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., & Van Vianen, A. E. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of vocational behavior, 75(3), 239-250. Tatham, P.,  &McIlveen, P. (nd). Improving the Career Literacy of Australian Students. Career Industry Council of Australia, Retrieved on 23rd October 2015 from  http://eprints.usq.edu.au/5566/1/Tatham_McIlveen_SV.pdf Tai, R. H. (2006). Career choice: Enhanced: Planning early for, Life sci, (1), 1-2. Watts, A. G., & Young, M. (2014). Models of Student Guidance in a Changing 14—19 Education and Training System. Dearing and Beyond: 14-19 Qualifications, Frameworks and Systems, 148. Appendices 1 During lower level of my secondary school, my hope and dream was becoming a tour guide since me and my friends started travelling lots of places. During our adventures, we always had a tour guide showed us around. I was thinking if I could be a tour guide in the future then I could travel the whole world. Two years later, at the higher level of my secondary school, I have chosen MathsC for my subject; I really enjoyed the way my MathsC teacher teaching. And I gradually had an idea about using the similar way of teaching to teach more students in the future. My concern about leaving school and the future was should I still stay at Australia or go back to my home country – China. I felt really confused at that time, because Australia certainly has lots of better universities but China is more familiar for me. However, my teacher influenced me a lot at that time, he studied at the university I am studying now. So that definitely encouraged me to stay in Australia to study. Also, my family was very supportive for me; they encouraged me a lot and told me to do whatever I want.We had some career development workshops during year 12. The teacher gave us lots of ideas about what can we do after we graduate.And how to choose your career with your favorite subjects. That has drawn a big picture in our minds. Also, my parents have told me lots of their experience in relation to career development. My Dad said when he was young he had no idea what to do and no one has given him any idea, so he chose to go on to a gap year, and during that gap year, he made the decision about his future. So I think parents and school are still the most helpful assistances for my career development. Appendices 2 I interviewed a career counselor in a secondary school in the country. The counselor was welcoming and gave me an appointment date within the first few minutes after I tabled my request to interview him about career development. When I first entered the school, I was amazed by how much the school had attached much value to career development. There were numerous quotes on various locations around the school compound that were mixed up with pictorials that gave an insight into the importance of career and personal development. The school has a career development office and about 5 teachers who had direct responsibility over career development were housed in the offices. The following gives a summary of the findings from the interview. The school has a well laid out carrer development program. The program is headed by the career counselor who works hand in hand with 4 other teachers all of who have vast training in career development. The career development department organizes periodic training to teachers with the aim of equipping them with best practices in career development. The school has in place a robust career development policy that outlines various parameters of integrating career development in education programs as delivered by the institution. It is mandatory for every teacher to include a career development plan in his or her lesson plan. This is still the case in extracurricular activities where coaches are expected to ensure that their trainees have good performances in class and out of class in addition to exposing them to career opportunities available to them in their respective disciplines. This is aimed at ensuring that career development is integrated in the entire education system. The school also has in place a networking system that is meant at linking up the students with professionals in diverse professional lines. With this approach, students have the chance to link up with mentors who give them guidance and motivation as they pursue their careers. The school has used a rather simple alumni network that has been complimented by the parent and teacher fraternity together with their friends to form a network of about 10,000 people with varying career paths. This provides a platform for students to exploit diverse career paths as provided for in the network. The school also has in place a teacher, parent and student partnership that is aimed at bringing together these three important stakeholders in education. In what is referred to as the Annual Career Fair week, students showcase their skills and talents to their parents and other guests who are invited by the careers department. Teachers and parents also have a chance to have one on one conversation and discuss about various issues related to the student’s career development. Read More

The school has an educational carrer development program that cuts across all academic and extracurricular activities. Under the guidance of the career development office, teachers have integrated career development in teaching programs across all subjects. The career development department has also set up a network program that has professionals from every field. The carrer counselor boasted of how the school has been able to keep in touch with more than 50 % of its students 20 years after they had left the school.

With the networking program, the counselor is able to assign mentors to students with respect to their career choices. Thirdly, the school has developed a parent teacher student program that brings together the three stakeholders once per school term to discuss career development amongst other academic and extracurricular activities. The career development office also links up students with various volunteer, training, leadership and work opportunities that it is able to locate around the country with respect to the students’ carrer orientations.

The school continuously analyses its career development program, benchmarking it with other highly effective programs in other schools around the country and continually improves it to match the identified issues (Career Industry of Australia, 2015). Its teaching fraternity is also taken to periodic training programs that are aimed at building their capacity to offer efficient career development. From the interview, three key issues were identified that enhance effective educational career development.

The importance of career support to students came out strongly in the interview. Through the well structured educational development program, the career department is able to continuously provide the students with information that they require to make informed decisions about their careers (Career Industry of Australia, 2007). From the interview, it was identified that for a school to offer effective educational career development; it must hold a high value for such programs thus developing strategies aimed at enhancing career development in students.

By making career development an integral process of the school’s educational programs, it has been possible to provide the much needed support to students that make them have the capacity to make informed decisions (Australian Government, 2010). The importance of exposure in career development also came out strongly in the interview. Key to exposure at the school is the mentorship network that provides students with a chance to associate with people who are currently in their desired career paths (Campbell, Smith, Dugan & Komives, 2012).

Additionally, the school links ups students to various opportunities in various industries as per their career objectives. Exposure was identified to be a key process that enables a student to experience various professional lines in a manner that makes it possible for him/ her to make informed career decisions. Lastly, the school has empowered its teaching and non teaching staff to be able to provide impartial guidance to the students in such a manner that minimizes and reduces the influence of personal values and beliefs in the students’ decision making (Clark, 1979).

On this point, it is important to highlight the critical role played by teamwork that is realized when all the teachers work towards achieving career development in the students body. From the interview, it was realized that there are concerted efforts by all teachers to enhance career development at school. This has been partially possible due to the fact that all teachers are equipped with key skills and knowledge required for educational career development. Task 3 In my future role as a secondary school teacher, I will have a major role to play in providing career development support to teachers and parents.

On this point; it is worth highlighting that the teacher plays a critical role in a child’s development. In my position as a secondary school teacher, I will have personalized interactions with my students for almost 50 % of their time as it is spent in school.

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